June 19, 2025 - TRA Newswire - 

If you're one of 5,000 people in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, you are going to receive an e-mail action alert from DC-based Rail Passengers Association asking for your help to contact officials and save the Heartland Flyer. 

An email and social media campaign will be focused on sending a plea to Texas Governor Greg Abbott that this valuble lifeline to connect Fort Worth, Gainesville and Oklahoma towns and cities is important to the economy of the regions. 

Earlier this year, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) asked the state legislature for $7.05 million in this year’s session to continue running the Heartland Flyer between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City for the next two years. 

However, the legislature didn’t approve the funding before they ended their legislative calendar earlier this month. The daily train, which showed strong ridership and revenue gains last year, faced stiff opposition in funding from Texas Senate Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman (R) Houston.

If money is not secured from some source, the passenger rail service between Dallas-Forth Worth to Oklahoma City will stop running October 1st, according to transportation officials. 

Rail Passengers Association, in launching their email and social media outreach, said that terminating the Heartland Flyer will lead to the loss of jobs, opportunities, accessibility, and an estimated $23.7M in economic benefits for Texas and Oklahoma.  It will also mean the end to future expansion into Kansas. 

The rail service, operated by Amtrak, a joint partership of the Texas and Oklahoma transportation departments, carried over 80,000 passengers last year. 

Any interested citizen can join the Save the Heartland Flyer campaign through this link: www.railpassengers.org/savetheflyer  

Joe Aiello of Rail Passengers Association said that "we must fight back and deliver our message to the Governor's office: SAVE THE HEARTLAND FLYER!"

Rail Passengers Association, a non-profit organization, is the leading voice for the more than 40 million rail passengers in the United States.