(The following story by Brad Cooper appeared on the Kansas City Star website on May 12.)
KANSAS CITY — Amtrak has extended its plans to replace trains with buses between Kansas City and St. Louis.
Through next Monday, heavy freight traffic will force the railroad passenger service to use motor coaches in lieu of a train for the full route when it departs from Kansas City’s Union Station at 12:30 p.m.
Passengers leaving Kansas City at 4:30 p.m. will start on a bus but will be transferred to a train in Jefferson City.
Amtrak is coping with a $27 million construction project on the tracks owned by Union Pacific Railroad. Amtrak pays to use Union Pacific’s tracks.
The construction, which includes installing new ties and laying more rock under the tracks, stands to make things worse when coupled with the heavy freight congestion.
Union Pacific runs about 55 trains a day on the route in addition to the four trains Amtrak operates each day between Kansas City and St. Louis.