(The following story by Brad Cooper appeared on The Kansas City Star website on June 4.)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s not the most reliable way to get around. It’s also not that popular these days.
But Amtrak’s rail service between Kansas City and St. Louis is about to get improvements that could make train trips more attractive when we’re looking for ways to avoid paying for $4-a-gallon gas.
The Missouri General Assembly, which has made Amtrak the target for cuts in the past, approved an extra $5 million this year for Amtrak.
The money would go for track improvements aimed at relieving congestion and helping the trains run on time. The appropriation is awaiting the governor’s signature.
“This is a step in the right direction,” said Brian Weiler, who oversees the state-funded rail service at the Missouri Department of Transportation.
But the good news is dampened by the fact that the state is about $400,000 short of the money needed to run the four daily trains between Kansas City and St. Louis.
For now, no one foresees the train service being curtailed. Officials are counting on a combination of solutions, including more money from the legislature, a possible fare increase and more paying riders.
Amtrak’s Missouri service has faced shortfalls before, and the gap either has been made up with additional fees or more money from the state.
But persuading lawmakers to put more money into the service can be difficult, especially since Missouri ridership has been flagging even as the railroad has enjoyed a renaissance elsewhere across the country.
Amtrak’s Missouri service is on pace this year to have its worst ridership in the last six or seven years, according to MoDOT figures.
The problem is traced to Amtrak’s on-time performance, which is hindered by the fact that it shares railroad tracks owned by Union Pacific.
From July 2007 to April, trains were on time 62 percent of the time, state figures show.
Union Pacific runs 50 to 60 freight trains a day on the same 283-mile route between Kansas City and St. Louis. About half of Amtrak’s delays were attributed to freight train interference, a July 2007 study says.
Some of the more recent delays were attributed to track work that Union Pacific did on the Kansas City-St. Louis route.
The $5 million, only half of what MoDOT originally requested, will go toward lengthening two sidings on Union Pacific lines between Lee’s Summit and Jefferson City.
The goal is to make the sidings longer so freight trains can make room for Amtrak trains to get by and run on time.
MoDOT wants to make both sidings 8,500 feet long, which would be big enough to handle freights trains averaging about 6,000 feet long.
Extending the sidings — one at California, Mo., and the other at Strasburg, Mo. — could help reduce the length of delays by about 12 percent, the study done by researchers at the University of Missouri says.
Weiler wasn’t predicting miracles, however.
“Does this mean that our on-time performance is going to increase to 100 percent? No,” Weiler said. “Our goal is to make a significant improvement in on-time performance.
“At the stage we’re at right now, we can’t give a specific on-time improvement goal.”
The money appropriated by the General Assembly might be enough to start one of those siding projects. MoDOT also is seeking $5 million from a $30 million pie that the federal government is carving up for intercity passenger train service.
He said no decisions have been made about which siding would be improved if the federal government doesn’t come through with more money.
He said he didn’t expect the federal government to decide the funding issue until September, but added that MoDOT would start the engineering work on the projects.