The train idea that is a candidate for Texas government money isn’t the Dallas-Houston route and it will never be. The one that is is a monorail that is to parallel 35 between Austin and Dallas. The company doing the Dallas to Houston route does not want any government involvement that it can avoid. I personally know some of the people involved in the other one, the monorail from Austin, and yeah, that one wants government money.
Understand that Texas state government has added at least 7200 people to their staff thus far this year, all in Austin. Re the train from Dallas-Houston, I’ll accept your first hand knowledge over what I’ve read and stand corrected. Do not expect Southwest Airlines to go quietly into the night on this one though. Also hope it doesn’t become another Amtrak with limited ridership and huge subsidies.
Nothing about anything involving Austin surprises me any more.