Amtrak and Texas Central announced a partnership Friday to link the proposed bullet train from Dallas to Houston to the national passenger rail network.
Passengers will be able to book their bullet train trips through Amtrak. The partnership also commits the high-speed rail operator to transport passengers between Amtrak’s Dallas endpoint, Union Station, to the Texas Central’s multilevel station between South Riverfront Boulevard and South Austin Street.
Texas Central will also provide similar shuttle service between the Amtrak endpoint and the former mall site it has chosen for a terminal in northwest Houston.
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The agreement also makes Amtrak training, marketing and sales capabilities available to Texas Central.
See here for the press release. I don’t know how many people might take advantage of this networking between Amtrak and Texas Central, but being able to plug into Amtrak’s ticketing system instead of having to build their own is a win for TCR. And seriously, all of the connections, from the proposed extension to D/FW Airport to the Uptown BRT and whatever else Metro may build to this, they’re all good and make the overall system better. Keep it coming.
Charles, Texas Central will still develop their own ticketing system if the project goes forward.
The agreement with Amtrak has Amtrak adding Texas Central to Amtrak’s system, and Texas Central will “explore opportunities ” for through tickets for “Amtrak trains through the reservation and ticketing system to be developed by TCRR.”
The transfer service is unspecified.
Texas Central, despite claiming otherwise, wants the STB to oversee them.