The Heartland Flyer is one of Amtrak’s lesser-known routes, but it is a vital and much-loved train connecting Oklahoma City with Fort Worth. The journey takes just over four hours and is described by Amtrak as “a connection to the cowboy state of mind,” taking passengers from the home of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum to the heart of Texas.
However, this important route is currently under threat, with infrastructure funding under discussion and legislators in Oklahoma threatening to cut the subsidies for the route in response to a similar decision taken by the Texas House of Representatives earlier this year. The route relies on joint funding from Texas and Oklahoma, and without this support, it is likely to get shut down, leaving travelers in Oklahoma and Texas without a vital part of their transit options. With air and bus travel both slower and more expensive, the closure of the Heartland Flyer would severely limit travelers’ options. Peter LeCody, President of the Texas Rail Advocates, says, “If the Heartland Flyer goes away, we’re putting 80,000+ passengers back out onto I-35,” which would be a huge additional burden on the road network.
As well as being important for transit between Oklahoma and Texas, the Heartland Flyer is a charming travel experience in its own right. Both Oklahoma City and Fort Worth are wonderful cities with fascinating attractions (Fort Worth boasts America’s largest haunted house, for example), and the stops in between showcase the best of the Southwest. Gainesville is known as the Star of North Texas and boasts a fantastically rich history drenched in cattle wrangling and Western vibes. Norman is a buzzy, dynamic college town with some exciting and interesting museums, while Purcell, Pauls Valley, and Ardmore are delightful examples of small-town Oklahoma charm.
A vital route for Oklahoma travelers
Due to the fact that the Heartland Flyer relies so heavily on funding from two separate state legislatures, it is perhaps unsurprising that this isn’t the first time the route has been threatened by budget cuts. As recently as 2025, Texas defunded the Heartland Flyer, and it took interventions from Amtrak, Oklahoma representatives, and the mayor of Fort Worth to persuade the House of Representatives to find emergency funding to keep it running…