
High-speed rail between Houston and Dallas has an eminent domain problem - state_machine
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2016/06/24/high_speed_rail_between_houston_and_dallas_has_an_eminent_domain_problem.html
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dalke
So if I run 500 meters of track somewhere in Texas, can I say I have a
railroad company?

For fun, the law is at
[http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/TN/htm/TN.81.htm](http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/TN/htm/TN.81.htm)
. However, that's the definition section. The important part is who has the
right of eminent domain for making a railroad.

If the proposed high-speed rail is electric, then there's
[http://law.onecle.com/texas/transportation/131.012.html](http://law.onecle.com/texas/transportation/131.012.html)
:

> Sec. 131.012. EMINENT DOMAIN. A corporation chartered for the purpose of
> constructing, acquiring, maintaining, or operating lines of electric railway
> between municipalities in this state for the transportation of freight,
> passengers, or both freight and passengers may:

> (1) exercise the power of eminent domain with all the rights and powers
> granted by law to a railroad company; and

> (2) enter, condemn, and appropriate land, right-of-way, easements, or other
> property of any person or corporation to acquire:

> (A) right-of-way on which to construct and operate lines of railway for the
> acquiring corporation; or

> (B) sites for depots or power plants.

It's not restricted to a railroad company.

Then from
[http://texascentralhighspeedrail.com/page1/index.html](http://texascentralhighspeedrail.com/page1/index.html)
, we know it's a "N700-I Bullet" electric train. So 131.012 applies, so they
can "exercise the power of eminent domain with all the rights and powers
granted by law to a railroad company" even without being a railroad company.

------
angersock
For those that don't know, going up and down I-45 you run into a bunch of
little towns that really want to capture that revenue--places like Corsicana,
Centerville, and some others.

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Buc-ee's ends up funding litigation against
this, because their gigantic truck stops and waystations live off of that
traffic.

