DALLAS — The Dallas City Council Wednesday approved a nearly $567,000 contract with a consulting firm to study the economic impact connecting the city to Fort Worth and Houston by high-speed rail could have on the area.
The one-year contract with Boston Consulting Group comes after several city council members in March requested economic impact information before moving forward with a plan to connect Dallas and Fort Worth by high-speed rail.
The Dallas City Council in June voted to oppose the plan presented at the time, which had rail lines going above the ground from South Dallas, through Downtown and Uptown. That proposal led a prominent developer to warn that the iconic Reunion Tower may be "sacrificed" if existing plans go forward.
Over the summer, the preferred route for the proposed line between Dallas and Fort Worth was changed to bypass downtown Dallas after council members expressed concerns it could interfere with planned development, including renovations to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
Last month, the Regional Transportation Council approved $1.65 million more to study the proposed high-speed rail route, which would run west of downtown Dallas, between the Trinity River and South Riverfront Boulevard. The proposed route would then cut across Houston Street and I-35E before reaching a station in the Cedars.
That route proposes stops in Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth.
Meanwhile, plans for the estimated $30 billion bullet train between Dallas and Houston is also expected to continue. That project recently received a $64 million grant to continue the planning process.
Amtrak is in charge of the line connecting Dallas and Houston and officials hope if both the Dallas-to-Houston and Dallas-to-Fort Worth lines are built, they’ll be connected eventually.
