Texas Central selected Resource Environmental Solutions (RES) as the project’s provider of ecological mitigation services to help protect and enhance natural ecosystems and the environment throughout construction and operations.
RES will help Texas Central meet or exceed regulatory requirements for environmental mitigation, and it proactively will collaborate with community leaders to identify local and regional conservation opportunities. RES will oversee plans to comply with US Army Corps of Engineers’ requirements that the project restore, enhance and preserve wetlands, streams and environmentally sensitive habitats along the train’s route between Houston and North Texas.
“The elite team of ecologists at RES will help safeguard local ecosystems, and this is one more example of our approach to protect the land and wildlife in a delicate manner,” said Texas Central’s Bill Tucker, the project delivery director.
The project’s scale will allow RES to identify not only isolated pockets along the route that require restoration, but also entire complexes of streams and wetlands suitable for improvement and conservation. Specifically, RES will select mitigation sites and designs that collectively improve the ecological functions of broad areas, including some near the Trinity River, Navasota River, Spring Creek and Cypress Creek.
This environmental work, combined with innovations of the all-electric high-speed train system, will provide the most environmentally friendly travel choice for journeys between Houston and North Texas. The train is estimated to remove more than 14,630 cars per day from interstate 45, offsetting emissions in an area covering four counties that are in air quality nonattainment status.
The Texas HSR system will be the first high-speed train project in Texas and the United States. The 380-km line will connect North Texas and Houston in less than 90 minutes.
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