(The following story by Brian Brus appeared on The Journal Record website on September 17.)
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Amtrak route expansion between Oklahoma and Kansas appears likely as the railroad operator and the Kansas Legislature move forward with a joint feasibility study this month, an Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesman said Tuesday.
“Kansas is taking the lead, and this is what we’ve been waiting for them to do,” said John Dougherty, Transportation Department rail programs assistant division manager, at a special Oklahoma City Council meeting.
“They’ve been not legally able to spend state dollars on rail passenger service before, so this is a very positive step,” he said. “There’s been a lot of noise and concerns and interest from their citizens to their state leaders that they want these options.”
The same has been true in Oklahoma as well. In July, Edmond city officials passed a resolution in support of an expansion of the existing Heartland Flyer service between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, Texas, north to Kansas City, Mo., by way of Newton, Kan. The governments of those cities have already expressed support for the plan, as have Norman, Oklahoma City and several other communities.
While automobile fuel prices have remained above $3 per gallon, interest in alternative transportation has increased. The number of riders on the Heartland Flyer between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth increased 17 percent for the 10 months ended July 31, Amtrak officials recently reported. Daily passengers for the 10 months totaled 67,141, up from 57,327 passengers for the same period in 2007.
Amtrak began offering Heartland Flyer service in June 1999, following a 20-year lapse in passenger rail service for Oklahomans. Oklahoma and Texas share the cost of operating the line, contributing about $2 million each annually.
Supporters of the expansion would see the line continued through Guthrie, Perry and Ponca City, and into Kansas through Arkansas City and then Wichita and Newton. The proposed line would connect there with an existing Amtrak route to Kansas City.
The extension would almost double the route’s length, so the total operating cost would increase by another $4 million annually, Dougherty said. That figure does not include startup costs.
“That’s going to cost a lot of money, and you’re going to have to spend some money just to see if you can do it,” Dougherty said of the Kansas study that begins this month.
Officials estimate the study will be finished in six to nine months, after which it will be submitted to legislators for consideration. If funding is approved by the Kansas Legislature in the following session, a new Amtrak route on existing freight rails and new passenger depots could begin operating as early as 2010, Dougherty said.
Kansas officials are beginning work on a new 10-year transportation plan to replace that state’s current plan that expires in 2009.
“They are in the same boat we were 10 years ago when we found out we would be getting rail passenger service with some help from federal dollars,” Dougherty said. “What’s tough for them is that there’s not a lot of money out there to start up. That money is going to have to come out of their highway budgets, out of their roads and bridges.”
But any investment in passenger rail is offset slightly by decreased pollution and automobile traffic wear on roads, he said. “With the capacity problems the turnpike has today, they actually could save adding a third lane.”
“We feel real positive that this is going to end up with an extension,” Dougherty said. “Now, what extension and when is unknown. It’s just the next logical step.”