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The Highway 290 Passenger Rail Coalition (290 PRC) Board Co-Chairs:
Monthly Meeting: Fourth Thursday of each month, 8:00 - 9:30 a.m., Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce office, 11050 FM 1960 West, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77065. Call (281) 955-1100 for directions and information. Highlights from a past meeting: Key stakeholders met at the Chamber to discuss funding, legislation and other issues connected with launching a commuter rail system that could transport commuters from Cy-Fair to downtown Houston and ease congestion on U.S. 290. The eventual goal of the 290 PRC includes service from College Station to Cy-Fair and downtown Houston . The 290 PRC is focused on using the existing Union Pacific tracks, currently used for freight trains, as a commuter rail corridor. "The existing rail infrastructure makes commuter train service a real possibility," Port of Houston Authority Board of Commissioners Chair Jim Edmonds has said while in attendance at a past meeting. One of the nice things about Houston is, because of the way the freight rail system has developed in the past, that it's the perfect template for what you're proposing with commuter rail," he said. "And if you implement commuter rail in the 290 corridor, it would be relative inexpensive." However, "relatively inexpensive" doesn't mean cheap. Union Pacific and other officials have said that some upgrades, including track improvements and grade separations, would be needed before such a service is put into place. That, plus the cost of acquiring trains and paying for maintenance and operations, is a challenge the 290 PRC will have to overcome. 
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