Amtrak execs push to get Wichita back on track with proposed route from Newton to OKC
The top two executives of Amtrak committed their support Tuesday to creating a new rail route that would link Newton and Wichita to Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, opening a variety of possible connections to Chicago and the east and west coasts.
The proposal announced by Amtrak President Stephen Gardner and CEO Bill Flynn would close a longstanding gap by extending the Heartland Flyer route from its current northern terminus at Oklahoma City through Ponca City, Wichita and Newton.
It would also increase the frequency of train service between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth.
“We have great partners already with Oklahoma and Texas to support this service and we look forward to welcoming a new partner with Kansas, extending the service north from Oklahoma City, through Wichita up to Newton,” he said.
Additionally, “Our vision for the Heartland Flyer adds more trains between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City and then would take what today is one initial daily round trip and make that three daily round trips,” he said.
The new service from Newton to Oklahoma City would be forecast to have a trip time of three hours and 20 minutes, about an hour more than it would take to drive the route, Amtrak estimates. Currently, Amtrak contracts with a bus company to provide service between the two cities.
Oklahoma City to Fort Worth would take just under four hours “which is equivalent to the trip time you see today traveling in the peak by car between these locations,” Gardner said.
He projects “an annual economic impact of more than $64 million and additional $1.9 billion in economic activity that would come from the capital investments needed to make this expansion of service possible.”
Vision to expand intercity passenger rail
It’s not a done deal, but Amtrak will pitch hard for the Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas routes in upcoming Congressional talks on Amtrak funding.
“Right now our real request is that a federal partnership be established while Congress is considering the Surface Transportation Bill reauthorization and Amtrak funding — that we really have a commitment from the federal government to invest in corridors like these,” Gardner said. “That’s what we really need in order to make this vision move out of the phase of initial planning into implementation.”
They have an enthusiastic supporter in Kansas U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, who participated in a Zoom meeting with the Amtrak executives and local officials whose cities and counties lie in the train service gap.
“I’ve had conversations with our participants today about the importance of the Heartland Flyer, particularly to Wichita and to Newton, but also to the communities that would then be connected by the Southwest Chief and have our Kansans have a route to the south, Oklahoma City and on to Texas,” Moran said. “The investment extending the Heartland Flyer would be invaluable to Kansans . . . also invaluable to the Southwest Chief and its stop in Newton and what a difference that will make in the ridership of that long-distance line.”
The plan for expansion in the middle of the country has been brewing for years, Flynn said.
“We here at Amtrak have been developing a vision, a strategy, to grow intercity passenger rail, adding new service and improving existing routes,” he said. “The Heartland Flyer extension exemplifies the potential that exists across the country and exists for the communities that we can serve.”
Gardner said demand for new routes and more trains is strong and forecast that the new service would generate an additional 100,000 to 200,000 riders per year.
State support would be needed. Amtrak would pick up the first few years of operating costs, which haven’t been determined yet, and gradually transition costs to states along the new service routes, Gardner said.
‘Decline to drive’ across generations
Kansas state Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, said expanded train service would be popular because there’s a decline in the “drive to drive” that crosses generational lines.
“We used to talk about how seniors don’t want to drive much anymore, but part of that is not just their driving skill but the fact that they have other things that they would like to do” while traveling, McGinn said. “Some of the Gen(eration) Z’s and millennials today, they are more interested in their gadgets, their phones, their computers. They want to communicate with their friends and you can’t do that safely when you’re driving in your car.”
It would cost about $500 million to upgrade the tracks from freight to passenger speeds, but Amtrak doesn’t expect that to be an issue with BNSF — Burlington Northern Santa Fe — which owns the tracks and would host the passenger service, the executives said.
“Although Wichita and Oklahoma City are only 160 miles apart . . . the last time they were connected by passenger rail was in 1979,” Gardner said. “Additionally, this service would connect two of the triangle routes we’ve put forward in our vision out of Fort Worth and two long-distance services — in Newton, the Southwest Chief, and in Texas connecting to the service we have today, The Eagle.”
The Southwest Chief route starts in Los Angeles and ends in Chicago, via northern Arizona and New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois.
The Texas Eagle runs from San Antonio to Chicago, passing through Fort Worth, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.
At San Antonio, passengers can transfer to the Sunset Limited, which offers service from Los Angeles to New Orleans through Phoenix and Houston. The Sunset Limited connects to lines that serve the east and west coasts from Washington to Maine.
Allan Rutter, division head at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, said he’s excited about the possibilities the new service would bring.
“When you find the ability to increase frequency and expand reliability, people respond by being on the trains,” he said.
Oklahoma City and Fort Worth are both attractive destinations, he said.
“Those two cities have really invested in downtown stations,” he said. “Fort Worth’s station is right in the middle of downtown and has both commuter rail to Dallas and to the DFW airport. On the Oklahoma City end that gets you right downtown, right at the edge of the downtown convention center and the (Bricktown dining and entertainment district).”
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 8:07 PM.
