(The following story by Elisa Crouch appeared on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website on October 11.)
KIRKWOOD, Mo. — Amtrak ridership in Missouri rose 30 percent over last year, according to figures released Friday, but delays still plague passenger train service between St. Louis and Kansas City.
Area legislators told more than 25 riders who gathered Friday at the Kirkwood train station that the state and federal governments are working to reduce delays by spending $8.3 million on track improvements west of Jefferson City.
“Before we spend another trillion dollars on roads, this is an alternative we have to go after,” said state Rep. Charles Schlottach, R-Owensville. vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Most of Amtrak’s delays in Missouri are caused by the track-sharing arrangement it has with freight trains. Amtrak uses a double track between St. Louis and Jefferson City.
But west of Jefferson City, there is only a single track, and Amtrak must share it with 50 to 60 freight trains daily.
The state is working with Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the track, to lengthen two sidings near Strasburg, Mo., and California, Mo. — bottlenecks where Amtrak and freight trains meet regularly.
The $5 million from the state and $3.3 from the federal government will extend these sidings so they’ll be long enough to hold freight trains. The lanes currently aren’t long enough to hold freight trains, which is why Amtrak must pull over every time it meets a freight train.
The work will be done next year, said Schlottach and Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood. The reduction in delays should be felt immediately. Amtrak operates two daily round trips between St. Louis and Kansas City.
Ridership for the year ending Sept. 30 was 151,690 passengers, according to Amtrak. But during that time, only 20 percent of those trips have arrived on time.
“Anything that helps to break that logjam is a great value,” said Eagle Quint of Ballwin, a regular on Amtrak since 1971.
As for the new downtown Amtrak station, the completion date has been pushed back yet again, by a month, to November. Marc Magliari, Amtrak spokesman, said three more tracks and a platform must be built at the station before trains can use it.