Study to consider rail routes

This story first appeared in the July 21 edition of the Kansan.

There is talk about additional passenger rail traffic through Newton. However, it’s going to stay just words for a while.

A feasibility study is in the works but hasn’t been implemented yet. Once it is under way, it will take half a year to complete. Then the information will need to be analyzed and presented to the Kansas Legislature. Then the state government will have to decide how it will address the issue, which can take some time.

The Kansas Department of Transportation and Amtrak still are working on the scope of the feasibility study. The state transportation department asked the passenger rail corporation to identify what would be needed to provide state-sponsored rail service between Kansas City, Mo., and Oklahoma City, via Newton.

“We’re still looking at what information we need to look at in the scope of the project,” said Marc Magliari, media relations manager for Amtrak. “We’re going to look at all the possible options out there — extending the Heartland Flyer to Newton through Wichita, other connections to Kansas City and even maybe Topeka or another train service that doesn’t exists yet.”

Ron Kaufman, with the Kansas Department of Transportation, said the station stops will be determined by ridership forecasts.

“It’s not possible to stop at all cities that want a station,” he said.

Segments of passenger rail service that will be looked at include night travel from Oklahoma City to Newton and Oklahoma City to Kansas City via a Newton connection and day travel from Oklahoma City to Kansas City and Fort Worth, Texas, to Kansas City, via an Oklahoma City connection.

There are several options the feasibility study will take into account. But Magliari said the organizations were still working on the document that will detail the scope of the project.

The study is slated to begin by the end of the summer and will take about six months to complete.

“The study will consider potential schedules and existing Amtrak stations, as well as railcar and locomotive availability among other start-up costs,” Kaufman said. “The study will also consider the capital needs of rail improvements to accommodate passenger service and increase capacity for greater freight movement on tracks owned by the BNSF Railway.”

The proposed new routes also would look into servicing communities that are not stops along Amtrak routes. A route between Oklahoma City and Newton likely would include a stop in Wichita.

Results of the study will cover issues of capacity, infrastructure, equipment, potential station locations, ridership/revenue, schedules/connections, operating subsidies and crossings and will be announced in early 2009.

“That’s where the real discussions begin,” Kaufman said. “Once we have the facts before us, we can determine how to approach the Legislature to get funding for a project like this.”

Kaufman said with the feasibility study completely funded by KDOT, the state can move forward. The estimated cost of the study will be between $150,000 to $200,000.

“State-supported routes are the fastest-growing part of our business,” said Alex Kummant, president and CEO of Amtrak. “We have carried out several studies in the Midwest and elsewhere in the last few years, with Illinois doubling the size of its state rail program since 2006 and California continuing to rack up growth that have contributed to five straight years of record Amtrak ridership.”

Evan Stair, Oklahoma director of the Northern Flyer Alliance, said the proposed 606-mile route would cost about $13 million annually to maintain with an initial start-up cost of $10 million. However, those numbers could decrease with legislation.

In December 2007, the federal government approved a 50-50 grant program for passenger rail service, and another bill is in committee that would increase federal funding to 80 percent to private 20 percent.

The stipulation with the new funding program being considered is that the participating states have comprehensive passenger rail plans.