KCRag Forum

shinatoo wrote:There are track upgrades in Jeff City.

What else do we need short of 125 speed trains? (not rhetorical)

One or two more trains per day? Station upgrades?

The entire corridor potentially needs track upgrades and signals need to be improved.

Look at Illinois for the type of projects needed.

most would be happy with a midday departure from KC and STL. it wouldn't take much more capital to make track improvements to shorten the schedule.

hermann's new station is now open! https://www.flickr.com/photos/modot/set ... 224845878/

DaveKCMO wrote:hermann's new station is now open! https://www.flickr.com/photos/modot/set ... 224845878/

Nice. Occurs to me, that el dorado architects & jim woodfill could make some magic with a train depot.

the new equipment that was scheduled to appear in 2015 (then 2016, then 2017) must be redesigned, so we'll creak along with the 1980s "horizon" cars for another few years.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/delays-may- ... 1?mod=e2tw

here's (allegedly) a shot of one of the new locomotives eventually heading to missouri/illinois for the st. louis/chicago line over in denver, recently:


http://www.railpictures.net

edit: That's the correct model. Missouri ordered two of them. But that train is heading the opposite direction.

4601 was the first complete
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/741/p/255790/2879294.aspx

the first complete engine is going to Washington state
http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/no ... ealed.html

ok...yeah, i meant to insinuate that this will be the model, wasnt sure if that particular train was headed east.

why would missouri order any? as straight replacements for the older engines on stl-kc? i'm saying that with half-snark as missouri doesnt seem interested in high(er) speed rail. i sort of gave up on the stl-kc line years ago past hermann after some extremely rediculous situations.

they're tier IV compliant (less polluting) and capable of faster speeds (which will be important for the STL-CHI and DET-CHI corridors). theoretically they should be more reliable, too.

DaveKCMO wrote:they're tier IV compliant (less polluting) and capable of faster speeds (which will be important for the STL-CHI and DET-CHI corridors). theoretically they should be more reliable, too.

hah, well that's important.

is kc-stl any better than it used to be? i'd certainly like to take a car-free trip to kc sometime (again), use the streetcar once there, etc.

warwickland wrote:

DaveKCMO wrote:they're tier IV compliant (less polluting) and capable of faster speeds (which will be important for the STL-CHI and DET-CHI corridors). theoretically they should be more reliable, too.

hah, well that's important.

is kc-stl any better than it used to be? i'd certainly like to take a car-free trip to kc sometime (again), use the streetcar once there, etc.

I'm going completely car free on my trip to STL for the Liverpool game on August 1st so we'll see. Northland to streetcar to Amtrak to hotel near stadium & back.

on-time performance has been solid for many years. the ride is relatively smooth. you can buy boulevard beer. what else do you need?

Ban on Cardinals caps/shirts b/n KC and Jeff City.

sometimes amtrak smelled like amtrak. i don't like that amtrak smell. some of those missouri river runner trains smelled of sweat and urine.

how about a ban on out-of-context akwardly-aggressive arriviste royals fans unable to believe that st.louisans/cardinals fans actually rooted for the royals in weird IN YO FACE conversations out of the blue. thats a thing.

BLAM.

seriously though, it's good to hear that on time performance has been consistant. there were some outrageously bad years there, and it was always faster to take the train to chicago which is ridiculous.

warwickland wrote: how about a ban on out-of-context akwardly-aggressive arriviste royals fans unable to believe that st.louisans/cardinals fans actually rooted for the royals in weird IN YO FACE conversations out of the blue. thats a thing.

My aggression is not awkward, nor is my fandom arriviste. Out-of-context, sure. But I gave you all the way to Jeff City. I think I have the high road, or as much a one as I care to travel.

chingon wrote:

warwickland wrote: how about a ban on out-of-context akwardly-aggressive arriviste royals fans unable to believe that st.louisans/cardinals fans actually rooted for the royals in weird IN YO FACE conversations out of the blue. thats a thing.

My aggression is not awkward, nor is my fandom arriviste. Out-of-context, sure. But I gave you all the way to Jeff City. I think I have the high road, or as much a one as I care to travel.

my bad, meant to state that i was talking about something that actually happened IN MY FACE. and i was all like WUH?

jeff city is a bridge too far.

What is the conversation like concerning reconnecting KC to Denver and Omaha? What about improved rail speeds? Money isn't easy to come by, but I am curious if there has been any meaningful discussion about these things.

miz.jordan17 wrote:What is the conversation like concerning reconnecting KC to Denver and Omaha? What about improved rail speeds? Money isn't easy to come by, but I am curious if there has been any meaningful discussion about these things.

Or OKC? I think for Omaha the first step would be a through way bus? Then if demand was high a train. Is there any discussion of adding lines in Missouri to places like Joplin or Springfield?

denver - no active conversations as far back as i can remember. it's a looooong distance and very few trip generators in between. probably more realistic to connect via omaha (the california zephyr and southwest chief have similar arrival/departure times in KC and omaha, making a thruway bus a near-term option) or one of the southern colorado towns served by the chief. kansas would need to participate since the distance is under 750 miles, since federal law now prevents amtrak from fronting the full cost of routes shorter than that. kansas has been most concerned with keeping the chief running through the state (it was at risk of being rerouted through texas).

omaha - no active conversations, but there was a state senator who was lobbying to connect KC to st. joe, which would use the same UP (?) tracks up to omaha. jefferson lines services this route today, so it would be possible to have amtrak contract with them for a "thruway" service to build ridership. "feeder" bus service to st. joe was also considered in a draft state rail plan a few years ago, but, alas, not to omaha.

springfield - modot studied STL to springfield in 2007, but the existing tracks needed a major upgrade and the terrain east of springfield makes for a circuitous (thus slow) route.

joplin - presumably a route to springfield could continue on to joplin and eventually OKC, but that has never been seriously discussed.

on an extreme far side note, if a hyperloop is ever built to connect the coast they would likely make at least one midwestern stop. chances are that would probably be chicago though.

DaveKCMO wrote: on an extreme far side note, if a hyperloop is ever built to connect the coast they would likely make at least one midwestern stop. chances are that would probably be chicago though.

Which would be another reason to get our regional rail up to snuff.