Texas Wants to Use Public Funds to Develop Hovercars and Jetpacks

While the media debates whether President Barack Obama's signature high-speed rail initiative has yielded any results, Texas is moving forward with its own plan. Texas Central Railway plans to build a 200-mile-per-hour bullet train between Dallas and Houston, modeled after (and with the support of) Japanese rail.

Under this plan, the Texas Central Railway company would build a rail line entirely with private money. The company is already working with the Federal Railroad Administration and the Texas Department of Transportation on an environmental impact statement, which is also being prepared with private money. While the plan has not yet settled on a preferred route, its backers say that the Texas Central Railway line will stick to existing rights of way wherever possible.