The Biden Administration's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg threw his support behind a high-speed train project between Dallas and Houston, kickstarting a project delayed for years.

In August 2023, Amtrak became the primary sponsor of the project after Texas Central and Japanese investors slowly backed away from previous plans. In an interview with Lone Star Politics, Secretary Buttigieg said the new vision has "enormous potential."

"We believe in this. Obviously it has to turn into a more specific design and vision but everything I've seen makes me very excited about this," said Sec. Buttigieg.

The secretary cited how the population is laid out in Texas. The cities in the "Texas Triangle" - Houston, San Antonio, through Austin to Dallas - are a long drive or short flight away. That, mixed with a lot of potential customers, makes it a prime case for high-speed rail.

In December 2023, the Dallas to Houston Amtrak submitted the project to the Federal Railroad Administration's Corridor ID program and it received $500,000. The money will go to prepare the outline of the project, a cost estimate, and timeline known as a Service Development Plan (SDP). Amtrak is working on that SDP currently. After the plan is finalized, Amtrak will submit a final design, construction plans, and gather required permits including environmental reviews.

After all that, the train project will be added to a pipeline of projects for priority Federal funding through the Federal State Partnership-National Program.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments also submitted plans for a high-speed train between Fort Worth and Dallas. That plan also is on the list of Corridor ID grants. The Fort Worth leg recently received pushback from Dallas City Council and major real-estate developer Hunt Realty Investments.

A Los Angeles to Las Vegas public-private partnership and a Los Angeles to San Francisco project were previously in the Corridor ID program. Those projects recently received roughly $3 billion each from the Federal government. Secretary Buttigieg tells NBC 5 the Dallas to Houston leg may be on deck next if the paperwork comes through in the months and years ahead.

"Looking all around the country, one of the most interesting and promising projects to come next is that Texas Central vision," said Sec. Buttigieg.

The most intense pushback on the project comes from landowners in between Dallas and Houston who don't want to sell their land, don't want the massive construction, or the speeding train through their property. Earlier, the project received eminent domain power from a Texas court. People living and lawmakers representing the area around a proposed Bryan-College Station stop have largely advocated against such a project.

When asked, Secretary Buttigieg said using eminent domain must coexist with property rights. He told NBC 5 his department will side with the landowners if they're being abused.

"You've got to do right by the landowners who could be impacted. It's up to the project sponsor to do that," said Buttigieg, "We will come in and make sure that everybody's rights are upheld."

In mid-April there's a large gathering of train advocates, companies, federal and state officials in Hurst.

Despite the years of delay, back-and-forth, and changes to the plan, Secretary Buttigieg says he hopes bullet trains are the future of American transportation.

"I really believe that the first time someone in America sees true high-speed rail, there's going to be no going back," he said.

Following a White House visit from Japan’s chief executive, the U.S. and Japan have both seemed to reaffirm support of the Dallas to Houston high-speed rail project.

The White House released a fact sheet Wednesday after President Joe Biden welcomed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The two leaders affirmed or reaffirmed several “political understandings” on a number of issues ranging from defense and security to economic cooperation to diplomacy and development.

Related:Sparring over Dallas-to-Houston high-speed rail station idles project funding talks

But leading up to the meeting, Reuters reported that Biden is seeking to revive interest in the multi-billion-dollar project. Three sources familiar with the summit preparations told the outlet that Texas Central’s project would be on the agenda for talks.

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Following the meeting, the fact sheet noted the U.S. Department of Transportation and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism welcomed Amtrak’s leadership of the project.

“The successful completion of development efforts and other requirements would position the project for potential future funding and financing opportunities,” White House officials wrote in the fact sheet.

Editorial: High-speed rail: Dallas to Houston should go full steam ahead

The proposal that aims to shuttle passengers from Dallas to Houston in about 90 minutes has been in development for a decade. The 220-mile drive between the proposed stations takes at least three-and-a-half hours. Japan has a stake in the project as Texas Central is partnered with Japan Central Railways, which owns and operates the country’s Shinkansen bullet train.

It has gained steam in the last few months after Amtrak announced in August it is exploring a partnership with Texas Central for the route. With Amtrak’s involvement, the project was awarded $500,000 for planning and development from the Corridor Identification and Development Program, created after the passing of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.

“We wholeheartedly support the bilateral emphasis on this transformative project, which would connect Dallas and Houston, Texas, with high-speed rail,” Andy Byford, Amtrak’s senior vice president of high-speed rail development, wrote in a statement about the news. “Amtrak will continue progressing design and project development activities as part of the FRA’s [Federal Railroad Administration’s] Corridor Identification and Development Program.”

The Texas Central plan aims to utilize bullet train technology based on the shinkansen system that would travel largely along high-voltage transmission lines, with a stop in the Brazos Valley, between College Station and Huntsville.

Japan’s own government has placed funding in the project. In 2018, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation signed an agreement to provide a $300 million loan to Texas Central. In a news release then, the bank said that the financing “is expected to contribute to maintaining and increasing the international competitiveness of Japanese companies.”

The agreement included the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development (JOIN). Over a majority of the company’s shareholders is the Japanese government, according to its website.

It’s not clear if JBIC will still be the lead investor or if JOIN will shoulder the bulk of the loan. JOIN’s investment portfolio says the company has a max investment of around $165 million (25.3 billion Japanese Yen).

In a Wednesday note to investors, Michael Bui, Texas Central’s chief executive and the senior managing director of FTI Consulting, said both the U.S. and Japanese government noted that Amtrak has reached an agreement in principle with JOIN on a transaction framework to advance the development of the project.

“The objective of the framework is to define a path forward for a joint effort between the United States and Japan to construct the project,” wrote Bui, noting that Texas Central is not yet a party to the framework and that discussions are ongoing.

Amtrak officials were not immediately able to comment on the proposed agreement. One of the biggest hurdles is the funding to make it a reality as the corridor could cost tens of billions of dollars. The timeline for the project also remains unclear.

Related:Mike Rawlings: Get on board with high-speed rail

The project does have some key victories nudging it forward. The Federal Railroad Administration approved the project in 2020 by issuing an environmental statement and a record of decision that formally selected the alignment for the corridor. The Texas Supreme Court also ruled in 2022 that the company can use eminent domain to acquire land for its bullet train.

U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, wrote in a post on X that he is “glad that this project was mentioned as part of bilateral discussions, and I’ll continue working to move this forward.”

Planners in Dallas-Fort Worth ultimately hope to have a high-speed rail corridor that carries travelers on a one-seat ride from Fort Worth to Dallas and Dallas to Houston in less than two hours.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments is leading the study for the corridor between Fort Worth and Dallas, which was able to formally begin its federal environmental review phase in March. The corridor also received a half-a-million-dollar grant from the Corridor ID grant program.

Dallas city council members have raised questions about the need for the stretch connecting the two cities, with a stop in Arlington.

In a recent interview with WFAA-TV (Channel 8), Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Transportation Secretary, said the state’s geography is one of the best candidates in the country for a project like Texas Central’s.

“We’re funding some of that planning work because I think it can and should become a reality,” he said.

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Zaeem Shaikh, Staff, Reporter. Zaeem Shaikh is a reporter covering breaking news for The Dallas Morning News. He grew up in Fresno, California, and graduated from Fresno State University in 2022. Before joining The News, he has reported for The Sacramento Bee, CalMatters and the Oregonian.

[email protected] zaeemshake

Blazing Hospitality is developing the 8,000-plus-square-foot building on a nearly 1-acre site, where previously a run-down metal building stood.

Credit: Tim Hortons via DBJ

SAGINAW, Texas — Read this story and more North Texas business news from our partners at the Dallas Business Journal

As Canadian coffee shop chain Tim Hortons pushes into the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the first location for Tarrant County is being planned in Saginaw.

Executives at the company developing the retail space, Blazing Hospitality Inc., said earlier this month that Tim Hortons was one of the tenants in its new retail hub under construction at 1005 N. Saginaw Blvd.

Blazing Hospitality is developing the 8,000-plus-square-foot building on a nearly 1-acre site, where previously a run-down metal building stood, in the city north of Fort Worth.

Tim Hortons will occupy about 2,000 square feet and will have a drive-thru, Blazing Hospitality President Smit Shah said.

Canada-based Tim Hortons has a huge footprint in its home country, where it's known for coffee, donuts and breakfast and lunch food. But it also has locations scattered across the United States, including in the Houston area.

Now the chain is looking to expand in Texas. In DFW, there's a location planned at 440 North State Highway 121 in Coppell, Dallas Business Journal previously reported. That could open in the third quarter. Another location is in the works in Denton, WFAA reported.

Ryan Ferranti, head of business development at Tim Hortons U.S., said the company restarted expansion efforts in the country in 2022. The company hopes to have 50-60 locations across Texas' major metros including Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin in the next five to seven years.

The company looks at factors including morning traffic demographics to determine site selection. Texans as a whole consumers a lot of quick service restaurant food, he said. People familiar with the Tim Hortons brand from the Northeast and Midwest are also moving into Southern states such as Texas, Florida and Georgia. He sees a large amount of Canadians visiting the Lone Star state, too.

"We're not trying to build our business just on Canadians," Ferranti said. "We think we have a great product and a great offering for the entire market. But when you're coming into a new market, having these brand evangelists and Canadians that are in the area to help us spread the word, I think is instrumental getting off to a strong start."

The Saginaw franchisees are Ali Lakhany and Emad Lakhany, the brothers who are spearheading the other North Texas locations of Tim Hortons and who oversee the Houston locations through TH of Texas LLC.

The Lakhanys did not respond to requests for comment.

Shah said the franchisees were looking for a smaller market with less competition — and found that in Saginaw, which had an estimated 2022 population of about 25,000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

"Nobody else is there," he said.

Firehouse Subs and Liquorland have also signed on as tenants in Blazing Hospitality's development. About 1,250 square feet remain available for a fourth tenant. Vision Commercial is handling leasing.

Construction should be completed by the end of the year, Shah said.

The City of Saginaw approved a grant of up to $25,000 for the developer via a Chapter 380 incentives agreement, to help fund demolition of the long-vacant building, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office local incentives database.

An affiliated company, SP WA Development LLC, purchased the property at 1005 N. Saginaw Blvd. on May 17 using a nearly $2.6 million loan, according to Tarrant County property records.

Blazing Hospitality is a Fort Worth-based real estate developer and has a $150 million portfolio that encompasses quick-service restaurants and retail. It also has a residential division and is building high-end homes next to Citigroup Inc.'s Las Colinas office campus.

Kendall Graff with Woodmont represented Firehouse Subs and Tim Hortons was represented by Max Keffer and Alden Harris of SHOP Companies during lease negotiations.