If you’ve been scrolling your feed this summer, you may have seen a train-themed soap opera unfolding on the Texas–Oklahoma border, and it’s all aboard Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer.
The plot:
Texas legislators cut its annual $3.5 million funding for the line, which pushed the beloved OKC–Fort Worth train to the brink of cancellation by October 1, 2025. Meanwhile, Oklahoma had already pitched in its usual $4.5 million to keep the route chugging.
Cue the panic from commuters, civic boosters, and tourism towns along the 206-mile rail line.
But, in a Texas-sized twist written for Hollywood, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) came riding in like a hero. They redirected $3.5 million in regional toll-revenue funds to bail the train out for at least one more year…