(The following story by Brad Cooper appeared on The Kansas City Star website on April 27, 2009.)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri launched work today on a railroad project that officials hope will reduce Amtrak delays between Kansas City and St. Louis.
The state is building a new 9,000-foot siding at California, Mo., which will allow trains to pass each other. The project will cost $8.1 million, paid for with federal and state funds.
The new siding is expected to help relieve one of the biggest bottlenecks on the 283-mile route across the state.
Amtrak uses tracks owned by Union Pacific, which runs between 50 and 60 freight trains a day on the track.
The high freight traffic has caused Amtrak trains to run behind schedule, which has led to ridership declines.
There are signs that timeliness is beginning to improve, however. Missouri transportation officials report that on-time performance has been running at about 90 percent this year. In the past, 70 percent could be considered good.
The new siding will be built between Sedalia and Jefferson City, the rail segment that was responsible for 16.7 percent of Amtrak _s delays between Kansas City and St. Louis.
A University of Missouri study predicted that the siding work could cut 8.5 minutes off the delays caused by the bottleneck between Jefferson City and Sedalia.
The Missouri Department of Transportation wants to turn the Kansas City-St. Louis route into a high-speed corridor where trains run at more than 79 mph. They expect that to come in increments over time.
MoDOT plans to seek millions more in federal stimulus money to make additional track improvements needed to boost speeds, which now average about 45 mph.