High-Speed Rail Discussed

Could a high speed train come to Oklahoma?  Officials with ODOT are working on securing money for the project.  The agency held a public comment period Tuesday night downtown.  Fox 23's Douglas Clark has more.

The proposed line would go from downtown Tulsa to downtown Oklahoma City, and extend down to the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  The plan is to pay for it using federal stimulus dollars if they're approved.  But with dozens of states applying for the money, the competition is steep.

It's been talked about for years – a high speed train connecting Tulsa to nearby cities. Total cost: nearly $2 billion.

“It is not cost effective per mile,” says Tulsa resident Amanda Teegarden.  “Somebody’s going to have to pay for it.  It’s going to be the taxpayer.”

“We travel to Oklahoma City quite a bit.  So that would be a way for us to get there in less time and it’s just a neat concept and idea,” says Tulsa resident Dwayne Beavers.  “There’s a lot of congestion on the turnpike.  So it would certainly relieve that congestion.”

The train would travel at 150 miles per hour and would take one hour to get to Oklahoma City from Tulsa with no stops.  It would make 6 trips a day, carrying 1,400 riders.  It would take 6 years to build.

“I think there’s a huge need or desire to connect all of the central us,” says ODOT representative David Streb.

There is $8.1 billion of federal stimulus money available for states to implement high speed rail.  But estimates show applications will total more than $100 billion.  That means its unclear how likely Tulsa is to get the money.

“We are one of the ten nationally designated corridors.  It’s called the South-Central Corridor.  It runs from Oklahoma City down to San Antonio.  So we feel we’re in a really good position to apply for these funds,” says Streb.

Total cost to operate: more than $20 million a year.  Officials don't yet know who would operate train.  It could be the state, or maybe Amtrak.

ODOT officials need to apply for the grant by October 2^nd.  They also will need to conduct an environmental impact study before moving forward.