High Speed Rail In Texas -- The Clock Is Ticking

By Gordon Dickson Greetings from the Omni Mandalay in Irving, site of the 13th annual Transportation and Infrastructure Summit, which begins today and concludes Friday.Keep in touch with Honkin' Mad! to be up to speed on what's happening at this gathering of state and national movers and shakers from the transportation realm.This morning, a couple dozen people with a lot to gain (or lose) in the quest for federal high-speed rail dollars got together in a "stakeholders roundtable."Among them was the group's moderator, Rod Diridon, a board member of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.After the roundtable, Diridon spoke about Texas' chances of getting some of the estimated $50 billion in federal dollars that will be available for states over the next five to seven years for high-speed rail.He noted that the competition is fierce among states that already are further along in their planning for high-speed rail -- including his own California, Florida and Illinois."You've got to have it coming out of Texas government leadership," Diridon said.