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Amtrak to study Fort Worth-Kansas City route
12/19/2008
The revival of a 606-mile passenger rail service from Kansas City, Mo. to Fort Worth might be on the horizon. Amtrak has agreed to study the feasibility of reestablishing the service that it discontinued almost three decades ago in a round of budget cuts.
The proposed Fort Worth-Kansas City route includes stops in Gainesville, Texas, Oklahoma City, Okla. and Wichita, Kan. The route would use tracks shared by freight trains on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. The Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas transportation departments will help fund the Amtrak study.
The study will identify construction and equipment requirements for the proposed route. It also will estimate annual operating costs to run the service. Issues the study will consider include potential schedules, availability of railcars and locomotives and the cost of rail improvements to accommodate the service.
Amtrak has done some preliminary work on the study, which is expected to be complete sometime next year. If the study shows the service is viable, legislatures in the three states would have to agree to come up with the money to pay for it.
Amtrak currently operates two long-distance trains through Texas: the Texas Eagle, providing daily service from San Antonio to Chicago via Dallas; and the Sunset Limited, with trains three times a week from New Orleans to Los Angeles via Houston, San Antonio and El Paso.
