Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

The viability of high-speed rail transportation in the United States has been widely questioned since the Obama administration gave it a big push and Congress set aside stimulus money. Viability in Texas has been ridiculed.

But now comes one of the world leaders in high-speed operations and technology with an encouraging counter message: It's possible for a private outfit to make a buck in this state running trains at 220 mph between major cities.

In a detailed proposal filed with the federal government this month, SNCF, which operates the French national railway system, states its financial case for a line extending from Dallas-Fort Worth into Austin and down to San Antonio.

State leaders should latch on to this working document and brandish it with gusto. The states are competing right now for $8 billion in stimulus funds and $5 billion more over five years to modernize the rail network, including money to plan high-speed rail.

California and the Midwest have been handicapped as the favorites to run off with most of the prize. But with the French interested in Texas, too, and pulling together financials, the race suddenly has a new look. Rail boosters in Texas – and there are many – should make sure the state's most influential voices press the case in Washington for that high-speed rail seed money.

If this scenario sounds familiar, it should. State lawmakers created a High Speed Rail Authority 20 years ago, and the panel picked a French-American consortium for a franchise to develop intercity service. But ardor cooled, opponents picked the plan apart, financing dried up and the effort went off the tracks within five years.

Plenty has changed. For starters, the population has ballooned from about 16 million to 25 million, and intercity highway construction has fallen pitifully behind needs. International trade has swelled over-the-road truck traffic and pounded the highways, especially on the I-35 corridor that is the focus of the French interest today.

Meanwhile, transportation experts see frontier technology blooming abroad as bullet train service enjoys increasing popularity, especially in France, where a high-speed network runs hundreds of routes daily with trains in the 200-mph range.

A financial proposal drawing on that kind of experience is potent rebuttal to those who question the economics of high-speed rail in Texas. The SNCF filing suggests the venture can operate profitably but would rely on some level of public financing to build infrastructure. Some will question a public stake in a private venture, but it's premature to pick sides before all the arguments can be made.

As for perspective on what a dollar buys for infrastructure today, the French put the price tag for the DFW-San Antonio rail leg at $13.8 billion, while TxDOT pegs construction costs for the LBJ rebuilding in North Dallas at just more than $2 billion.

Perhaps the most important figure is the cost – in jobs, technology development and highway construction – if the state does not invest in high-speed rail.