Texas Rail Advocates asked the Texas Transportation Commissioners to add passenger rail priorities to the commission’s 2027 appropriations budget request.
During a meeting in Austin, the TRA reiterated the priorities for intercity and regional passenger rail development in the state that it had submitted to the commission earlier in June. The letter requested establishing a TxDOT Intercity Passenger Rail Advisory Committee, a Passenger Rail Revolving Fund for the Texas-Oklahoma partnered Heartland Flyer, and for Texas to join the Southern Rail Commission to advance a Dallas-Fort Worth to Atlanta rail service.
Texas Rail Advocates President Peter LeCody handed the commissioner a letter of support for funding the Heartland Flyer signed by Texas Senate Transportation Chairman Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound) as well as by five North Texas State Representatives, and another letter of support from Texas State Sen. Senator Brent Hagenbuch (R-Denton) and Texas State Rep. David Spiller (R-Gainesville), both from Gainesville, a stop on the Heartland Flyer route.
The final version of the draft version of the Legislative Appropriations Request will be voted on and approved by the commission at their July 30 meeting.
LeCody told the Commissioners “that’s why we are asking you… and in turn, the legislature, that intercity and regional passenger rail receive meaningful representation to TxDOT’s planning framework and budget request. Your recently completed Texas Statewide Multimodal Transit Plan is a landmark achievement and a genuine foundation for what comes next.”