Texas Central Signs Contract with Webuild to Serve as Design-build Lead for Historic Project

Texas Central, the developers of the high-speed train between Dallas and Houston, has signed a $16 billion deal with Webuild, a joint venture between The Lane Construction Corporation and Webuild in the United States, to head the civil construction team for the Texas passenger line.

Webuild is one of the world's largest civil engineering contractors. Texas Central's selection demonstrates the engagement of industry-leading organizations in the construction of the high-speed train.

Webuild operates in over 50 countries across five continents and has built over 8,500 miles of railway and metro infrastructure in Australia, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It has constructed several high-speed train projects in Europe and several famous, complex projects in the more significant transportation industry, including the Panama Canal extension, the Grand Paris Express, and the Anacostia River and Northeast Boundary tunnels in Washington D.C.

The firm is working in the United States since the 1980s and increased its footprint in 2016 by combining with The Lane Construction Corporation, a U.S.-based company with almost 130 years of infrastructure experience.

The announcement is the latest milestone for the investor-led project, which envisions a 200-mph train connecting the state's most populous and economically important districts in 90 minutes, with a midway stop in the Brazos Valley. The initiative will build a super-economy by linking individuals in the fourth and fifth major U.S. markets searching for safe, dependable, environmentally friendly, and productive transport choices.

According to the deal, Webuild will handle all heavy construction for the project, planning and constructing all 236 miles of the alignment, roughly half of which will be on the viaduct. Much of the route is raised to minimize landowners and inhabitants in the counties it will pass through.Webuild will also construct all maintenance and industrial buildings, as well as train stations and facilities.

Texas Central Railroad's proposed Texas high-speed rail line will be modeled after the successful Japanese Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed rail system, managed by the Central Japan Railway Company (JRC). Texas Central chose this system because it is one of the world's safest and most timely train systems. Throughout its 55-year history, it has transported over 10 billion people while maintaining a flawless safety record of zero operational passenger fatalities and zero accidents. Every day, this technology transports around 400,000 passengers.

During the six-year construction period, the project is expected to generate 17,000 direct jobs, over 20,000 supply chain job opportunities, and more than 1,400 direct permanent jobs when the train is fully operating. The Texas Central project will require $7.3 billion of materials from 37 different U.S. states. This project will have a cumulative economic effect of $36 billion over the next 25 years.

About Texas Central
Texas Central has a Business and Workforce Opportunity Program, with the mission of promoting the value and development of small, rural, minority-, woman-, veteran-, and disabled individual-owned businesses by providing fair and competitive opportunities to bid on and participate in the construction and operation of the Texas high-speed train.

About Webuild
Texas Central, which includes its operating subsidiary Texas Central Railroad, is the company in charge of developing, designing, building, financing, and operating the innovative new high-speed passenger train line that will connect the country's fourth and fifth largest economies, North Texas and Greater Houston, in less than 90 minutes, with one stop in the Brazos Valley.