An improvement in mid-Missouri has greatly improved Amtrak service across the state. Now, the Department of Transportation wants to go farther and faster with passenger rail service.

A new 9,000-foot rail siding at California allows Union Pacific freight trains to get out of the way of Amtrak traveling between Kansas City and Jefferson City.

“This is the first step toward hopefully getting faster trains,” Brian Weiler, Missouri Department of Transportation Multimodal Operations Director, tells the Missourinet.

Weiler says the $8 million project allows transportation officials to dream.

“But in the past, the bottlenecks were still there and the on-time performance was so bad the idea of increasing the speed wasn’t realistic,” according to Weiler.

Vast improvement of Amtrak service in Missouri, once considerable laughable, could now be within reach. MoDOT has its eye on $201.3 million in track improvements and other improvements between Kansas City and St. Louis. The Missouri Transportation Commission has applied for federal economic recovery funds. The Federal Railroad Administration announced earlier this year that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has made billions available through High-Speed/intercity Passenger Rail grants. Weiler says that so far, 40 states have requested $103 billion, nearly 12 times the amount available.

Weiler says the spur at California cleared one bottleneck.

“So, having this in place, we will see direct benefits to on-time performance,” says Weiler, “and it will also improve the flow of freight traffic. And freight traffic is good. That means our economy is moving.”

Weiler acknowledges that some of the improvement in Amtrak service, particularly its on-time performance can be attributed to a decrease in freight traffic due the economic downturn. Freight will pick-up as the economy does, making it more difficult to keep up the current impressive on-time performances.

MoDOT hopes it succeeds in securing the federal funds to eliminate bottlenecks and allow passenger trains to move faster. In its application for federal money, the state has listed 11 projects it asserts will improve the flow of passenger trains between Kansas City and St. Louis and allow those trains to move faster. The costliest project totals $56.6 million. It would complete double track and signal upgrades between Lee’s Summit and Pleasant Hill, which would allow Amtrak trains to run from 79 to 90 miles per hour. The state is also asking for $50 million to buy two new sets of locomotives and passenger equipment for use on the St. Louis to Kansas City route, an application made along with Wisconsin. A $33.8 million project would eliminate one of the biggest bottlenecks on the route, the single track bridge that spans the Osage River east of Jefferson City, by constructing a second bridge and adding crossovers.

Brent Martin reports [Dowload/listen Mp3 60 seconds]

It’s only 9,000 feet long, but it is making a huge difference for passenger rail service between Kansas City and St. Louis.

State Sen. John Griesheimer (R-Washington) tied an event in mid-Missouri to the holiday season.

“This is a Christmas present to the state of Missouri; it’s an early Christmas present to the state of Missouri and all Amtrak riders,” Griesheimer told those gathered in the California City Hall for the dedication ceremony of the rail siding completed just prior to Thanksgiving.

Griesheimer referred to the 9,000 foot spur laid down just West of California, built under a cooperative agreement between the state, Union Pacific and Amtrak at a cost of $8.1 million. That 9,000 feet of side rail allows freight trains to get over and let Amtrak passenger trains pass through. The difference it makes is astounding. Amtrak on-time performance between Kansas City and St. Louis, once lagging between 55-and-79%, hit 100% during the Thanksgiving holiday week.

State Transportation Director Pete Rahn says the project would not have been completed without a $5 million appropriation from the legislature.

“And that was a first time in which the General Assembly had supported a proposal to take public monies and invest into a private rail system,” Rahn said.

The state funding allowed Missouri to secure $3.3 million from the federal government to complete financing of the project.

Poor on-time performance has long been a criticism of Amtrak. It has hurt its ability to sell passenger service to Missourians and has been a point of harsh criticism in the state legislature. MoDOT has applied for federal economic stimulus funding to make other such improvements to the central Missouri railway. Officials say additional rail sidings at Knob Noster and Strasburg would improve on-time service.

Brent Martin reports.

sidingweb