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Yesterday, Amtrak and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced plans to conduct a feasibility study for new Amtrak service between the Bossier City-Shreveport area in northwest Louisiana and along the Interstate 20 (I-20) corridor to Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.

Members of the East Texas Corridor Council (ETCC) were joined yesterday by TxDOT and Amtrak officials to formally acknowledge the study’s launch. The study will examine service by conventional trains with a maximum speed of 79 mph, Amtrak officials said in a prepared statement.

The study will estimate order-of-magnitude capital requirements and operating costs that would be necessary to operate state-sponsored passenger rail service, with trains making up to seven intermediate stops and operating up to two daily round-trips, they said.

The study also will examine factors such as potential schedules, train operating costs, revenue and ridership, rail-car and locomotive requirements, and capital needs for route infrastructure improvements.

Union Pacific Railroad, which owns much of the route, will model the rail capacity. The rail segment between Marshall and Fort Worth, Texas, now is served by Amtrak’s Texas Eagle service, which is part of the Chicago-San Antonio/Los Angeles route with one daily frequency in each direction and intermediate stops in Longview, Mineola and Dallas.

TxDOT officials have asked that the study also evaluate schedules with potential new Amtrak stops at Centre Port/DFW Airport (along the Trinity Railway Express commuter route), Mesquite, Forney, Terrell and Wills Point.  The stops TxDOT selects for inclusion in the final provisional schedules will depend on a number of factors, such as estimated ridership and revenue, community demographics and railroad operating issues.

TxDOT received $265,000 in federal funds for the I-20 corridor study through the ETCC, which represents the communities and government agencies in Texas and Louisiana.

“Passenger- and freight-rail services are important components of the state’s multi-modal transportation system and a major player in expanding economic opportunity in Texas,” said TxDOT Rail Division Director Bill Glavin. “These funds will advance the initiative to strategically plan and coordinate rail corridors across the state.”