[Urbannizer]

State lawmakers take aim at bullet train

Key lawmakers filed a pile of legislation Feb. 21 designed to stop the Texas bullet train in its tracks.

Five Republican senators joined four Republican state representatives to file a total of 18 bills addressing concerns with developer Texas Central Partners' proposed bullet train between Dallas and Houston. The concerns ranged from the general regulation of high-speed rail to landowners threatened by the potential misuse of eminent domain to ensuring the state isn't later forced to bail out the private project with taxpayer dollars.

Texas Central, a subsidiary of a Japanese company, plans to construct the 240-mile Dallas-Houston line funded by private investors. The company has repeatedly said that it won’t seek public funding.

"This group of foreign investors is threatening to seize family farms, physically divide the state of Texas, and have a gravely detrimental impact on the citizens I represent," state Rep. Leighton Schubert, R-Caldwell, said in a statement. "At a minimum, the people of Texas deserve reasonable reassurances that their private property rights will be respected and that they will not be left holding the bag if this ill-conceived project fails."