Amtrak wants to study a new passenger train route between Mississippi and North Texas

NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Amtrak and the Southern Rail Commission said they will apply for federal funds to study a passenger rail service between Meridian, Mississippi, and Dallas-Fort Worth.

The corridor along Interstate 20 would serve cities including Jackson, Mississippi and Monroe and Shreveport, Louisiana. Amtrak said in a news release that it would be a separate section of its Crescent train, which now runs between New York and New Orleans, meaning travelers could take one train from North Texas to Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and New York.

Amtrak said the idea has been explored for two decades, but President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law made the time right to take the next step. Money for the study would come from funds approved in that law.

"This application is the first step in determining the feasibility of this concept and the benefits and challenges, including federal funding commitments, of expanding Amtrak service to the I-20 route," Amtrak Network Development Vice President Nicole Bucich said in a statement.

If the study is approved and finds that service along the route is warranted, Amtrak would then seek federal money to pay for startup costs.

"This has the potential to be the first new Amtrak service of its kind in more than 25 years and it would come in an area that has long been underserved by passenger rail," Southern Rail Commission Chairman Knox Ross said in a statement.