ELECTRIC POWER FOR RAIL SYSTEM: CERTAIN AUTHORITIES.

(a) An authority in which the public transportation system includes or is to include passenger rail service propelled by electric power and in which all or a part of the service area is served by the electric power distribution systems of more than one electric utility company or municipally owned electric utility system may:

(1) acquire, construct, own, and operate, for the sole purpose of powering its rail vehicles over its rail transportation system, sources of electric power, including wholly owned or partially owned generating facilities of any type and at any location, including fuel reserves and supplies;

(2) in conjunction with owning a generating facility, acquire, construct, own, and operate transmission and distribution facilities needed to deliver power from the generating facility to its public transportation system; and

(3) contract for the purchase of power and energy with any supplier of power and energy that serves any part of the authority's public transportation service area for the sole purpose of supplying the power and energy necessary to operate the authority's rail vehicles.

(b) The parties to a contract made under Subsection (a)(3) may fulfill the terms of the contract notwithstanding any order or rule of the Public Utility Commission of Texas with respect to certification, except that any supply of power or energy by one utility into the service area of another utility must be provided over transmission or distribution lines owned by the authority.