Group Offers Texas Rail Plan: A consortium...

Group Offers Texas Rail Plan: A consortium that includes a French train maker, Morrison Knudsen Corp. of Boise, Ida., and Texas investors unveiled plans for the nation’s first high-speed rail project. The train would travel the 250 miles between Houston and Dallas in one hour and 48 minutes at 200 m.p.h. Planners hope the project, with an initial price tag of $2.2 billion, will include a federal government subsidy and other private investors. If approved, the train could be operating by 1998. At a Dallas news conference, Morrison Knudsen Chairman William M. Agee said the project does not expect funding from the state and will not involve new taxes. The low cost of land in Texas is one reason the consortium is interested in building in the state, he added.