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Feb 11, 2008 11:17 pm US/Central
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Proposed Railroad Would Connect 4 Texas Cities
Reporting
Jack Fink
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
A private company has plans as big as Texas. They are hoping to crisscross the state with a high-speed train.
It seems strange, but DFW airport is where the high speed rail station would be built.
Traveler Damon Doucet said he'd be willing to ground his flights for a new high speed rail now proposed for Texas.
"It's a great concept," he said. "It's a great idea."
The idea is called the Texas T-Bone Corridor.
By 2020, it would whisk passengers at speeds up to 300 miles per hour from Dallas-Fort Worth to Austin, San Antonio and Houston in no more than an hour and a half.
It would also connect the world's largest military base, Fort Hood, to Killeen, Temple, College Station, Bryan and Houston.
Dallas County Commissioner Maureen Dickey is one of the top organizers. She said the pentagon is backing the project.
"If we have a national emergency, and we need to deploy troops in a hurry, it'd be a high-speed way of getting troops on the ground to the ships and getting them deployed very, very quickly," she said.
American Airlines and Continental are also backing the project.
Experts say the train will allow airlines to focus more on medium and long-haul flights.
"We know from an FAA report that came out that within five years, every airport in the nation is going to be overcrowded," said Dickey.
No word yet on how much a train ticket would cost, but traveler Chris Mays said he's ready to give up his twice a week flights.
"If the cost is less or comparable to an airline ticket, then I'd use the service," said Mays.
This is a public-private partnership, not a government program. They plan on conducting a formal study within the year.
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