BM5 via Woodhaven Posted November 29, 2013 Share #1 Posted November 29, 2013 Western Kansas may not have passenger rail service after 2016 unless new funding is found, Kansas Department of Transportation officials said. Dennis Slimmer, bureau chief of transportation planning for KDOT, said Amtrak and BNSF approached the transportation departments in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico about funding $100 million in improvements to a span of track beginning in western Kansas. The tracks are owned by BNSF, but only serve about four trains per day, including two runs by Amtrak's Southwest Chief passenger line, which runs from Chicago to Los Angeles, he said. Andy Williams, spokesman for BNSF, said the company is willing to pay for maintenance on its rails to support the low speeds used by freight trains, but if Amtrak wants higher speeds it will have to pay for the extra work. “BNSF will continue to fund maintenance of the track for the lower speed freight trains that use the route and will accommodate Amtrak service on the existing route at whatever speeds Amtrak is willing to support,” he said. For More Info: http://www.cjonline.com/news/business/2013-11-28/amtrak-service-may-leave-western-kansas-if-track-fund This does deal with AMTRAK, so I left it here if anyone wants to know (although its not in the NE Region). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtatransit Posted November 29, 2013 Share #2 Posted November 29, 2013 Another selfish move by the freight railroads they should know that amtrak is broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan Railer Posted November 30, 2013 Share #3 Posted November 30, 2013 This has been an issue for quite a while now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbo19 Posted November 30, 2013 Share #4 Posted November 30, 2013 These impediments are the main reason Amtrak doesn't prosper as much as it could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theaveragejoe Posted December 1, 2013 Share #5 Posted December 1, 2013 Another selfish move by the freight railroads they should know that amtrak is broke. Why should they pay for higher speed track if they dont need it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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