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The plan would connect the seventh largest city in the U.S. to Mexico's hub of advanced industry, according to Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia.
In the letter July 5 letter shared on the Threads social media site, Gov. Samuel Garcia requests TxDOT executive Director Marc D. Williams to connecting the two cities using funds from President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan. That sweeping package allocates $20 billion in federal funds for transit and high-speed rail.
“Expanded service will provide benefits for both the Texas and Nuevo Leon economies by offering a safe and efficient route from the seventh most populous city in the U.S., through the number one land port in the U.S., to the hub for advanced industry in Mexico,” Garcia wrote in the letter.
It’s not the first time a rail line connecting San Antonio to Monterrey has been tossed around.
Back in 2021, TxDOT oversaw a feasibility study on a project that would connect San Antonio and Laredo by rail, according to Laredo-based TV news station KGNS. The two cities haven’t been connected by rail since Amtrak discontinued service between them in 1981.
At the same time, the Mexican government oversaw a similar independent study evaluating the possibility of passenger rail travel between Monterrey and Laredo, which would essentially connect all three cities by train, KGNS reports.
The effort was spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat whose district includes parts of San Antonio.
“Texas may be a little resistant to this, but we’re hoping the state of Texas would look at this as a public-private partnership and the billions of dollars the federal government could use[for the construction],” Cuellar told KTSA back in Match, 2022. “You’re talking about up to $12 billion that could be used for this new corridor.”
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