October 15, 2025 - TRA Newswire -

The board of the Northeast Texas Rural Rail District (NETEX) is putting out feelers for a new railroad to run freight service on the 65.6 mile-long operational corridor. The operator of the rail line since 2020 was North East Texas Connector. Capital outlays to bring the line up to a state of good repair was more than the company could expend, according to one source. 

Lack of a taxing authority for the rural rail district and poor track conditions that limit speeds to 10 mph along a significant portion of the line have long been a thorn in the side of NETEX.

The rail line spans six counties in northeast Texas. 

The NETEX board issued a Request for Proposal at their October meeting for any interested party to apply in running the rail line. The current rail operator had been ramping up carload traffic over the past several years, but had been faced with years of backlogged maintenance to overcome.

It's unclear how current shippers on the rural rail line will continue to be served in the near future. 

A grant program for short line railroads was passed by the Texas legislature this year but did not contain any funding provisions. The NETEX board was counting on being able to tap into the grant program, adding local funds to a state grant for infrastructure improvements. S.B. 2366 remedied the basic issue but, without a fiscal note attached, any short line project will have to wait for a funding appropriation in the 2027 legislative session.

In 2024, Hopkins County submitted a resolution to upgrade the tracks to a Class 2 standard (25 mph) that would help with economic development to attract businesses and industry to ship by rail in the region. 

The rural rail district is comprised of Titus, Franklin, Hopkins, Hunt, Collin and Delta counties. It was formed in 1994 to preserve freight rail service on the then C-Branch of the former St. Louis Southwestern Railroad, when the rail company sought to abandon the line. 

The rail district controls a total of 88.8 miles of track, with a significant portion between Greenville and Wylie, Texas non-operational. Future plans included reinstalling track on the western portion to connect with Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) at Wylie. 

• Photo credit: http://orgs.tamuc.edu