Amtrak Studies Austin-San Antonio Corridor For Commuter Alternative

By, Ashley LeBlanc

If you live anywhere along the innovation corridor you know how stressful it can be to be stuck in traffic on I-35.

It is especially disruptive to the lives of those that have to commute between these cities for work almost daily.

“I leave in the morning anywhere from 7:50-8:15, I think [the traffic] is more frustrating in the morning because I’m trying not to be late to work,” said San Marcos local, Felisha Bull.

Bull commutes from San Marcos to North Austin Monday through Friday like many of the cities other 54k plus residents.

There is currently a Union Pacific track that runs from San Antonio to Austin, but only one Amtrak passenger train takes the trip each day. And it takes about two and a half hours.

Amtrak is hoping to change that and is currently performing a Ridership and Revenue study to see what can be done. San Antonio’s mayor has approved $100,000 to go toward the study.

They hope to improve the tracks to be able to run a train at 90 MPH both ways. This could reduce travel time to a little less than an hour for the 80-mile trip.

Chairman, Ray Lopez of the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization in San Antonio said that they have been communicating with Amtrak and hope to have the train stops reach from South San Antonio near Texas A&M all the way to Georgetown.

Ron Heulitt of New Braunfels thinks it would be a great idea. Heulitt has been commuting to Austin for over 20 years now.

Heulitt said over the years, the drive has gotten “longer and harder” with the increasing population in surrounding cities. It takes him almost twice as long as it used to. Growing up in New Jersey, Heulitt is familiar with the concept and has seen it put into place and working.

Amtrak is hoping to get things rolling in the next three to five years. Both Bull and Heulitt are curious about the same thing. How much will it cost?

“I’ve got four kids in college, everything really comes down to my budget, ” said Heulitt.

“It costs me maybe $30.00 a week in gas,” Bull said. “I would definitely check it out as long as it was in my financial range, like $10 each way is not reasonable for me”

Currently, the trip between San Antonio and Austin is $14, and it departs at 7:00 AM. Decreasing the time by half will surely attract more passengers.

Amtrak would plan to have a train leave the station every half hour during peak hours.

Amtrak isn’t only planning on speeding up the trip to Austin from San Antonio; they are also looking to connect to Laredo and Monterrey, Mexico. The train from San Antonio to Mexico would run at 250 MPH.

Lopez sees it as a financial gain for the city of San Antonio’s businesses. They will have a whole new batch of customers with the convenience of a train for travel.