FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) _ U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced nearly $50 million in rail investments to improve passenger and freight service throughout the state.
Officials say a little more than one third of that funding _ about $15 million _ will jumpstart planning for high-speed rail between Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth.
The bulk of those dollars will be used for rail upgrades to alleviate congestion at a freight railroad intersection in Fort Worth called Tower 55. U.S. Rep. Kay Granger says the project will create hundreds of jobs and pump more than $1 billion into the local economy while upgrading one of the nation’s most congested rail intersections.
Construction will begin next spring.
Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway and Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Railroad are contributing a combined $65 million toward the project.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)