(The following story by Mike Hall appeared on The Capital-Journal website on April 27.)
TOPEKA, Kan. — Travelers intent on seeking relief from ever-rising fuel costs have been turning their attention to a mode of transportation that was crossing the country long before the advent of airplanes, buses and automobiles.
The number of passengers using Amtrak has increased on almost every route the rail service operates in 46 states, with the exception of a line in Missouri where heavy freight traffic has been delaying the passenger trains, says Ray Lang, Amtrak senior director for governmental affairs.
Nationally, Amtrak ridership has grown nearly 8 percent over the past three years, according to Marc Magliari, manager of media relations for the Chicago Amtrak office.
In Topeka, the growth has been 13 percent despite the fact both the eastbound and westbound Southwest Chief trains arrive during the early hours, says John Mills, of Topeka, a retired Amtrak employee who has been a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Railroad Passengers since 1977.
A large factor in both cases is the rising cost of fuel. Railroads are more fuel-efficient than other means of transportation.
A study released last year by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a Department of Energy laboratory operated by UT-Battelle LLC in Oak Ridge, Tenn., reported that airlines use 20 percent more energy per passenger mile than Amtrak. Automobiles consume 27 percent more energy per passenger mile than Amtrak.
Environmentalists also tout a 2007 study by the Association of American Railroads stating a typical truck emits three times more nitrogen oxides and particulates per ton-mile than a locomotive and much more greenhouse gases.
But the increasing demand on Amtrak’s system is causing some growing pains. Amtrak and state and local governments across the country have determined that cooperative ventures are one way to deal with the pain.
Kansas has taken a first step toward joining 14 other states that have decided they want more passenger train service than Amtrak can provide.
Deb Miller, secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation, said KDOT will fund a study at a cost of $150,000 to $200,000 on the feasibility of creating new service between Newton, one of the stops of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, and Oklahoma City, from where the Heartland Flyer would carry passengers to Fort Worth, Texas, and points south.
Starting and operating the new route would require state funding for some initial capital improvements — to upgrade track capacity and possibly to acquire locomotives and passengers cars — and for operating expenses.
Mills said the study likely will look at a number of options with different costs.
To get the service going, it might be possible simply to use the existing locomotives and cars of the Heartland Flyer to run the extra distance between Oklahoma City and Newton. More ambitious plans include creating a whole new daytime service between Fort Worth and Kansas City, Mo. That would require more equipment and more personnel.
Magliari said studies are under way, or proposed, for more state-supported train service in the states serviced from the Chicago office. They include studies in states new to the game, such as Iowa and Ohio, as well as new routes or expanded service in states already supporting passenger train service.
The Kansas study will be conducted by Amtrak and will include potential schedules, existing Amtrak stations, and rail car and locomotive availability. The study also will consider the need to improve track to accommodate passenger service and increase capacity for greater freight movement on tracks owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
Those are important points because of a problem that has occurred in Missouri on a route between Kansas City and St. Louis, the one on which ridership has declined over the past few years. The Missouri trains carried 208,000 passengers in 2001, but only 144,000 in 2007.
People who need reliable service have been abandoning the Missouri trains because of their increasing incidence of running behind schedule. A study last year by University of Missouri professors James S. Noble and Charles J. Nemmers contained a chart showing that a third of the trains running on the route arrived more than an hour late.
The main cause? Amtrak trains mostly use freight railroads’ rails and have to thread their way among the freight trains.
The Noble-Nemmers study reported, “From a train quantity perspective, this corridor is handling between 50 and 60 trains per day, which is at the upper limits of capacity for a double track line handling the types of freight that it does. From a train weight perspective this corridor handles a large percentage (roughly 50 percent) of heavy coal trains.”
According to the study, the weight of the trains causes more frequent track repairs, which also slows train schedules.
So, the Missouri Legislature is considering a request from the Missouri Department of Transportation, along with Amtrak, for a $10.6 million funding increase to address the problem. Much of the money would go for new track sections to handle more trains.
Despite the problems in Missouri, Mills argues Amtrak ridership would be even greater if it had money to buy more locomotives and passenger cars. Many trains are running full, and people are being turned away.
His frustration, he said, is that Amtrak has a lot of locomotives and cars in storage, needing relatively inexpensive repairs or upgrades, to be put back in service.
Magliari agreed. He said the growth of recent years can’t be sustained without some increases in capacity. That could be done either by adding cars to existing trains, or even better, adding trains over existing routes. More trains is the better alternative because it would increase people’s options for when to travel.
He said the cars and locomotives in storage probably will be put into service over the next few years. As more states begin financially supporting service, the refurbished equipment likely will be used for those routes.
Mills said that the situation should improve soon, anyway. California, to support its extensive state-supported program, used a number of those refurbished cars and locomotives while awaiting delivery of new equipment. When that equipment arrives, the refurbished equipment will be made available for other routes.