New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Transportation topics in KC
NDTeve
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by NDTeve »

now we just need to get this thing funded!!
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by DaveKCMO »

gov. parkinson signed the enabling legislation yesterday! KDOT can now enter into an agreement with Amtrak and other states, if funding is found.

http://www.wibw.com/localnews/headlines/89074797.html
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by DaveKCMO »

KDOT is doing some public outreach on this project. please try to attend!
LAWRENCE: MAY 18th
Public open house meeting from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Union Pacific Depot. Please encourage your fellow community members to attend and learn more about expanded passenger rail service. We will have live presentations at 6:45pm and 7:30pm.

WICHITA: MAY 19th
KDOT will host a public open house meeting from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Sedgwick County Extension Office - Sunflower Room. Please encourage your fellow community members to attend and learn more about expanded passenger rail service. We will have live presentations at 5:20p.m. and 6:20p.m..

EMPORIA: MAY 27th
Best Western Flint Hills Room in Emporia May 27th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. Live presentations will be held at 5:20pm and 6:20pm. Community members thoughts regarding the four studied alternatives will be entertained.
http://northflyer.org/
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DaveKCMO
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by DaveKCMO »

more open houses added:
AMTRAK Open Houses
Open house to discuss AMTRAK's four proposed alternatives for expanding
passenger rail service in Kansas.

Lawrence, KS Location: Union Pacific Depot - Community Room 402 North 2nd
Street, Date: 5/18/2010 6:30 PM

Wichita, KS Location: Sedgwick County Extension Office - Sunflower Room,
7001 W 21st St North, Wichita Date: 5/19/2010 6:00 PM

Arkansas City, KS Location: Best Western Atrium Garden, 3232 N Summit
Street, Arkansas City Date: 5/25/2010 5:00 PM

Newton, KS Location: Best Western Red Coach Inn - Regency Room 1301 E 1st,
Newton Date: 5/26/2010 6:30 PM

Emporia, KS Location: Best Western Flint Hills Room, Emporia. This meeting
will include Strong City.
Date: 5/27/2010 5:00-7:00 PM

Topeka, KS Location: Ramada Inn - Regency West 420 Southeast 6th Ave, Topeka
Date: 6/8/2010 6:30 PM

Shawnee, KS Location: Shawnee Civic Center, 13817 Johnson Drive, Shawnee
Date: 6/9/2010 5:00 PM
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by trailerkid »

I attended this. Can anyone explain what the point was? KDOT people seemed pretty inept & standoffish. It was a looped video & a bunch of easels with way too much text on them. I filled out my survey & left. I was expecting some sort of presentation or dialogue and there was nothing. Why not do this sort of thing online?

They want us to pick between:
layover in okc >> go to dfw
layover in newton >> go to dfw (night using sw chief)
layover in newton >> go to dfw (day)
no layover kc >> go to dfw

that's it. I'd be embarrassed to be involved with KDOT. I attended a similar planning session with Lawrence transit & it was head & shoulders above this waste of time and money. 
NDTeve
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

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KDOT was probably hung over from celebrating getting the transportation bill passed in the KS Legislature...
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by DaveKCMO »

according to unofficial sources, KDOT has chosen parsons brinkerhoff to develop the Service Development Plan required by the feds. they are studying options 1 (extend existing heartland flyer OKC-newton) and 3 (standalone daytime service KCY-FTW).
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by KCMax »

Officials discuss extending Amtrak service from Oklahoma City to KC
The Oklahoman reported the estimated startup cost to extend service to Kansas City, Mo., is $479 million with a yearly operating cost of about $8 million. Another option would extend Amtrak to Newton, Kan., near Wichita for a startup cost of about $156 million and annual operating expenses of $3.2 million.

The Oklahoman:
Passenger rail service from Oklahoma to Kansas discussed

But Rep. Richard Morrissette, after hearing from transportation and railroad officials in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas during a three-hour interim legislative study, said the state, still struggling to recover from an economic downturn, will have a hard time coming up with money to pay its share of the route.
Before any work could start, Kansas would have to discuss how to share costs with Oklahoma; have an environmental study on the proposed route, which should take 12 to 18 months; get a firm funding commitment.

It's possible some of the existing BNSF Railway freight track could be used, Slimmer said. An agreement would have to be worked out with BNSF similar to the one agreed to for the Heartland Flyer to use its track.

In some cases double track and siding would be needed to allow slower freight trains to move over and allow passenger trains to pass, he said. Communities where the train would stop would have to build, operate and staff stations.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

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what could possibly take 479 million in start up costs?
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by DaveKCMO »

bbqboy wrote: what could possibly take 479 million in start up costs?
100% on-time performance and no impact to existing freight schedules, which, in turn, requires significant double-tracking. host railroads are now penalized for chronic amtrak delays, so they're not eager to sign up unless they can guarantee capacity for both passengers and freight.

make no mistake: all three states want this, despite the recession posturing, so it's imperative your friends in these states let their legislators know it's a priority for their constituents. the reason? steady federal matching funds for capital costs that never existed before 2008.

another option not mentioned is to do both: nighttime and daytime trains. the thinking is that the capital cost would be lower in total if you do both. that way, you maximize the number of connections with other amtrak trains (texas eagle in fort worth and the southwest chief in newton).
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by DaveKCMO »

right before the election, the media broke the badly-kept secret that brownback is opposed to passenger rail expansion in kansas.

http://www.ksn.com/news/local/story/Bro ... TbwwQ.cspx

kansans: please let your new governor (and your new/existing state legislators) know that this is a priority, especially since the state already approved an $8.2 billion transportation plan that could easily cover all costs.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

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http://www.winfieldcourier.com/articles ... 755831.txt
At a meeting Oct. 29 in Topeka, the committee recommended that the state Legislature work with the Kansas Department of Transportation to identify funding to take the next step in the project — completing a $5.3 million environmental study.

Completing a National Environmental Protection Act engineering study is required for states to receive federal funding for needed railway construction, according to sources from KDOT and a group of passenger rail proponents.

Kansas and Oklahoma would split the cost of the study — Kansas would pay about $3 million and Oklahoma would pay roughly $2.3 million, the sources said.
http://www.arkcity.net/news/local_news/ ... 963f4.html
"Funding is always a challenge," DeGraaf said. "But (KDOT) always has a surplus. They have more than enough money."

DeGraaf added that in the past, surplus transportation fund money has been used to supplement school funding, which accounts for 66 to 67 percent of the state budget.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

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DaveKCMO wrote:http://www.winfieldcourier.com/articles ... 755831.txt
At a meeting Oct. 29 in Topeka, the committee recommended that the state Legislature work with the Kansas Department of Transportation to identify funding to take the next step in the project — completing a $5.3 million environmental study.

Completing a National Environmental Protection Act engineering study is required for states to receive federal funding for needed railway construction, according to sources from KDOT and a group of passenger rail proponents.

Kansas and Oklahoma would split the cost of the study — Kansas would pay about $3 million and Oklahoma would pay roughly $2.3 million, the sources said.
http://www.arkcity.net/news/local_news/ ... 963f4.html
"Funding is always a challenge," DeGraaf said. "But (KDOT) always has a surplus. They have more than enough money."

DeGraaf added that in the past, surplus transportation fund money has been used to supplement school funding, which accounts for 66 to 67 percent of the state budget.
Disagree that KDOT has more than enough money. And education poaches from KDOT funds and cancels projects. Just because education takes money from KDOT, does not mean there is a surplus. It comes at the expense of KDOT projects. And work for contractors.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

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http://www.kansas.com/2013/01/06/262677 ... tland.html
The Wichita City Council has signed on to efforts launched nine months ago by Meitzner to pursue the rail service, making funding more passenger rail studies a lobbying priority for the upcoming legislative session.

The effort is supported by Wichita commercial developer Gary Oborny, who has a letter of intent to buy the city’s downtown rail hub, Union Station, and convert it into key hospitality, office and retail space.

Oborny said a rail terminal is in his plans for the building. If he lands Union Station from its owner, Cox Communications, Oborny said, he’ll save space for the Flyer.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by KCMax »

A KC to Dallas line would be sensational. I'd go to Wichita a lot for sure (family down there, a train trip is PERFECT if you have little kids), and may even try to make it down to OKC if they hosted the Big 12 Tourney or something.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by DaveKCMO »

contact your state legislators and let them know! new district maps here: http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/vote/primary2012.shtml
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

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http://www.kansas.com/2013/06/20/285634 ... grant.html
In a grant application filed June 3, the city and state are asking for $12.7 million in TIGER grant funding to essentially complete the planning — but not the construction — for the possible extension of Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer line to Wichita and Newton, connecting it with the Southwest Chief line and closing a 185-mile service gap from Oklahoma City to Wichita.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by DaveKCMO »

it's a baby step, but a sign of things to come (in a post-Brownback world, perhaps): http://www.thekansan.com/news/20160415/ ... -announced

service begins april 18.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

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very good news: http://www.thekansan.com/news/20170824/ ... ng-forward
The Kansan first reported on the efforts to extend the Heartland Flyer in 2008. In 2012 the Kansas Department of Transportation estimated the cost of improvements needed for the Newton route would be $87.5 million. The Kansas City route would cost about $245.5 million. The vision for the project includes a daytime passenger train that would travel from Dallas/Fort Worth to the Wichita/Newton area.

Those costs estimates have been adjusted since that time, and according to Hague, the plan is much more attainable.

“What Amtrak and BNSF have figured out is there might be a way to extend the line without ($100 million) in track improvements,” Hague said.

Amtrak ran an inspection train along the BNSF Railway from Oklahoma City to Kansas City, which stopped in Newton at roughly 1 p.m. on June 9.
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Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City

Post by KCPowercat »

So this would.connect KC to Dallas via OKC?
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