So if I run 500 meters of track somewhere in Texas, can I say I have a railroad company?<p>For fun, the law is at <a href="http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/TN/htm/TN.81.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/TN/htm/TN.81.htm</a> . However, that's the definition section. The important part is who has the right of eminent domain for making a railroad.<p>If the proposed high-speed rail is electric, then there's <a href="http://law.onecle.com/texas/transportation/131.012.html" rel="nofollow">http://law.onecle.com/texas/transportation/131.012.html</a> :<p>> Sec. 131.012. EMINENT DOMAIN. A corporation chartered for the purpose of constructing, acquiring, maintaining, or operating lines of electric railway between municipalities in this state for the transportation of freight, passengers, or both freight and passengers may:<p>> (1) exercise the power of eminent domain with all the rights and powers granted by law to a railroad company; and<p>> (2) enter, condemn, and appropriate land, right-of-way, easements, or other property of any person or corporation to acquire:<p>> (A) right-of-way on which to construct and operate lines of railway for the acquiring corporation; or<p>> (B) sites for depots or power plants.<p>It's not restricted to a railroad company.<p>Then from <a href="http://texascentralhighspeedrail.com/page1/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://texascentralhighspeedrail.com/page1/index.html</a> , we know it's a "N700-I Bullet" electric train. So 131.012 applies, so they can "exercise the power of eminent domain with all the rights and powers granted by law to a railroad company" even without being a railroad company.
For those that don't know, going up and down I-45 you run into a bunch of little towns that really want to capture that revenue--places like Corsicana, Centerville, and some others.<p>Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Buc-ee's ends up funding litigation against this, because their gigantic truck stops and waystations live off of that traffic.