Austin Metro

The study also assumed that the passenger train would run parallel to an existing Union Pacific freight line between Austin and Houston.

“If there’s potential for coming to any kind of agreement with Union Pacific on those routes, the cost could be less, but these are pretty heavily used freight routes, so we don’t know what that potential really could be,” Moczygemba said.

TxDOT’s rail division partnered with the Gulf Coast Rail District for the feasibility analysis, with TxDOT studying the corridor between Austin and Hempstead and the Golf Coast District, focusing on the Hempstead-Houston corridor. Cost estimates provided by TxDOT did not include the build-out for the line connecting Houston with Hempstead, Lileikis said.

If built, TxDOT would not likely operate the rail line, Moczygemba said.

“Amtrak could be a possibility as one of the operators but it would be competitively bid,” she said.

Coordination with other agencies

After the presentation, CAMPO board member and Austin City Councilman Chris Riley asked if TxDOT considered its passenger rail line to be a competing option to another line proposed by the Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation—the Texas T-Bone—or if it would be a complimentary service.  

“Texas T-Bone doesn’t have any studies or engineering behind it,” Moczygemba said. “It’s mostly just political support that they’ve gathered through their initiative as what they think would be the best route, but they don’t really have any studies to support that,”

And unlike the Texas T-Bone, TxDOT’s rail line would not be a high-speed train, she said.

Nonetheless, the corridor is one that will continue to get attention from transportation planners and policymakers. TxDOT undertook the feasibility study after the Texas Transportation Institute published a report that looked at intercity pairs.

“[The TTI study] was a high-level study looking at demographics and ridership, and this corridor was identified as one of the top corridors [in the state],” Moczygemba said.

She added that population was one of big reasons that the Austin-Houston corridor was identified as one of the most important in Texas.

Coordination with municipalities

At the Feb. 13 presentation, Hays County Commissioner and CAMPO Chair Will Conley asked how affected municipalities had reacted to the proposed rail line. Moczygemba said that since the study had not moved into the environmental phase, TxDOT had not yet notified other municipalities about the study.

“This was purely looking at it from an infrastructure analysis level. When we get into the ridership analysis, some of those concerns will be developed a little more,” she said.

Corrections: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the feasibility indendified three potential routes instead of four. The earlier version also said that each car could seat 210-250 people, though that is actually per train.