Dallas to Houston is only an hour flight and about 5 hours driving. High speed rail might make the trip in 2-3 hours, but it would do nothing for all the towns in between.
In Texas, the State and citizens own the land; not the Feds.
I see the high speed rail only happening on new tracks adjacent to existing RR right of way. That WILL provide a lot of jobs and wont involve taking citizens’ farmland or homes.
The median of the existing Interstate could be used by elevating the railway. Something Elon Musk proposed with his high tech tube plan, or something that may even prove cost effective for an elevated maglev vs the purchase of new right-of-way.
Musk's technology might possibly cut the travel time from Dallas to Houston to less than 30 minutes.