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Recent studies have found that expanded passenger rail service between Austin and San Antonio is possible, though getting trains on the tracks remains a long way off.
The Texas Department of Transportation recently released its Austin-San Antonio Passenger Rail Study. A separate study commissioned by the Travis County Commissioners Court is expected to be released soon.
The TxDOT study looked at using the existing rail corridor between the two cities near Interstate 35. The Travis County study examines a potential route along State Highway 130 and Interstate 10 east of San Antonio.
Amtrak currently provides passenger rail service between the two cities, but its one round-trip per day offers limited scheduling options. An estimated 266,000 trips are made between the Austin and San Antonio areas on a typical weekday, most of them along the Interstate 35 corridor.
The proposal using the existing rail corridor is estimated to cost between roughly $810 million and $1.9 billion. The alternative route could cost considerably more because much of it would need to be elevated. Neither proposal has secured construction funding.
To learn more about the studies and the future of passenger rail between San Antonio and Austin, Texas Public Radio’s Jerry Clayton spoke with Peter LeCody, president of Texas Rail Advocates, a nonprofit group that educates the public and private sectors about freight and passenger rail.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Clayton: For people who haven't been following this closely, what are these two latest studies really telling us?
LeCody: Well, they're telling us that you're either going to be stuck in traffic for the rest of your life, or we're going to have to find some solutions other than building more roads and expanding our highways.
Clayton: There are really two different ideas here, represented by these two studies. Can you explain the difference between the two?
LeCody: The first study was commissioned by TxDOT, and this was the study between Austin and San Antonio looking for options other than building more highways. So the study did an identification of infrastructure, the estimated cap and operating costs, and also looked at the potential ridership.
This study would use the existing Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way between Austin and San Antonio. At the same time this study was being done, the Travis County commissioners commissioned a study by the same group to look at the passenger rail service along the State Highway 130 corridor between the Austin airport and down toward San Antonio, and then using Interstate 10 to go from east of San Antonio into the downtown area.
So, two studies have come out in June. The other one from the Travis County commissioners, we are expecting to have that released in the near future.
Clayton: There's a huge difference in cost between these two plans. Is that correct?
LeCody: Yes, there is. There's an estimate, and, you know, buckle your seatbelt here. I mean, it's not cheap to build a passenger rail line, and of course, if you look at the cost of upgrading the highways between Austin and San Antonio, you're talking billions and billions and billions of dollars.
It could be anywhere from close to a billion dollars to $2 billion to do the study from Austin to San Antonio using Union Pacific right-of-way. It would be considerably more because you're going to have to elevate it most of the way using the State Highway 130 and the I-10 portion.
Clayton: So, in your opinion, what is standing between these studies and someone actually being able to buy a ticket?
LeCody: That's, that's the billion-dollar question, Jerry. It's funding. We know we need some additional resources other than building roadways. The thing is, we have to look at funding mechanisms. Now, I've got to say one thing: the legislature, both on the Republican and Democrat side, have been listening to what our needs are. More than they have in the past. And if you realize that we really haven't done much with rail at all as far as moving passengers here in Texas, a lot of it has to do with the fact that TxDOT really didn't even have a rail division until it was established in 2009. Other states have had rail divisions and rail management departments for over a century. So that's kind of put us back into doing a lot of baby steps.
But the thing is now that legislators are looking, and, you know, they're the ones that are driving to Austin and being caught in traffic, and I think they're starting to realize, hey, folks, you know, maybe there is a better way that we can move people in the future.
We have to have good roads, you know, we have to have good ports, good airports, but we also have to have good passenger rail systems.
To learn more about Texas Rail Advocates, visit texasrailadvocates.org
