德克萨斯州一项长期的法律斗争在一项计划在休斯敦到达拉斯的240英里路线的私人资助的高铁项目，现在搬到州最高法院，此后，本月早些时候一家下一个下一个法院表示，得克萨斯州中央伙伴表示，有限责任公司是该州合法认可的铁路公司。
The state appellate court's May 7 decision allows the firm, operating as Texas Central Railroad, to access the mostly private route properties for land surveys and possible parcel acquisition in its plan to build the estimated $20-billion project, which includes a bullet train using Japanese technology that travels in a fully sealed rail corridor.
德克萨斯州中央首席执行官卡洛斯·阿吉拉尔（Carlos Aguilar）表示：“这一决定证实了我们作为运营铁路的地位，并使我们能够继续前进，并继续前进，以及我们所有其他设计，工程和土地获取工作。”该公司在2015年完成了2,000多次预审调查，当时原告提起诉讼，声称该诉讼没有法律权利进行进行。
But landowners, in their May 13 appeal to the state's highest court, contend the ruling that could extend the same authority to builders of pipelines, electrical lines and similar public-use projects in Texas, is an overly broad interpretation of state law.
Lead plaintiff James Miles has refused to sell property for the project, although Texas Central has said use of eminent domain would be a 'last-resort' option, according to one report.
'狂野西部'
土地所有者的律师布雷克·贝克汉姆（Blake Beckham）说：“如果有一项裁定构成了杰出领域权威的野外，野外的西部，就是这样。”
The plaintiffs claimed that the Texas Central Railroad is not a railroad because it is not yet built and not operating and therefore does not have the right of eminent domain and access to properties along the route. Texas law defines a railroad as “operating,” they contend.
该项目于2017年收到了美国运输部的环境影响声明草案，并预计在5月底之前将获得最终的EIS，并在年底之前开始建设，客运服务在其186英里长- 小时火车从2026年开始。
That schedule has been thrown into disarray by the COVID-19 pandemic’s far-reaching effects on Texas Central’s multi-national design, construction and financial partnerships, which the firm said on March 31 included schedule disruptions and layoffs of its own staff.
In addition to U.S.-based program manager Bechtel, rail system contractors Kiewit and Mass Electric Construction Co., and station contractor Suffolk, the project team also include Italy-based WeBuild, formerly Salini-Impregilo, and its U.S. subsidiary Lane Construction, which won the project's $14-billion design-build award last September.
系统技术提供商是日本中部铁路和日本新干联队，以及西班牙的Renfe。
Court: Running Trains on Tracks
上诉法院在其裁决中发现，虽然赛道尚未铺设，而且火车尚未携带乘客，但开发商已采取了许多步骤来创建和运营铁路，因此有资格成为具有杰出领域的铁路公司电源是因为施工完成后，它将在轨道上运行火车。
原告也认为只有申请with the state does not grant the right to eminent domain because no hearing took place and no investigation was conducted to determine that the rail project would be built for public use.
“The ruling allows two companies, Texas Central and a foreign shell company it created, Integrated Texas Logistics, with no assets and no employees and no significant investors, to have eminent domain power. It’s very troubling for landowners,” Beckham told ENR, noting that it “allows a startup to take land that’s been in families for hundreds of years.”
