[OKC] FW: [PassRail-TX, OK, KS] 2011-Status of Initiatives OKC - Tulsa & Ft Worth - OKC - Wichita - KCy

[Shauna Struby]

fyi

 

From: sfrr at aol.com [mailto:sfrr at aol.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 11:58 AM
To: heartland_flyer at yahoogroups.com; northflyer at yahoogroups.com;
Southwest_Chief at yahoogroups.com; MOKSRail at yahoogroups.com;
centralpassengerrail at yahoogroups.com; ok-pro-rail at googlegroups.com
Subject: [PassRail-TX,OK,KS] 2011-Status of Initiatives OKC - Tulsa & Ft
Worth - OKC - Wichita - KCy

 

Fellow Advocates:

We have been working hard to continue efforts in spite of what we hope are
temporary challenges to federal funding and regional organization upheaval.
I am happy to report that our websites www.PassengerRailKS.org
<http://www.passengerrailks.org/> , www.PassengerRailOK.org,
www.PassengerRailTX.org and a unifying website www.NorthFlyer.org are now
ALL active and updated. We are also active on Facebook with Oklahoma Texas
Kansas Passenger Rail
<http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_118891428132786&ref=ts> .

History. We have now been working on Heartland Flyer expansion, in some form
or another, for ten years. The effort took off in 2006 when we started
working in Kansas.  Autumn Heithaus, at the time Executive Director of the
Northern Flyer Alliance, was able to convince state senator Greta Goodwin,
to secure $250,000 for an Amtrak, Kansas City - Wichita - Oklahoma City -
Fort Worth 606 mile corridor study (TOK-Rail Corridor).

Between 2008 and 2010 our membership secured approximately 90 city/civic
passenger rail support resolutions along the TOK-Rail Corridor.  These came
from cities as small as Strong City, Kansas to cities the size of Oklahoma
City.

2010 was an active year.  The Amtrak study completed in March.  Our
membership was instrumental in pushing KS-2010-SB-409, the Kansas Passenger
Rail Development Act to a Governor Parkinson signature (see attachment). The
Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) began work on a Service
Development Plan (SDP) for the TOK-Rail Corridor. In May, we split and
reorganized into our three pre-alliance member organizations (Passenger Rail
Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas) under a new North Flyer Organization
<http://www.NorthFlyer.org> .

OKC-Tulsa Corridor (The Eastern Flyer).  This is the hottest route going,
mainly because this initiative will not depend entirely upon federal
funding. We are aggressively working on a passenger rail route between OKC -
Tulsa.  Our membership was instrumental in passing OK-2011-HB-1686, the
Eastern Flyer Passenger Rail Development Task Force Act.  This act was
signed by Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin on April 21.  

The act creates a task force to look at the best method(s) for delivering
passenger rail between the state's two largest populations.  The task force
begins it work before September this year.  It will complete its work in
late 2012.  It will use Public-Private Partnership (PPP) formulas as an
alternative funding stream.

Three Delivery Methods. Passenger rail could come in three different forms
here.  1) Most likely is a conventional (80-90 mph) non-Amtrak commuter rail
route along 118 miles of existing infrastructure (...100 of which are owned
by the state between Oklahoma City and Sauplpa (...recent visits to the line
show that a massive tie-replacement program has already upgraded route
speeds)).  2) Amtrak could become a conventional operator. 3) ODOT and TxDOT
continue working with their federal planning grants on a High Speed Rail
Route (125 mph to 150 mph) as a part of the USDOT designated, South Central
High Speed Rail corridor.

Speculation. The Eastern Flyer task force will make strategic decisions
regarding state passenger rail direction. The first two would have a
price-tag of about $112 million.  ODOT's High Speed Route is unlikely due to
the estimated $2 billion cost (a full 25% of the 2009 national HSIPR
allocation and the entire (100%) of the 2010.

TOK-Rail Corridor. TOK-Rail Corridor efforts have cooled considerably.  A
Kansas Passenger Rail legislative Caucus has met several times, but their
activities have not produced visible fruit.  

As most are aware, Governor Brownback has stated his opposition to passenger
rail expansion in letters to constituents.  KDOT is a statutory agency under
the executive branch.  ODOT and TxDOT are standing behind KDOT as it
performs its snail's pace work. There is little that can be done at this
point without some type of veto-proof and aggressive legislation.  Federal
policy is allowing KDOT to slow the process. 

So what remains before passenger trains begin operating along the TOK-Rail
Corridor?  Amtrak-BNSF Railway cost figures necessitate federal matching
funds.  The March 2010 Amtrak study release showed rail upgrade and
equipment costs at $155 million to $479 million depending upon whether the
Heartland Flyer is extended to Wichita (Newton) or a brand new train begins
on the TOK-Rail corridor. Federal qualifying High Speed-Intercity Passenger
Rail (HSIPR) funding requirements include:

1) State Rail Plan (SRP). Oklahoma must complete its SRP (Kansas and Texas
are complete)
2) Service Development Plan (SDP). KDOT must complete a TOK-Rail Corridor
SDP (due at the end of the year)
3) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Corridor and Service National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) studies must be funded
4) Matching Fund Application. Items 1-3 must be used as background to submit
an matching fund application to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA),
management arm for HSIPR.

Obviously, many challenges remain.  KDOT is working at a snail's pace.  It
may be that the Oklahoma and Texas departments of transportation (ODOT and
TxDOT) and OK - TX legislators are waiting on KDOT and Kansas to take a more
proactive role. Pressuring regional legislators and governors is mandatory,
especially in Kansas.  If all goes well, 2014 or 2015 will be the operative
date for a first run.

Other Projects.  We are also active with other projects in the region.

-Guthrie (OK) Territorial Christmas Festival Train. Guthrie was the
Territorial and original state capital of Oklahoma. The capital moved in
1910, leaving a Victorian era downtown. The downtown was revitalized in the
1980's.  The city is now the Tourism Capital of the state including many
trendy shops and the state's largest Bed and Breakfast industry.  We are
attempting to reprise a 2009, 30 mile extension of the Heartland Flyer (in
the direction of Kansas) December 15 - December 18 for this festival.  

-Southwest Chief Coalition. We are trying to start a Southwest Chief
Coalition to better market the Chicago - Los Angeles passenger train.  We
also want to make certain it continues operating over Raton Pass in SE
Colorado and north New Mexico.

-Krum, (Denton) Texas Heartland Flyer Stop. Our membership has been able to
convince TxDOT to place this community in the TOK-Rail SDP.  This could
increase Heartland Flyer ridership by 15-20% (about 10,000 to 14,000 riders
a year from the Denton County area.

-Davis, Oklahoma Heartland Flyer Stop.  Oklahoma's Arbuckle Mountain Range
is the site of Chickasaw National Recreation area.  ODOT has included this
within the KDOT SDP along with TxDOT's Krum stop.

-Norman, Oklahoma Amtrak Depot Hosts.  Also August will mark our tenth year
serving as City of Norman/ Amtrak depot host volunteers. The relationship
has been greatly beneficial to our efforts.  We recently held National Train
Day (Norman Style) at the depot.

Please consider getting more involved in our activities!  We are making
slow, but steady progress...

Evan Stair
Executive Director
517 Claremont
Norman, OK 73069
www.NorthFlyer.org <http://www.northflyer.org/> 
www.PassengerRailKS.org <http://www.passengerrailks.org/> 
www.PassengerRailOK.org <http://www.passengerrailok.org/> 
www.PassengerRailTX.org <http://www.passengerrailtx.org/>  

 

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