Marty Hiles, Commissioner, Community Development Sub Regional Planning Commission, makes the following 7 points about the harm to rural land from high speed rail:
- No Train Stops in rural Texas means no economic benefit for rural Texas
- Rural property values will decline
- 4 mile wide path of eminent domain is what high speed rail will take
- Building the train tracks will destroy the environment in rural Texas
- High Speed Rail construction will create a path like an F-5 tornado
- High Speed Rail will cut rural economies by 25% or more
- Schools and emergency service districts will suffer from the local property values