Edmond Making Plans For Commuter Train To OKC, Norman

The city of Edmond is allocating half a million dollars toward a commuter train project. The project is still left up to public vote from all three cities, but if approved, it could take people from Edmond to Norman with a stop in Oklahoma City. 

In an Edmond city council meeting, Ward 1 council person Tom Robins shared concerns about spending half a million dollars of the city’s budget on buying land for this transportation project.

“I would not want voters to wake up that Wednesday morning and not vote for this plan and have to deal with a significant amount of sales tax,” said Robins. 

But the city’s Mayor and Ward 3 Council Person Christin Mugg say they need to keep moving forward with this plan so that all of the work other councils have put into this does not disappear.

“What we have been doing as a council for a long time is reaffirming our commitment,” said Edmond Mayor Darrell Davis. 

Edmonds city council says that if one town does not approve the plan, then it will not move forward. As for when citizens can vote on the project, that is up in the air.

Below is the Regional Transportation Authority of Central Oklahoma’s statement:

The enabling state legislation found in Title 68-1370.7 allows local governments to establish a regional transportation authority, a new, separate government entity. The Regional Transportation Authority of Central Oklahoma was established in 2019 and its district boundary encompasses the city limits of the participating cities – Edmond, Norman, and Oklahoma City. Therefore, any referendum presented to voters that would benefit the RTA would have to be approved by a majority of the voters for the entire district.

The proposed plan for commuter rail service connecting Edmond, Norman, and Oklahoma City will be presented to the RTA Board of Directors during its regularly scheduled meeting on June 21. If adopted by the Board, next steps will include conceptual engineering, cost estimating, negotiations with existing freight rail providers, and eventually seeking federal funding to complement any potential local funding.