(The Associated Press circulated the following article on October 5.)
KIRKWOOD, Mo. — Members of a committee studying transportation needs in the state pressed support for preserving and possibly expanding Missouri’s Amtrak service in the long term during a hearing Monday.
But the one thing that is key to making the service more viable and available — funding — is scarce.
Missouri has two daily trains between St. Louis and Kansas City that make eight stops along the way. The state subsidizes Amtrak’s service by contributing $6.2 million each year — second only to Illinois in contributions among the surrounding states.
Monday’s public hearing before the Joint Interim Committee on Multimodal Transportation was the fourth of five such meetings around the state; the group will make recommendations to the legislature next year. Today the committee will go to Washington, Mo., to hear from residents, local government and transport officials, and rail-riders there.
The committee is studying ways to establish partnerships with railroads that would reduce delays caused by rail traffic jams and make Amtrak’s operation of rail service in the state more efficient and less dependent on state funds.
One way to do that would be to increase ridership. But as delays on the line became longer and more frequent because of recent track upgrades and construction, ridership figures dropped, said state Rep. David Pearce, a committee member.
The route served about 167,000 people last year — an average of 457 passengers a day. That’s down from 1998 or 1999, when about 200,000 passengers rode the line, said Pearce, a Republican from Warrensburg.
The committee heard other suggestions — following the Kansas City to St. Louis local service route with an express, making point-to-point service available to such cities as Springfield and Branson, and building more tracks to accommodate more trains.