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Missouri contending for high-speed rail funds from stimulus

May 10, 2009 By

Arthur Stilwell is the man who had the original vision, eventually building the Kansas City Southern. He was born in Rochester, N.Y. in 1859, gaining an Rep. Charlie Schlottach insight to railroading through his grandfather, who had been a key founder of the New York Central Railroad, as well as a builder of the Erie Canal.

Stilwell was once listening to a conversation between his grandfather and Commodore Vanderbilt, and when Vanderbilt asked him what he wanted to do when he grew up, he said "I’m going West to build a railroad!"

Stilwell probably never imagined a train ride from Kansas City to St. Louis could take only an hour and a half. Just a couple more hours to Chicago. But it’s now that Missouri legislators have that same gleam in their eyes, and a few are working to make it a reality.

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Claire McCaskill of Missouri are pushing for a high-speed rail corridor between St. Louis and Chicago. Obama has set aside $8 billion for rail corridors with high-speed rail a high priority. Durbin and McCaskill reportedly met with Amtrack and Union Pacific officials — in a private meeting — on Friday.

Rep. Charlie Schlottach (R-Owensville) is the chairman of Missouri’s Transportation and Economic Development Committee. He also chairs the Midwest Regional Rail Commission that comprises 13 states.

Schlottach says transportation funding has always been a matter of contention in the Capitol, but that attitudes are changing. "People are demanding choices," he says, and many of them indicate that travel by rail is among the choices they want as a viable choice.

When asked when a high-speed rail might be a reality, Schlottach says he can’t say for sure, but it would be sooner than later.

"Interest in rail is on the rise," he says.

The $8 billion Missouri is hoping will improve and expand its rail system is part of $64 billion in the stimulus package for roads, bridges, rail and transit.

The money will be awarded on a competitive basis.

Current projects are adding track to areas between Jefferson City and Kansas City that have been notorious for bottle-necking as Amtrak passenger trains and Union Pacific cargo trains vie for track space. The passenger trains typically are the ones that get put behind schedule — the cargo trains are often too long to pull off and let the passenger trains through. This has been contributing to late arrivals and unhappy customers. Amtrak has been working to improve its on-time performance, these various expansions will help.

Work on the eastern side of the state, from Jefferson City to St. Louis, involves bridge upgrades to facilitate more rail traffic. These upgrades, Schlottach says, put Missouri ahead of the game so that when high-speed rail is a reality, we’ll be ready.

 

Jessica Machetta reports [Download/listen MP3]

Filed Under: Transportation Tagged With:

Transportation commission building relationships, overcoming challenges

April 27, 2009 By

As the chairman of the Missouri Highways and TransportationCommission completes his second month on the job, he reflects on thedepartments successes and challenges. 

KehoeMike3.jpg Mike Kehoe, after serving four years on the commission, took the lead as chairman at the beginning of March. (He was appointed to the commission in 2004 by then Gov. Matt Blunt.)

He says the department’s been working to strengthen its relationshipwith other entities, a part of working with MoDOT he really enjoys. Those partnerships were made evident Monday as MoDOT, key transportation legislators and officials from Union Pacific and Amtrak came together to break ground on a rail expansion project in California, Mo.

A study by the University of Missouri Engineering Department identified a 25-mile stretch in California as a major bottleneck along the St. Louis to Kansas City corridor, putting Amtrak passenger trains behind schedule.

There are no sidings long enough for Union Pacific cargo trains to pull off the main track, allowing Amtrak to speed through. Therefore, Amtrak has to pull off instead, resulting in late arrivals.

Kehoe says this is one of many projects where MoDOT and other agencies are working together to solve problems and improve Missouri transportation.

Kehoe says the department’s learned valuable lessons when looking atrough patches its encountered in the past, like the failed 15-yearhighway plan of the 90s. The five-year rolling plan now used means heightened accountability for MoDOT, which reviews and updates the plan annually to better track projects and spending.

He says MoDOT projects are always going to be controversial becausethere’s never enough funding to complete all of the projects peoplewant finished, but with everyone thinking outside the box and aiming at a common goal, more gets accomplished with each passing year.

In 1998, accountability legislation passed, requiring MoDOT to submit anannual report to the legislature by Nov. 10 each year. The same legislation created theposition of MoDOT director.

MoDOT adopted its rolling five-year plan for highway and bridgeimprovements in the state in 1999. That’s when the 15-Year Plan was scrapped as the financial blueprint for construction projects.

Serving with Kehoe, who lives in Jefferson City, on the commission is David Gach, St. Joseph, vice-chairman. Kehoe andGach have both served since 2005, with terms endingin 2011.

They replaced Duane Michie, Hayti, and Jim Anderson, Springfield,whose terms ended March 1, but both will remain on thecommission until Gov. Jay Nixon names their replacements. Other commission members are Rudy Farber, Neosho, and Grace Nichols, St. Charles. The six-member bipartisan commission governs the Missouri Departmentof Transportation.

Jessica Machetta reports [Download/listen MP3]

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Rail project in California, Mo., breaks ground

April 27, 2009 By

California, Missouri is where a joint project between The Missouri Department of Transportation, Union Pacific and Amtrack begins to improve passenger rail service.

Brian Weiler, multimodal operations director for MoDOT says this is the first of several projects to add sidings — a passing lane of sorts — to the track.

Federal stimulus funding and state money is going toward the $8.1 million project.

MoDOT reports the Kansas City to St. Louis rail corridor has experienced such a steady growth in freight rail traffic over the years, that the corridor has experienced capacity constraints.

In some parts of Missouri, Amtrak trains have to pull over to accomodate Union Pacific cargo traffic.

California, Missouri is one of the state’s worst bottlenecks, putting passenger trains behind schedule. Other identified bottlenecks are in Knob Noster and Strasburg.

MoDOT says once the California project is complete, allowing Amtrak trains to pass, the annual reduction in delays will be nearly 17 percent.

"As the State of Missouri, Union Pacific and Amtrak break ground together on this project, it further represents our commitment to making the St. Louis to Kansas City rail corridor a more viable option for Missourians," says Pete Rahn, director of MoDOT. "Improvements like this will ease congestion on the railroad tracks across Missouri and enhance our state’s quality of life by making passenger rail a more reliable option and increasing our global competitiveness as the flow of freight rail traffic improves."

"The Kansas City to St. Louis rail corridor has experienced such a steady growth in freight rail traffic over the years, that the corridor experienced capacity constraints. Union Pacific has invested more than $400 million since 1999 on this corridor in track capacity and maintenance projects," says Shane Keller, Union Pacific Railroad’s assistant vice president – operations – Northern Region. "All of us at Union Pacific look forward to not only the completion of this project, but also what we hope will be more public/private partnerships like this one which benefits everyone across Missouri."

Mike Franke, Amtrak Assistant Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development, agrees, saying, "This kind of targeted capacity improvement can make a real difference in improving the on-time performance of Amtrak Missouri River Runner trains and make our service even more attractive," said When finished in December 2009, the siding will accommodate the mile-and-a-half long Union Pacific coal trains that haul low-sulfur coal from Wyoming to electric utilities in the St. Louis area and eastern power generation facilities. MoDOT secured the funding for this project from state funds, complemented with a federal grant from the Federal Railroad Administration."

Jessica Machetta interviews Brian Weiler [Download/listen MP3]

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Amtrak service gets new name, promises better service

January 29, 2009 By

Missouri River Runner is the new name for the state supported Amtrak trains between St. Louis and Kansas City.
The name was submitted by Keith Kohler of Glendale and received 37 percent of the public vote in a contest hosted by Amtrak out of the five finalist names.
MoDOT and Amtrak sponsored the "Name the Train" contest in celebration of 30 years of state-supported passenger rail across Missouri, as well as major servce improvements in the works, says MoDot officials.
Brian Weiler, Multimodal Operations Director, says the service has been criticized as being unreliable in years past and that MoDOT has gotten the message "loud and clear."
He says bottleneck problems along the Gasconade River have been solved and ground will be broken for improvement projects in California, Mo., this spring.

Click here for more information .

Listen/download interview with Brian Weiler, MoDOT. [MP3]

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Transportation leaders hear that vision must come before taxes

June 12, 2008 By

Vision first, a tax increase proposal later.

That was the message delivered during the Second Annual Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight Summit held in Jefferson City. Several proposals to raise various taxes to pay for road, bridge and other transportation improvements have been batted around in the legislation. None have gotten anywhere.

Rep. Neal St. Onge (R-Ballwin), chairman of the House Transportation Committee and co-chair of the Joint Committee, tells participants tax talk is premature.

"We have to decide what we want," Onge told the gathering, "We need to find out what do we want, what does Missouri, as a state, want from its system?"

Missouri has just about run out of Amendment Three funding approved by voters in 2004. Federal funding is expected to drop as well.

Though a funding crisis looms, St. Onge says transportation leaders cannot afford to lose focus.

"From a business perspective, from a practical perspective, we need to look at what we want before we can figure out what it is going to cost," according to St. Onge.

That includes all aspects of transportation, says Onge:  roads, bridges, barge traffic and public transportation. He says it might take as much as two years to settle on a plan to present to the public.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (:60 MP3)

Filed Under: Politics & Government, Transportation Tagged With: ,
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