Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Building a 145-mile-long freight rail bypass around Austin and San Antonio at a cost of $2.4 billion, making commuter rail possible between the cities, would generate about $1.4 billion in public benefits over 20 years, a study to be released today says.

That $2.4 billion, however, does not include the estimated $600 million cost of building passenger rail between Austin and San Antonio, or the $41 million annual operating costs estimated by the agency charged with running such a line.

And at this point, no matter the public benefit, it remains unclear how either the state or Central Texas governments will raise the money for the freight line bypass or the commuter line.

The Texas Department of Transportation, which did the study, and Union Pacific, which owns the existing freight tracks through the area, have been in talks for many years over whether such a bypass is necessary and feasible — and who would pay for it. The agency and the railroad would have to reach some sort of agreement before any sort of relocation occurs.

The Central Texas Rail Relocation Study looked at various alternatives to how freight currently moves through Central and South Texas. More than two dozen freight trains a day typically run on the Union Pacific corridor between Taylor and San Antonio, passing at street level past almost 200 city roads and highways.

The long, creeping trains cause delays for motorists at those crossings — San Marcos in particular is bedeviled — as well as a safety hazard. Four people died in various train accidents in San Antonio in 2004.

And the frequency and idiosyncratic scheduling of those freight trains on the current track, controlled by Union Pacific, would render commuter rail service nonviable, transportation officials say, because guaranteeing on-time departures and arrivals would be impossible.

Most of those trains are carrying loads destined for points beyond San Antonio and Taylor, so commuter rail advocates have been talking for years about a possible bypass. The 110-page report by TxDOT looks at each segment of such a bypass in detail, outlining the needs for overpasses, new track, straightening of some sections, smoothing out of areas too steep for greater freight speeds and a possible shortcut from Bastrop to Red Rock east of San Marcos.

The report also attempts to estimate benefits to the public from having a commuter rail system such as lower emissions from freight trains and reduction of waiting time for cars at rail crossings on the existing Taylor-to-Austin-to-San Antonio line. Property values in the vicinity of the line, for instance, would increase by $106 million, TxDOT estimates.

Officials had estimated in the past that a bypass of Austin would cost about $700 million. According to the TxDOT report, a bypass from Taylor, through Lockhart to south of San Marcos instead would cost about $883 million. If the bypass instead continued south from Lockhart to Seguin and then into San Antonio, the cost would be about $1.72 billion.

If the line were to go from Seguin around the south side of San Antonio, the total cost would be $2.4 billion, the report says.

A Union Pacific official, in a letter to TxDOT, said he does not like that last alternative. That more circuitous route would add 15 miles to many east-west routes, using about 1 million extra gallons of fuel annually, Union Pacific Vice President of Network Planning and Operations John H. Rebensdorf said in a letter.

Texans passed a constitutional amendment in 2005 creating a rail relocation fund. However, the Legislature in 2007 failed to appropriate any money for the fund. And, if it does, the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas have relocation needs of their own that would compete for any available money.

The Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District, created by the Legislature to build and run passenger trains between the two cities, has almost no taxing authority; it can collect some property taxes from development that might occur around train stations. In its decade-long existence, the agency has so far engaged only in planning, using federal grants.

Officials with the district have been talking to TxDOT and Amtrak, which runs a few trains a week between the two cities (and points beyond) and is often delayed by Union Pacific trains, about the possibility of using Amtrak trains for some sort of commuter service.

$2.4 billion

Estimated cost of building a freight rail bypass around Austin and San Antonio

$1.4 billion

Amount of public benefits over 20 years

$600 million

Estimated cost of building passenger rail between Austin and San Antonio