Texas Supreme Court sides with bullet train backers, clearing way for use of eminent domain for land

Texas Central plans to use Japanese-style Shinkansen bullet trains, which have been used in Japan for a half-century, to connect Houston and Dallas.

Freestone County Commissioner Michael Daniels, right, talks to a concerned landowner at a public hearing Jan. 31, 2018, in Fairfield as they look over the proposed route of a high-speed rail line by Texas Central Partners.

Texas Central Railroad, according to the Texas Supreme Court, is a railroad, ending a five-year legal battle over the controversial high-speed rail company’s right to use state eminent domain laws.

The ruling, unless a federal court intervenes or stops the company in another way, clears the path for backers of the Houston-to-Dallas bullet train to acquire land over the objections of landowners unwilling to sell.

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to review the Texas 13th Court of Appeals ruling last year that upheld Texas Central’s right to use state eminent domain laws.

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