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 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]

Almost every short-distance passenger train route in the nation is showing increased ridership, except for the trains that travel between our two biggest cities. 

An AMTRAK official says passengers have told the rail line that if they wanted to ride buses, they would have bought a bus ticket. 

But for more than a year, AMTRAK has had to use buses to move passengers on at least part of the route between St. Louis and Kansas City.

The reason:  Heavy freight traffic…and single lines of tracks in many places.

AMTRAK spokesman Marc Magliari says the law creating AMTRAK gives passenger trains preference on freight lines.  But he says Union Pacific is juggling a huge amount of volume, particularly heavy trains moving coal from Wyoming to Tennessee, that force shutdowns of track sections for repairs. 

AMTRAK becomes the odd man out…sometimes truncating trips and forcing customers to switch to special buses…sometimes forcing AMTRAK to bus customers all the way.  Legal action is an option.  It was used last year.  But Magliari hopes negotiations this year will resolve the problem.

UP hopes to double-line some segments in eastern Missouri.  But that effort is slowed because legal proceedings are blocking the state from giving the railroad an old bridge at Boonville and letting UP use it in eastern Missouri.

download Bob priddy’s story (:61 mp3)

The man in charge of Amtrak is expressing confidence that the passenger railroad will stick around. Amtrak President David Gunn says he and other company executives have been taking train trips through Missouri and elsewhere to determine how the railroad is being run and to look at ways of improving the service. Gunn says despite some tough financial times of late, he believes Amtrak will survive. He says, however, that a large investment is going to be needed for the necessary maintenance. Gunn wants Washington decision-makers to consider the railroads as part of the overall transportation system which is in need of federal dollars.