TX: Dallas to study economic impacts of high-speed rail lines to Houston, Fort Worth

The Dallas City Council on Wednesday approved paying a consultant firm nearly $567,000 to analyze the economic impact high-speed rail lines to Houston and Fort Worth could have on the region.

The one-year deal with the Boston Consulting Group comes from a council request in March after some members raised questions about the need for a second rail line connecting Dallas to Fort Worth. Council members passed a resolution in June opposing the planned seven-story high downtown area throughline, saying they could revisit the issue after they get the results of an economic impact study.

The preferred route was changed during the summer to loop around downtown after council members worried the train would otherwise disrupt plans for a new $3 billion convention center and other multibillion-dollar redevelopment projects near Reunion Tower.

City officials estimated the study could take around three months to complete.

Meanwhile, planning for the estimated $30 billion Dallas-to- Houston bullet train and the separate estimated $6 billion Dallas-to- Fort Worth line is expected to continue.

Amtrak is involved in developing the southern line to Houston and the North Central Texas Council of Governments with the study of the other project. Regional transit officials hope if both projects are built, they will eventually be connected.

The western line is undergoing an environmental review and has planned stops in Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth. That bullet train is projected to carry 15,000 to 30,000 passengers a day and sprint between the two ends in less than 30 minutes. Another commuter rail line, the Trinity Railway Express, already runs between Dallas and Fort Worth and can take at least an hour to travel between the two cities.

The Dallas to Fort Worth high-speed rail line is expected to decrease highway congestion for the metro area’s 8 million residents. That tally is expected to grow to more than 11 million by 2045.

Amtrak received almost $64 million in federal grant money last month to continue planning a high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston. Officials believe the line will shuttle passengers between the two cities in about 90 minutes at speeds topping 200 mph.

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