The designation of the Texas Eagle route as the Texas Corridor would make it the most prominent passenger railroad route in the state. The Gulf Coast line, which includes a Houston connection, is the only higher-speed rail line that touches Texas. The line, which started daily service in May, extends from San Antonio to Texarkana. It carried 18,676 passengers in July compared with 12,960 passengers in July 1999, according to Amtrak figures. Texas has 10,737 miles of railroad tracks and more than 18,000 railroad crossings.
Many crossings are in rural areas, are poorly marked and are minimally maintained.
Collisions increased 13 percent in 1999 in Texas after steadily decreasing since 1996. Experts on crossing safety say the programs that could get federal funding are crucial to reducing collisions. Additional money is spent to replace rail crossings considered by the department to be hazardous. The accidents resulted in 41 deaths in 1999, down from 45 in 1998. There were 176 injuries in 1999, up from 158 in 1998.