The long awaited Texas High Speed Rail between Houston and Dallas has just received a $64 million dollar federal boost. But will it really make a difference?
"Realistically, I think for the cost that it's going to incur, the cost of each ticket that they're going to have to charge to even break even or make money, I don't know that this is going to be a better bet than hopping on a Southwest flight from Houston to Dallas" said Charles Blain, president of Urban Reform who wrote about the story for Texas Scorecard.
The original cost for the Texas Central project was $10 billion, and now that estimate is up to as high as $40 billion. The bottom line is, $64 million won't be enough.
"They're going to have to seek more federal funding, and they'll probably look to the state for some funding as well" Blain told KTRH, "So, we'll see if they get that. But that's going to be the next hurdle in the project."
A project that is at least 10 to 20 years away. The :90 minute ride between Houston and Dallas would feature one stop in Brazos County.