County Judge Nelson Wolff confirms he is in negotiations with the Union Pacific on the possibility of operating a commuter rail line down existing UP tracks from downtown to The Rim shopping center on the far northwest side, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Wolff says the rail line was built decades ago to support the clay mining which once happened at the quarries which were located where The Rim is now, and he says the number of trains running down that line is down to one every two weeks.
But, despite that, he says it will be a tough sell.
"They are obviously not fans of passenger rail," Wolff said. "If it impedes in any way on their commercial rail structure, they'll kill it."
The Union Pacific had for years been in talks to allow a light rail line from San Antonio to Austin to operate on its tracks, but it pulled out of the deal last year due to increasing freight traffic on the line.
But Wolff says this line is different in that it currently stops at an existing small operation behind The Rim and serves no other commercial customers.
He says commuter rail service is necessary to relieve congestion on I-10 due to the booming growth of the corridor between San Antonio and Boerne. He says even though the tracks no longer exist, there is right of way that could allow the rail line to be stretched all the way to Boerne, if a deal can be worked out.
He sees stations along the route, with park and ride locations at The Rim and downtown where people could leave their cars to catch the train.
"We own some land, the County does, right there on Huebner next to the tracks," he said. "That could be a stop."
He says it is far to early to determine what the financial costs would be, or how much it would cost passengers to ride the rails downtown.
But he says every other major city in the country has at least some form of passenger or commuter rail to take the pressure off congested highways, and San Antonio needs to have an alternative to driving.
He points out that he was 'burned' twice in pushing passenger rail, once when the proposed light rail system was voted down in 2000, and again when the unpopular downtown streetcar plan was killed in 2014.
But he says its an effort that needs to continue.
"None of these things are easy as we well know," he said. "But we need at least to start talking about it, and see if there is a possibility to do it."