Bills aimed at controversial Dallas-Houston bullet train sail out of Senate committee
The Texas Senate's transportation committee sent to the full Senate on Wednesday five high-speed train bills, some of which could impact or hinder a private company's plans to build a bullet train from Dallas to Houston.
The bills collectively would prevent lawmakers from allocating any state funds to the controversial project, require Texas Central Partners to build the line in a way that would allow multiple types of trains to run on it and force the company to offer land acquired for the project back to the previous property owners if the project doesn’t come to fruition.
At Wednesday's hearing, several senators on the Senate Transportation Committee and a group that formed in opposition to Texas Central's project portrayed the legislation as protections for taxpayers and landowners.
“They offer sensible regulation,” said Ben Leman, chairman of Texans Against High-Speed Rail.
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