$64M grant pushes Houston to Dallas high-speed rail closer to reality, but still far from completion

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- For decades, we've been hearing about the possibility of a high-speed train that would take passengers from Houston to Dallas.

The video above is from ABC13's 24/7 livestream.

It would be the first of its kind -- a Japanese-style bullet train that could take you from Houston to Dallas in less than an hour and a half.

The federal government has now awarded Amtrak $64 million to move forward with the project.

It's nowhere close to the tens of billions the project is expected to cost, but it is a start.

"It's one of those things that I'll believe it when I see it," Ed Emmett, a fellow of Energy and Transportation at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, said. "Generally, I roll my eyes because I first was hearing about Texas high-speed rail, I guess, way back in the 1970's."

The proposed route would have one stop, between College Station and Huntsville, to pick up university traffic.

The train would have to go through rural counties, but buying private land to do so has been expensive and complicated in the past.

"You have a lot of property rights people that are upset. High-speed rail can get around that by using eminent domain, but it's going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time and court battles," Emmett said. "High-speed rail really hasn't gone in anywhere else in the country. The one in California is at least double the cost it was planned."

We can all agree, however, that Texas is growing quickly, and transportation will eventually need to expand, too.

The question for Texans will be which route that expansion takes.

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