Texas Central, developers of the high-speed train between Dallas and Houston, has signed a $16 billion contract with Webuild, operating in the U.S. market with The Lane Construction Corporation to lead the civil construction team that will build the Texas passenger line.
Webuild is one of the largest civil engineering contractors in the world. This selection by Texas Central reflects the participation of industry leading organizations that are designing and building the high-speed train.
"Our goal is to put together a team of the best players in the world from each industry needed to bring this project to life. The addition of Webuild helps us accomplish that goal," said Carlos Aguilar, CEO of Texas Central.
"Webuild has 115 years of experience designing and building some of the worlds' best-known projects and we are proud to have them as a leader on this historic project."
Webuild is active in more than 50 countries on five continents, with experience building 8,500 miles of railway and metro infrastructure around the world – in Australia, Europe, Asia and the Americas. It has built many high-speed train projects in Europe, and some iconic, complex projects in the wider transport sector, including the expansion of the Panama Canal, the Grand Paris Express and the Anacostia River and Northeast Boundary tunnels in Washington, D.C.
The company has worked in the U.S. since the 1980s and expanded its presence in 2016, merging with The Lane Construction Corporation, a U.S.-based company with almost 130 years of experience in infrastructure work.
"We are truly honored to have been chosen by Texas Central, that relies on our worldwide expertise to bring sustainable mobility to the country with the first true 'end-to-end' high-speed railway," said Pietro Salini, CEO of the Webuild Group.
"Being part of such a challenging project as leader of the design and construction of the railway is a unique experience that we are extremely proud of. This is a wonderful opportunity to further focus our presence in the US, our biggest single market, together with Lane, the company building first class transport infrastructure for the country for the past 130 years."
The announcement is the latest milestone for the investor-led project – a 200 mph train connecting the state's largest population and economic regions in 90 minutes, with a midway stop in the Brazos Valley. The project will create a super-economy, connecting people in the 4th and 5th largest U.S. markets looking for safe, reliable, green and productive travel options.
According to the contract, Webuild will execute all the heavy construction for the project, designing and building all 236 miles of the alignment, nearly half of it on viaduct. Much of the alignment is elevated to reduce impacts as much as possible on landowners and residents of the counties it will traverse
Webuild will also build all maintenance and industrial buildings, train depots and facilities.
The system Texas Central Railroad proposes to build in Texas will replicate the proven Japanese Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed rail system, as operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JRC). Texas Central chose this system because it is one of the safest and most punctual train systems in the world.
In its 55+ year history, it has transported over 10 billion passengers with an impeccable safety record of zero operational passenger fatalities and zero accidents since first deployed. This technology reliably moves more than 400,000 passengers every day.
The project will create an estimated 17,000 direct jobs during the six years of construction, over 20,000 supply chain jobs and more than 1,400 direct permanent jobs when the train is fully operational. The Texas Central project will use $7.3 billion of materials from US companies across 37 states. And, over the next 25 years, this project will have a direct cumulative economic impact of $36 billion.
Texas Central has a comprehensive Business and Workforce Opportunity Program with a mission to promote the value and development of small, rural, and minority-, woman-, veteran- and disabled individual-owned businesses by offering fair and competitive opportunities to bid and participate in building and operating the Texas high-speed train. ■