East Texas Corridor Council

Founded in 2004, the East Texas Corridor Council was originally tri-chaired by Howard Hackney, retired president of Texas Bank and Trust, Texas State Representative Bryan Hughes, and former Mineola Mayor, Celia Boswell.  Today, the Council encompasses some 35 municipalities and is led by former White Oak Mayor, Tim Vaughn.

In the spring of 2000, East Texas community leaders urged the Texas Department of Transportation to apply for a high speed rail corridor designation.  TXDOT subsequently applied to the Federal Railroad Administration requesting that the corridor follow Amtrak's Texas Eagle route within the State of Texas. (Click here to see letter)  Later that year, the U.S. Department of Transportation designated eleven higher speed rail (HSR) corridors across the United States including the South-Central HSR Corridor, which is identified by Amtrak's Texas Eagle route from Little Rock, Arkansas to San Antonio, Texas, traversing the I-20, I-35 and U.S. 59 (I-69) arteries.  A feasibility study is underway by the Texas Department of Transportation funded in part by a $740,000 federal grant awarded to the East Texas Corridor Council.

Rail capacity investments are important!  The Texas Department of Transportation projects East Texas highway traffic will increase an average of 54% in the next sixteen years and a whopping +70% along the I-20 corridor!  Although federal regulations permit Amtrak's Texas Eagle to operate at a maximum speed of 79 m.p.h. between Texarkana, USA and Fort Worth, Texas, this train averages only 37 miles per hour because of freight traffic volumes.  Additional rail capacity will relieve congestion on these rails and roadways while improving reliability for passenger trains.

Our forefathers surveyed and then built the East Texas railroad map known today.  We have an incredible juncture in history to increase freight/passenger rail capacity from the Port of Shreveport-Bossier to the defense plants at Texarkana to the railhead of the southwest at Fort Worth while protecting travel options for our children and grandchildren.

Ongoing memorandums of understanding in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas will compliment the East Texas Corridor Council as a bridge to commercial and tourist destinations of the 21st century.  Join us as higher speed rail becomes a major stockholder in your future...today.

Rail Capacity Investments

• Will expand the ability to move goods and people.
• Will shift trucks and people from highways to railroads.
• Will benefit the entire region per infrastructure dollar.
• Will create jobs throughout the Ark-La-Tex region.

Can you imagine taking the train from

• Texarkana to Marshall in 45 minutes?
• Shreveport/Bossier City to Dallas/Fort Worth in 2 hours?
• Longview to Fort Worth in 90 minutes?
• Mineola to Dallas in 55 minutes?