Web posted
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Train study
Heartland Flyer considering day and night routes
By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net
WICHITA -- An Amtrak study to extend the Heartland Flyer from Oklahoma into Kansas will consider four riding scenarios -- two daytime routes and two nighttime routes, a Kansas Department of Transportation official said Friday.
"We are talking about two different audiences," said Ron Kaufman, bureau chief of public involvement for KDOT. "Both groups are really at odds."
Kaufman was one of several state and local officials and passenger rail proponents who addressed an audience of about 50 people at the 20th Century Center's Grand Banquet Hall on North Broadway.
The Northern Flyer Alliance passenger rail advocacy group held the meeting to update Wichita-area people on progress toward the goal of extending Amtrak's Heartland Flyer route into Kansas, and north to Kansas City. The route now runs between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City.
KDOT asked Amtrak to conduct the feasibility study in March. Later that month, an Amtrak spokesman said the study for KDOT is "in the queue." The study is expected to be started this summer and completed sometime in 2009.
The proposed Heartland Flyer expansion would continue the line north on Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks with several possible stops in Oklahoma towns north of Oklahoma City including Ponca City. The route would cross the Kansas line and proceed north with possible stops in several towns including Arkansas City, Winfield, Wichita, Newton, Emporia, Lawrence, Topeka and Kansas City.
Kaufman said the four riding scenarios being looked at include:
Nighttime: between Oklahoma City and Newton for connections between Chicago and Los Angeles on the Southwest Chief; and between Oklahoma City and Kansas City with a stop at Newton.
Daytime: between Oklahoma City and Kansas City, and between Fort Worth and Kansas City.
A woman in the audience who identified herself as an Amtrak rider asked if the nighttime routes would stop in Newton around 3 in the morning, or if a schedule change would be considered.
Kaufman replied that the Newton-to-Southwest Chief connection "doesn't mean altering the cross-country train. They're not going to want to change the schedule between Chicago and Los Angeles for people in Kansas."
But passengers traveling from Oklahoma City to Kansas City are not going to want to travel in the wee hours of the morning, he added.
"There is a distinct audience for the Southwest Chief from the audience who are traveling north-south," he said.
Would Kansas consider having both daytime and nighttime passenger trains?
"All it takes is money," he said.
Kaufman added that now is an opportune time to do the rail study because the current 10-year transportation plan for Kansas expires in 2009. A new plan will need to be developed that could possibly include funding for the proposed Amtrak extension.
Another speaker at the meeting, Matt Zimmerman, city manager of Emporia, urged the audience to write letters of support for the Amtrak study and KDOT's efforts to Governor Sebelius and other state officials.
"It's a huge step forward for KDOT to take action to start the Amtrak study," Zimmerman said. "When that's done, they can take that and present it to Oklahoma and say 'Here's hard data.'"
Working together, the two states might be able to get the job done, he said.
"With the support from 22 communities our legislatures have a lot to do," Zimmerman said.
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