The Texas Central Railway project is not part of any government agency but a privately held corporation wishing to link Dallas and Houston by high speed rail with the help of the Japanese company JR which is the backbone to Japan's massive rail network.
The company tried to make end run around property owners by apply to a federal transportation board to be classified as an interstate railway system which would give them then the legal rights to acquire properties through eminent domain.
Even before this news a number of Texans weren't into the project and already have a group called the TAHSR or Texans Against High Speed Rail. The project itself is privately funded and will cost an estimated 10 billion plus. The biggest issue seems to be the way this group is conducting itself with already 35 lawsuits against property owners and the group questioning the actual costs if the project actually happens. They have their site here: http://www.texansagainsthsr.com/
The federal board has already passed their ruling that the company will not get their approval because the train line is clearly within one State.
Maybe they need to swing it through Texarkana (station in the Arkansas side of town :) and what the heck since it's on the way through in Shreveport Louisiana. Then they can get their interstate railway and tick off a whole bunch of people in the South.
After looking into this, there actual have been a number of proposed high speed rail projects in Texas (this wiki page also has all the propsed/actual projects in the US for high speed rail. All of which will entail eminent domain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_the_United_States#Texas
Eisenhower used eminent domain to build the interstate highways. He actually got the idea during the war because when they entered Germany he was surprised to see all these beautifully constructed highways which actually helped the Allies once they got into the country.
Just look at what is happening to those that stand up to the Keystone XL pipeline.
http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/7th-action/
Societies need at some level these right for progression to happen, but when it comes to private companies getting the rights to throw people out their homes for privately funded projects that could fall flat, it's just a recipe for disaster.