The Train The Train

Bullet train from Dallas to Houston takes big step with design hire

4 Texas Central Rail high-speed bullet train rail

The high-speed train will get from Dallas to Houston in 90 minutes.

Photo of the N700 courtesy of © JR Central

The Texas Bullet Train moves one giant step forward with the hiring of a firm to work on the project's design and engineering. Texas Central, developer of the high-speed train project, has forged an agreement with Fluor Enterprises Inc., based in Irving.

Fluor Enterprises is the primary operating subsidiary of Fluor Corporation and The Lane Construction Corporation. Fluor and Lane would be the preferred design-builder of the North Texas-to-Houston line after development phase and financial close.

Texas Central, Fluor, and Lane will work together on refining and updating the project's construction planning and sequencing, scheduling and cost estimates, procurement, and other design and engineering activities related to the civil infrastructure.

The train is a 240-mile line that will connect North Texas and Houston in 90 minutes, with a midway stop in the Brazos Valley.

According to Texas Central CEO Carlos Aguilar, that Texas Bullet Train has received attention from world-class firms wanting to be part of the project.

"We are excited to partner with firms that have deep Texas roots," Aguilar says in a release. "This is the latest in a long list of Texas-based companies helping build the train, including Freese & Nichols, Contract Land Staff, and Survey And Mapping."

The project is investor-led and will not be taking federal or state grants for its construction or operations.

Fluor has expertise designing and constructing high-speed train infrastructure, along with a record of accomplishment on large, complex civil construction projects for more than 100 years. Lane has more than 125 years of experience in leading heavy civil construction projects, specializing in highways, bridges, rail, metro and mass transit, airport systems, and power and energy projects.

Texas Central said Fluor and Lane have no equity or ownership stake in the project and will not be involved in land acquisition.

Lane has been involved in extensive mass transit works in the U.S., performing all aspects of work, including design, permitting, quality control, environmental requirements, construction, system integration and system safety certification.

Lane has worked in Texas since the early 1980s. Its Texas projects include a $300 million design-build joint venture to construct managed lanes on SH 360 from Interstate 20 to US 287 south of Arlington; extending runways and taxiways at Fort Worth Alliance Airport; and reconstructing segments of Interstate 35 in North Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, and San Antonio. The signature Brazos River Bridges on I-35 in Waco won the 2014 Engineering Excellence Award. Lane is also a joint venture partner on the $1 billion I-35 Express project from Dallas to Denton.

Lane's parent company, Salini Impregilo, has experience in high-speed trains in Italy with the Bologna-Firenze, Milano Torino, and current Milano-Genova lines, as well as in other countries. They are currently active in the construction of metro systems and railway lines such as the Red Line in Doha (Qatar), one of the largest infrastructure developments in the Middle East; Line 3 of Riyadh’s new metro (Saudi Arabia); and Cityringen, Copenhagen’s new metro (Denmark).

The latest progress on the Texas high-speed train includes preparing environmental assessments, engineering, and other areas. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) continues to work on an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which will help determine the project timeline and final route.

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income analysis

This is the family income needed for one parent to stay home in Texas

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

The cost of raising a child has ballooned in major metros like Dallas-Fort Worth, forcing many families to weight the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas, that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support their stay-at-home partner and their child, the report found. If both parents worked in the household, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in North Texas, however, is slightly more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $22,337 to raise a child in Dallas-Fort Worth.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report's author says families will look for ways to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family