The Heartland Flyer, Oklahoma’s only passenger train service, is chugging toward its final stop, thanks to budget cuts in Texas. While the train, which connects Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, averages just a couple hundred passengers a day, ending the route will be a blow for a city that has been trying to increase rail and public transportation.
“The state of Oklahoma cannot fund that operation of our own accord,” declared Oklahoma Department of Transportation Executive Director Tim Gatz, possibly while eyeing another turnpike expansion.
Oklahoma ponies up just $4.5 million a year for the line, which, evidently, is all the state can afford to help get people off increasingly traffic filled Interstate 35.
Rail advocates are especially frustrated, as their dreams of expanding the service to Kansas or Tulsa may be derailed. It’s a shame the state can’t add trains to its transportation plan, which remains primarily focused on highway expansion. Most Oklahomans still celebrate the region’s relative ease of travel, but the days of worse traffic are coming. I-35 south of Oklahoma City is turning into a nightmare, and getting even a couple hundred people off the highway each day can make a difference.
This article appears in deadCenter Film Festival 2025.