The Heartland Flyer will continue operating for another year thanks to a $3.5 million vote by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The emergency funding prevents a shutdown of the daily Amtrak route between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth that had been scheduled to end Sept. 30.
The future of the service had been in question after the Texas Legislature failed to approve its share of a two-year, $7 million funding match. Oklahoma committed its portion earlier this year. The Flyer, operated by Amtrak under a joint agreement between the two states, is Oklahoma’s only passenger rail line.
The loss of service would have meant more than the end of daily trains. Without an active corridor, Oklahoma would have risked losing future federal funding for a proposed extension to Newton, Kansas, connecting the route to the national rail network. The state could also have been required to reimburse the federal government for funds already spent on the project…