East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG)’s Rural Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO) recently hosted a news conference in Longview to reveal that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has officially designated the I-20 Corridor Intercity Passenger Rail Service as one of the selected corridors for the FRA’s Corridor Identification and Development Program (CIDP). This marks a significant milestone for the long-advocated rail connection between Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta, Georgia.

The I-20 Corridor long-distance passenger rail connection between Dallas/Fort Worth and Atlanta, Georgia—through Mineola, Longview, and Marshall, Texas, and northern Louisiana—has been advocated for and collaborated on by a coalition of county judges, mayors, local, state, and federal elected officials, and grassroots advocates, for nearly 17 years.