Supporters of rail travel have been unsuccessfully pushing for a high-speed rail program in Oklahoma for years, but now money from the federal stimulus package could make that dream a reality.

Last week, President Barack Obama announced a plan to spend about $8 billion in stimulus money to build a high-speed rail network across the country. These high-speed railways can carry trains at faster rates of 150 to 175 miles per hour.

The plan identified 10 potential corridors where high-speed railways could be built. One of the corridors would connect Oklahoma City to Tulsa and the Dallas/Fort Worth area, which was designated a high-speed rail corridor eight years ago.

But a high-speed railway was not built because federal funding was nearly non-existent eight years ago, said Matthew Dowty, representative for the Oklahoma Passenger Rail Association, a grassroots organization that advocates the improvement of rail services in Oklahoma.

Dowty said rail services were not a priority of former President George W. Bush’s administration, so it was difficult for states to access federal funding for high-speed railways. Now, however, Oklahoma will have the opportunity to apply for federal money to build high-speed railways in the state.

Gov. Brad Henry has made the expansion of Oklahoma’s rail service a priority, and state officials plan to seriously look at potential opportunities for federal funding, said Gary Ridley, Oklahoma transportation secretary and Department of Transportation director. He said Henry hopes to receive information on how states can apply for a portion of the $8.1 billion within the next couple months.

Ridley said in 2001 the cost of building a high-speed railway connecting Dallas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa was estimated at about $900 million, but now the projected cost has escalated to as much as $2 billion.

Dowty said the application process will be competitive, and states that take a proactive role may have an advantage. He said states like California with state money to put toward a high-speed rail program might have a better chance of receiving federal money.

Last month, Rep. Wallace Collins, D-Norman, wrote a letter to Henry asking him to request federal stimulus money to start a high-speed rail program in Oklahoma.

Collins said a high-speed railway connecting Oklahoma City and Tulsa would benefit the state because it would merge Oklahoma’s two largest cities. He said on a high-speed train, the trip from Oklahoma City to Tulsa would be about 30 minutes, potentially making it possible for people to live in one of the cities and commute to the other for work.

The high-speed railway would help the economies of both cities, but it would also help the economies of smaller towns between the two metropolitans, Collins said.

He cited Gainesville, Texas as an example of this. When the Heartland Flyer, an Amtrak train that is not high-speed and connects Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, Texas, went into operation 10 years ago, Gainesville became a location of one of the train’s stops. Gainesville officials reopened their train station and bought busses to transport people from the station to the Gainesville Outlet Mall.

“If people get off in Gainesville,” he said, “They will take you over to their mall to spend your money.”

Collins said a potential railway network could also help Oklahoma’s economy in other ways by creating jobs to build and maintain the railway once it’s built.

He said a railway network could help the state’s environment by decreasing automobile traffic in favor of trains that run on electricity or compressed natural gas, a resource Collins said is abundant in Oklahoma.

He said he has been frustrated with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation in the past because he thinks the department has not taken enough initiative to build a rail network, even though several regional cities, like Albuquerque, N.M., already have rail service or are talking about implementing one.

“We’re just talking about talking about it,” Collins said.

Ridley agrees that a high-speed railway could benefit Oklahoma, but he said the state must ensure that any mass transit system built is dependable, convenient, affordable and subsidized.

“There is a cost,” Ridley said