Texas Central plans to use Japanese style Shinkansen bullet trains, which have been used in Japan for a half-century.A planned high-speed train between Houston and Dallas, backers say, would allow travelers to avoid costly and time-consuming freeway traffic.
“If cannot afford to pay less than $1 million in property taxes, how will it ever be able to raise the $30-plus billion it needs?” the brief states, referencing what some claim will be the total cost of the project.Combined with a number of other developments — Texas Central shedding staff during the pandemic, state and federal lawmakers opposing its efforts to tap federal loan programs — opponents say it is less likely the project will proceed.
“I believe in technology,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said during a May 27, 2021, speech on the region’s transportation future. “We need to regain that momentum and get that bullet train built.” First, Texas Central will need to pay its taxes on numerous properties it purchased as it prepared for construction. Though it has yet to condemn a parcel, Texas Central has been aggressively buying properties it knows it will need for the current route.
Outside Harris County, the amount of taxes owed varies widely, depending on the value of the property. In rural Leon County, for land mostly along the electric transmission line easement identified as the best route for the train, Texas Central owes less than $4,000, less than the individual bill on many of the properties it owns in Houston. In Waller County, where the company owns homes in a subdivision close to the route, the bill totals almost $112,000, according to the county.