The developers of a high-speed rail line that would take passengers from Dallas to Houston in 90 minutes are asking the state’s future architects — and, ideally, the system’s future customers — to help shape a vision for the train stations.

Texas Central Partners, the private company that’s slated to build what could be among the country’s first bullet train systems, announced the design contest this week. It’s open to either individual students or multi-disciplinary teams studying architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning or transportation at colleges around the state.

"The worst thing that can happen to me as a developer is to complete the building and miss what people really want," said Jack Matthews, whose firm, Matthews Southwest, is partnering with Texas Central to create a mixed-use development around the planned Dallas station. "Things are changing fast — we want to get a younger, more exciting view."

While the Dallas station has been slotted for a site near downtown and the Cedars, the Houston station will be well northwest of the city's central business district. A third station in the Brazos Valley's Grimes County will target College Station residents, particularly Texas A&M students.

The contest will have three prizes: One for the architectural design of the station itself, another for urban design and one for sustainable design.

Proponents of the $10 billion, 240-mile rail line say it will help the state’s two biggest economies bolster each other as they continue to grow.

Best of all, they say, the entire project, which is expected to be running by 2021, will be paid for with private money — a fact that separates the Texas plan from similar ones in other states.

In California, for instance, the construction of high-speed rail has been hamstrung by complex regulatory and funding questions, plus debates over the use of eminent domain, which allows government agencies to essentially take land for public use, like a utility line.

Still, high-speed rail has fierce opponents in the Lone Star State, too: Residents of the rural areas that the train will pass through without stopping have expressed concerns that the rail will slice their farms and communities without generating economic benefits.

And opponents have argued that Texas Central shouldn’t have the right to use eminent domain. That’s an issue expected to come up in next year’s legislative session.

Texas Central has said that it needs just 3,000 acres between Dallas and Houston, and that its proposed routes will follow existing right of way.

Leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston have touted the train as potentially transformative for both metro areas and for the state, as traffic on roads worsens and residents seek alternatives to driving.

“Students like [the contest participants] are early adopters, driving demand for travel options like the Texas bullet train,” Holly Reed, Texas Central spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Matthews said he hopes the design contest will spur out-of-the-box thinking about what a transit hub of the future can be. And winning contest entries could influence the actual design to varying extents.

“It could be massive and it could be nothing, but I’d be very surprised if nothing came out of these thoughts,” he said. “At the very least, it’s going to give us a nice starting point.”

Texas Central isn't the first to ask the state's young architects to help design a huge project. Team owner Mark Cuban worked with Texas A&M students on a design for the new Dallas Mavericks practice facility.

“He’s doing the same thing we’re doing: Getting people to think about [the project] and not just have the older generations run with this stuff,” Matthews said. “Nothing wrong with experience, but a little bit of dreaming’s good.”

Here are the schools that are eligible to participate in the contest:

Prairie View A&M School of Architecture

Rice School of Architecture

Texas A&M College of Architecture

Texas Tech College of Architecture

University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture

UT Arlington School of Architecture

UT Austin College of Architecture

UT San Antonio College of Architecture

Initial design proposals are due Oct. 31. Contest winners will be announced Nov. 21. Each prize will come with $5,000 for the winners’ school and $2,000 to be split among team members.

For more information about entering the contest, go to http://www.texascentral.com/station-competition/.