Travis County is funding a study to determine the feasibility of a passenger rail between Austin and San Antonio.
The commissioners court voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a nearly $125,000 contract with HNTB to conduct the study. The engineering firm will look into all possible routes along SH 130 and I-10.
Travis County Judge Andy Brown said the county’s goal is to find a route on publicly-owned land, a move he said could make building a rail line between the two cities possible before construction on I-35 is complete.
“I think that makes the possibility of getting rail between … the Williamson-Travis area down to Bexar County much more realistic and potentially much quicker,” he said.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) estimates construction on I-35 through downtown Austin, which kicked off last year, will take up to eight years.
Travis County Commissioners said the rail would offset traffic on I-35, which they project will worsen with construction and population growth. The current population along I-35 between Austin and San Antonio is roughly 4.5 million people and is expected to grow to up to 7 million by 2030, according to Travis County documents.
“Every time we talk about … providing passenger rail between Austin and San Antonio, people are just ecstatic about the prospect," Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea said. “Because nobody likes being stuck on I-35, and it’s going to get worse.”
Travis County is the sole funder of the study, but if building a rail line is deemed feasible, the federal government would have to fund construction costs.
Austin and Travis County leaders have pushed for a passenger rail system to San Antonio for decades, but so far haven’t been able to secure funding for the project.
The Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council has lobbied for a commuter rail between the two cities since the 1980s, but those plans were never realized.
In 2023, Brown and Mayor Kirk Watson spent months lobbying for Austin to be included in a multi-billion dollar investment the Federal Railroad Administration was putting toward major railway projects around the country, but the city was ultimately left out.
Brown has also previously asked Union Pacific, which owns the tracks along I-35, for help building the rail but to no avail.
In the most recent legislative session, state Rep. John Bucy, who represents north Austin, filed a bill that would have directed TxDOT to work with private firms to build a rail system connecting Austin, Dallas and San Antonio. That bill never passed.
TxDOT also has a contract with HNTB to study the feasibility of a rail between the two cities along I-35. The results of both studies are expected to come out next year.
