News

February 02, 2009

Media contact: John Egan
Elizabeth Christian & Associates Public Relations
512-472-9599
jegan@echristianpr.com

AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association on Thursday (Feb. 12) encouraged the newly appointed members of the Texas House Transportation Committee and the Texas House Appropriations Committee to support rail as one of the fundamental solutions to our state’s transportation challenges.

“As legislators cope with how to best deal with our state’s pressing transportation needs, we urge them to remember the importance of freight and passenger rail,” Bruce Todd, executive director of the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association, said Thursday.

“Texas cannot reasonably tackle our transportation challenges without rail being a key part of the equation. A big step toward improving our state’s freight and passenger rail infrastructure would be to allocate money for the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund. The voters requested this by popular vote, and only the Legislature can grant this request.”

Texas voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2005 establishing the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund to finance relocation and improvement projects. However, state lawmakers have not dedicated any money for the fund. Any state funding for rail relocation and improvement projects in Texas would be balanced with private investments from the railroads.

The Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association applauds Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon of San Antonio, a member of the House Transportation and Appropriations committees, and Sen. John Carona of Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee for providing legislative momentum on rail relocation and improvement efforts, Todd said. Across Texas, 44 freight railroads operate on more than 10,000 miles of track (more miles of track than any other state).

“While the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association has not formally endorsed any particularly method of funding,” Todd said, “we appreciate that Senator Carona and Representative McClendon have advanced the legislative dialogue by proposing budgetary mechanisms that can be discussed and debated publicly.”

During the Legislature’s 2009 session, the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association is pursuing various options for funding that would enable relocation and improvement of freight rail lines around the state. These options would not compete with funding for other transportation needs.

The rail funding would create a revenue stream that could leverage billions of dollars in bonding authority to improve transportation safety, ease congestion at hundreds of railroad crossings around the state, increase the capacity of the state’s freight rail network, shift more of the state’s ever-growing truck freight load to improved rail lines and open up existing freight lines for passenger traffic.

“Rail must be a significant part of the discussion concerning our state’s vital—yet overburdened—transportation system,” Todd said.

About the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association
The Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Association is a statewide coalition of municipal, county and state elected officials, as well as groups and concerned Texans, who are interested in improving transportation throughout the state. Rail Relo NOW! is an initiative of the association aimed at obtaining state funding for relocation and improvement of freight rail lines around Texas.
For more information, visit www.railrelo.org.