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COWCATCHER MAGAZINE

Amtrak, TXDOT to study new service between Shreveport and D/FW

May 1, 2012 / Updated August 29, 2012

Passenger Rail

Amtrak, its Texas Eagle seen here in Longview, TX, and TXDOT are studying the feasibility for new service between Bossier City-Shreveport and Dallas/Fort Worth. – CHRISTOPHER FOX/Cowcatcher Magazine

Amtrak and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) have agreed on the scope of a feasibility study for new Amtrak service between Bossier City-Shreveport in Northwest Louisiana and along the Interstate 20 corridor to Dallas and Fort Worth.

TxDOT and Amtrak officials joined members of the East Texas Corridor Council in March to recognize the start of work to study new service by conventional trains with a maximum speed of 79 m.p.h..

Amtrak will estimate order-of-magnitude capital requirements and operating costs needed to provide state-sponsored passenger rail service, with trains making up to seven intermediate stops and operating up to two daily round-trips.

The study will consider potential schedules, operating costs, revenue and ridership, railcar and locomotive requirements, and capital needs for infrastructure improvements.

Union Pacific Railroad, which owns much of the route, will determine rail capacity.

The rail segment between Marshall, TX, and Fort Worth is served now by Amtrak’a Texas Eagle as part of its Chicago-San Antonio/Los Angeles route with one daily frequency in each direction and intermediate stops.

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Plus

BNSF’s planned intermodal facility in Barstow, CA, represents a fundamental shift in how freight will flow through California, the South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad’s No. 6071 is waving stars and stripes, Micro-Trains by Atlas makes its product debut with several freight car releases and pre-order announcements over the summer and a PSC 70-ton ore car pays tribute to a popular freelance Minnesota HO mining railroad. And more!

National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation expands B&O museum’s preservation mission
Dallas Area Rapid Transit names new president, CEO

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