State Rep. Terry Canales, chairman of the House Select Committee on Transportation Funding, says the State of Texas must spend more money on rail infrastructure.

Giving a keynote speech at a big rail conference in Mission, Texas, the Edinburg Democrat, said moving cargo from trucks to rail would improve safety and improve efficiency.

“I want to focus on a critical aspect of our transportation future, and how expanding and optimizing rail infrastructure can immeasurably enhance not only safety, but the entire transportation system,” Canales said, at the start of his speech. 

Canales, who previously served as chair of the House Committee on Transportation for three consecutive sessions, was speaking at the Rio Grande Valley International Rail Conference hosted by RGV Rail Advocates and held at Balli's Event Centers & Catering in Mission.

Only two percent of transportation funding is spent on rail and that is woefully inadequate, Canales said. 

“What's important to recognize is this: the population is scheduled to double by 2050, and we cannot pave our way out of population growth. We've got people coming from all over the country, and they don't bring their roads with them.”

Canales pointed out that Texas has more freight rail mileage than any other state.

“Texas is the leader in freight rail mileage, with over 10,500 miles of track serving class one and short line carriers, moving hundreds of millions of tons of freight annually,” he said. 

“Getting funding for rail and getting funding for mass transit, which is the future… there’s going to have to be a change. There's just no way around it.

“It's imperative that we begin to recognize how important rail is. The rail movement equates to millions of truck strips taken off the highways every year. We cannot engineer our way out solely with asphalt, that we just cannot pave our way out of this. The more trucks we take off the road, the safer we are.”

Canales continued: “We must strategically shift, where possible, onto rail. That's a fact. When you take into account the population growth and the amount of freight that's projected to grow, the legislature has to focus on rail.”

Canales said that, historically, Legislature has not looked favorably on rail funding. He said he saw signs of that changing in the last legislative session with some support for Senate Bill 1555, by Sen. Robert Nicholls, Senate Bill 2129 by Sen. Nathan Johnson, and House Bill 483 by Rep. Bucy.

Canales concluded his remarks with this impassioned plea:

“Rail is not a legacy system. It is a 21st Century safety infrastructure system. Our challenge is to continue investing, collaborating and building the infrastructure that connects the region with the rest of the state and cross border. By investing in rail corridors, grade separations, advanced control systems, seamless border connections, we will reduce the crash risk, lower highway congestion, lower highway maintenance and preservation and support a transportation network that moves more freight and does so more safely. 

“Together, we can ensure that the RGV remains the heartbeat of the US-Mexico trade symbiotic relationship for generations to come. And rail - both passenger and freight -transport remains a major component of that goal. Thank you for having me. I greatly appreciate being here. I can tell you that you don't have a greater advocate for logic and logic is rail.”

View video here: https://youtu.be/Lwif5ccqH84

Originally posted in the Rio Grande Guardian: https://riograndeguardian.com/stories/canales-state-of-texas-needs-to-place-a-greater-emphasis-on-rail,56897