I’m pretty sure Texas could build that rail line a LOT cheaper than California was unable to do.
Texas’s virtue is that it’s government is smaller than California’s, not necessarily that it is cleaner or better-run.
The good news is that the Houston-Dallas line is, as of right now, planned to be entirely privately-funded. The question is whether we believe that will always be the case. My fear is that it is halfway built before they start seeking a government bailout. Passenger railroads are usually government-run in the US because they are generally obsolete and not economically viable.
But maybe it’s possible to build a profitable private railroad in Texas. If there’s a route in the country that is potentially viable for a high-speed express railroad, it’s Houston to Dallas. And Texas law allows private “common carriers” to condemn land through eminent domain—that procedure is utilized by pipelines all the time.
But is there enough Houston to Dallas business traffic to make it profitable while competing with airlines or cars? I’d probably prefer a 90 minute train ride to a 45 minute flight or 3.5 hour drive, but it’s close, and some of it will depend on whether they can keep the security theater to a minimum.
Who knows: maybe private high speed trains can break the airlines’ oligopoly and introduce some competition the way cable companies and cellular providers did to the telecom companies. That I’d like to see. What I don’t want to see is ostensibly private trains becoming another public bailout target.