It’s 10:30 a.m. on the Heartland Flyer. The Washita River is in view out the window. We’re about halfway between Ardmore and Gainesville, Texas and halfway through the just over four-hour journey.
Amtrak has other trains that carry passengers more than halfway across the country, from Chicago to Los Angeles or from New York City to New Orleans. But Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said more than half of Amtrak’s service of more than 30 million customers nationally is on shorter-distance, state-sponsored trains like the Heartland Flyer.
“People when they think of Amtrak, think of trains like the Texas Eagle or the California Zephyr or the Southwest Chief — all great important services. But that is much less than half of the Amtrak ridership. Most of the Amtrak ridership is short distance, whether it's from Paul's Valley to Gainesville. Or whether it's from New York to Philadelphia, we do most of our business that way,” he said.
Jared Schwennesen, manager of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s multi-modal division, said the Heartland Flyer provides people with an alternative to driving
“You know, if you can't afford, if you're not able, if, you know, you don't want to drive. Then you have only one other option if you want to take surface transportation down to the Fort Worth area and that would be the Heartland Flyer,” he said.
I spoke to Steve, another passenger on the Heartland Flyer, who told me he’d been using the Heartland Flyer to access medical treatment for the better part of a decade. He said he takes the Heartland Flyer because it’s cheaper than driving his truck to Fort Worth for his diabetes treatment.
But it’s not just long-time passengers like Steve on the Heartland Flyer. Another passenger, Laura, told me she and her husband were on the train to take their two kids on a day trip from Oklahoma City to see the Stockyards in Fort Worth.
Statistics from Amtrak show the Heartland Flyer’s ridership has been increasing since at least 2022.
Texas Rail Advocates president Peter LeCody attributes that growth to new people learning about the passenger rail services like the Heartland Flyer.
“Passenger rail ridership has increased, not only in this region, but also across the country. It's a transportation mode more people are finding out about and traveling on. I think that the internet is helping a lot. Social media makes a big difference as well,” LeCody said.
And LeCody said that increased ridership is good for local economies.
“People who travel got to eat, you know, they’re going to go to restaurants. They’re going to stay in hotels. They’re going to go to entertainment venues. They’re going to come up to see a basketball game up here in Oklahoma City, perhaps, or go down to Dallas-Fort Worth and maybe go to Texas Stadium. Every time you buy something, you're paying sales tax. And that sales tax goes to that individual city,’ he said.
Michael Morris, the Director of Transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said upcoming events in the region pose an economic incentive to keep the Heartland Flyer in service.
“I have a feeling people didn't realize that lots of people travel by passenger rail to come to events like FIFA. I don't think anyone woke up and said, well, let me hurt the nine events that are in Dallas-Fort Worth and the events that are gonna be in Houston,” Morris said.
“In Oklahoma, you have events coming up where part of the Olympics are in Oklahoma City. I don't think legislators understood that because maybe people in Dallas, Fort Worth who can't go to Los Angeles would love to see the Olympics in Oklahoma City.”
Back aboard the Heartland Flyer, college students Ady and Tally are taking the train from Oklahoma City to visit friends in Fort Worth for spring break. They said they want more opportunities to take the train. And they’re not the only ones.
RELATED: Part 1: The Heartland Flyer: How passenger rail came back to Oklahoma
Check back tomorrow for the final part of this three-part series.
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