Texas High Speed Rail in 2026

In 2023 and 2024 we reviewed the progress of the Texas high-speed rail project. For the new Texans, who haven’t heard about the project yet; the idea is a high-speed train that operates between Houston-DFW. The train would cut the travel time down to only 90 minutes, accelerating growth across both cities. DFW and Houston are already the 4th and 5th largest metro areas, respectively. This project has been in the works since 2009, with the current plan existing since 2015.

THE PITCH:

Tens of thousands of people drive to/from Houston to DFW every day. Going one step further, it’s estimated that 100,000 people either work in Dallas while living in Houston (or vice versa) and make the commute several times per week.
High speed rail is already a reality in other states and countries. In Japan, high-speed rail has been providing reliable and safe service since the 1960s.
DFW & Houston represent the 4th and 5th largest metros in the US. Connecting them by high-speed rail would create a mega-metro with countless economic benefits.
The time from A to B using existing high-speed train technology would be less than 90 minutes.
Thousands of Texans already commute more than 60 minutes each way every day.

A Brief History (Revisited)

In 2009, the government outlined their plans for an investment of $8 Billion dollars into high-speed passenger rail in 10+ regions across the country. In 2010, the project to connect Dallas and Houston was born as Lone Star High Speed Rail. In 2012, the company working on the project renamed itself to Texas Central Railway and partnered with the Japanese company that currently operates Japan’s largest high-speed rail operation. In 2015, the company named a CEO and finalized the route. Lawsuits popped up from various landowners along the route, to stop the company from being able to survey the land. There was an extended back and forth regarding whether the company was considered a railroad company, and their subsequent ability to use of eminent domain to claim land along their proposed route. These lawsuits dragged on for years; both in the court of public opinion and the courts themselves. In 2022, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled in favor of Texas Central in a 5-3 opinion. With this, they clarified that Texas Central has eminent domain authority on the land necessary to build the rail.

2025 & Beyond

In 2024, our big update was that Amtrak had become a formal partner, officially taking over planning of the project. This was a leap forward, as Amtrak is the only company that currently operates high speed rail in the United States. Amtrak operates the Acela, which is high speed rail that connects Washington DC to Boston (with stops in NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other cities in the “Northeast Corridor”). Things appeared even more promising when, in August 2024, the project was awarded a $64 million dollar grant from the government to continue planning the project.

While 2024 showed real progress, 2025 presented perhaps the largest setbacks the project has ever experienced. In January 2025, a Fort Worth based firm took over as the lead investor; buying out Japanese investors who reportedly lost upwards of $272 million dollars through the venture. In April 2025, the $64 million grant to continue planning was revoked by the US Department of Transportation, citing it as “risky for the taxpayer”, among concerns about ballooning costs. With funding cut, Amtrak withdrew from the partnership. Renfe, Spain’s railway operator, also exited after this announcement. Renfe was previously expected to run the trains, provide maintenance, ticketing, and passenger loyalty programs.

This isn’t to say that the project is dead, but it’s definitely in limbo for the foreseeable future. Amtrak is gone. Japanese investors are gone. Renfe is gone. Federal funding is gone. Only 25% of the land has been acquired. Cost is estimated to be 400% higher than when the project was announced. We are now over a decade into the project and the project looks to be set back further now it has been at any prior point since 2015.

There is a glimmer of hope though. In 2022, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that Texas Central has eminent domain authority on land needed to build the line.