Re: New AMTRAK route between Kansas City and Oklahoma City
Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:52 pm
now we just need to get this thing funded!!
http://northflyer.org/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.
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
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.
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.
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.bbqboy wrote: what could possibly take 479 million in start up costs?
http://www.arkcity.net/news/local_news/ ... 963f4.htmlAt 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.
"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.DaveKCMO wrote:http://www.winfieldcourier.com/articles ... 755831.txt
http://www.arkcity.net/news/local_news/ ... 963f4.htmlAt 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.
"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.
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.
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.
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.