SAN MARCOS—The Lone Star Rail District is still going full speed ahead with its passenger rail project, even after Union Pacific Railroad struck a major blow by pulling out of the project in February.
Lone Star Rail Board members voted Friday to continue the environmental impact studies surrounding different options for the project.
"In the history of the rail district this is the first time we've ever called a special meeting as far as I can recall," Lone Star Rail District Chairman Sid Covington said. "Our intent was to show people what we're really working on"
What they're working on is different routes--a path that wouldn't travel along the Union Pacific tracks. The environmental impact study will look at those possible routes for Lone Star Rail.
"Going out on a limb, using the Interstate 35 corridor makes the next best sense," Covington said.
However, not everyone was pleased with the direction of the project.
"In my humble opinion there's going to have to be a lot more involvement by higher levels of government, particularly our state government, if we ever are going to want to see this to fruition," Hays County Commissioner Will Conley, a Republican, said.
Board members also said they'd like Union Pacific to come back to the table. But for now, the UP tracks will only carry freight, and Lone Star is still looking for another way forward.