Central Texas now has a passenger rail committee

Travis County Judge Andy Brown and Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai announced Monday that they are joining forces to form the Texas Passenger Rail Advisory Committee in an effort to advance passenger rail service in Central Texas. The committee is the first of its kind, plans to meet the first Monday of every month and will work to explore rail service options along the Interstate 35 corridor and beyond. “I look forward to engaging with industry leaders on how we can best support the expansion of passenger rail service in this corridor and beyond,” Brown said in a statement to the press. “The fastest-growing metros must leverage this moment to build a modern transportation system to serve the economic, environmental, and public safety needs of all central Texans.” According to a press release about the committee, its members are:

• Peter Sakai, Bexar County judge
• Henry Cisneros, former United States secretary of Housing and Urban Development and mayor of San Antonio
• Melissa Cabello Havrda, San Antonio Council Member, District 6, and chair of the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
• Dottie Watkins, president and CEO for Capital Metro
• Jeff Davis, rail division director for Texas Department of Transportation
• Todd Stennis, government affairs director for Amtrak
• Amy Rister, committee director, Texas House Transportation Committee
• Joe Black, senior vice president for WSP Transit and Rail Operations & Service Planning
• Ross Milloy, president of the Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council
• Clay Anderson, dxecutive director of Restart Lone Star Rail District
• A.J. Bingham, founder and CEO of the Bingham Group
• Jay Crossley, executive director of Farm & City
• Veronica Davis, director of Cities Program at AtkinsRealis
• Gavin Martin, director of Rail & Transit at AtkinsRealis
• Karen Kennard, co-managing shareholder for Greenberg Traurig
• Peter LeCody, president of Texas Rail Advocates
• Bill McCamley, executive director of Transit Forward
• Sandy Guzman, CEO, Austin Area Research Organization
• Meg Merritt, principal for Movitas Mobility
• Jerry Smiley, vice president and senior program manager for AECOM
• John Kleinheinz, CEO of Kleinheinz Capital Partners and board member of Texas Central Partners
• Andy Jent, private equity and special situations for Kleinheinz Capital Partners
• Husein Cumber, chief strategy officer of Florida East Coast Strategies
• Javier Dominguez, executive analyst of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council