Passenger rail service options between Oklahoma City and South Texas

Texas’ population and economy are booming, with much of its growth occurring in the already-congested I-35 corridor. Through the Texas-Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study, TxDOT studied how passenger rail service could fit this corridor and reduce demand on some of the state’s most congested roadways.

The Texas-Oklahoma Passenger Rail Study evaluated a range of passenger rail service options in an 850-mile corridor from Oklahoma City to South Texas.

How we helped

For TxDOT and as part of larger team, Steer has been responsible for the ridership and revenue forecasting task for a Tier 1 Environmental Impact Study (EIS) of the proposed Oklahoma City to South Texas High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) corridor. The study initially applied the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) CONNECT sketch planning tool (developed by Steer) for preliminary screening. 

Steer developed a new customized corridor-level travel forecasting model for the detailed alternative analysis. Long distance auto trip table data was obtained using cell phone data covering the entire corridor. In addition, internet panel based Stated Preference (SP) survey was also conducted for this corridor and the resulting data was extensively used for mode choice model development and other input purposes. Moreover, intercept based Origin-Destination (OD) surveys were undertaken for the auto and intercity bus modes inside Mexico near the border crossing areas to develop OD trip tables for border crossing travel between Monterrey, Mexico and various parts of the study area in the US. 

Successes and outcomes

The study completed a service-level EIS and a service development plan. Both of these reports documented how passenger rail could serve Texas communities, and the benefits and impacts of different passenger rail choices.