THANK YOU to each and every one of you who reached out to tell the Federal Railroad Administration to #BuildThisTrain during the public input process on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from all along the route and across the state during this critical time in the development of the project.
The (EIS) process is designed for public involvement, and your feedback will enable the project to better address community and environmental concerns as we move forward toward construction. After all, a well-designed high-speed train system benefits EVERYONE — the traveling public, the communities who will receive tax revenue generated by successful operations and the thousands of people employed to build and operate the project.
So What’s Next?
Texas engineers, architects and environmental experts, among others, will continue to work every day, on many fronts, including infrastructure engineering design, development of world-leading safety practices and rules, design of the interior of the trains, best practices for the customer/rider experience, minimizing environmental impact and much more.
Where is the project in the regulatory approval process?
The project continues to work through the extensive and detailed regulatory review process that involving 19 federal and state agencies, being led by the Federal Railroad Administration. The release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is the latest regulatory milestone for the project – and a major one!
The feedback from the public input process will now be reviewed, addressed and integrated into the Final Environmental Impact Statement forthcoming from the FRA which will ensure these issues are built into the construction plan. The next step will be the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, followed by Record of Decision and the beginning of the construction phase – as soon as 2019.