Amtrak push from Kansas lawmakers

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – This week, lawmakers in the state senate in Kansas overwhelmingly voted to set aside monies to go to an Amtrak fund.

“Now is the time to hear from the public,” said Pete Meitzner.

Meitzner has been working with several groups for years to get Amtrak passenger service back into Wichita.

“But I said there will be a time when they’re really going to want some consumer feedback and citizen feedback. Now is the time,” said Meitzner. “And I think we are in a good spot, but it doesn’t hurt for anybody to weigh in and say how they feel about it.”

State Senator Carolyn McGinn (R-Sedgwick) talked to KSN about Senate Bill 349 passing this week in Topeka 34-6.

“Oh, it’s very important. We needed to start talking about the funding piece for Kansas,” said McGinn. “Even though Amtrak, if they do choose reestablishing our link from Newton to Oklahoma City, that they are going to pay that first five years. Most of the cost and also getting the line up to where it needs to be. We need to plan for the future when that five years is finished. And so what this does is help figure out what that funding piece might look like.”

“Well, the bill we voted for, 349, was $5 million per year. It would go into the transportation fund. For 10 years. And the fund will earn interest, and it will be the interest that pays for the service after we take over,” she continued.

McGinn says this has been a collaborative effort by a lot of groups to get Wichita and Kansas to the front of the line when it comes to Amtrak expansion.

“Well, I think it’s very, very promising. The fact that the railroad administration gave us a grant to do our service plan that elevated us from some of the others,” said McGinn. “And I think the next thing that’s very important one is hearing from people, as well as other organizations that are working on this. But also, they’re going to want to know that we’re planning for the future, which is the funding piece. And I think that’s critical to see our award of this link.”

The link would be Newton to Wichita to Oklahoma City and then on to the Dallas area.

Meitzner says the Kansas Department of Transportation has played a very active role in getting Wichita and Kansas in a good spot to be awarded Amtrak expansion.

“We just got confirmed a couple months ago that we qualified under what FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) for a grant,” said Meitzner. “Out of about 61 applications out of about over a couple hundred that go approved. With that approval comes a $500,000 grant which is to pay for the next step, which is to fully develop the service development plan.”

“And the serviced development plan, that is a deep dive into exactly what is going on, what’s it going to cost to built this out. In our case the tracks are there, it’s some sightings and some extra areas to make sure it can handle the speed of the train. And that’s the capital cost, and then also it will include the ongoing estimated revenue and the estimated cost,” she continued.

Both Mietzner and McGinn point out Amtrak is looking right now and taking comments on expansion for the next phase through March 8. McGinn points out that while the money piece from lawmakers is important, it may also be important to let lawmakers know what you think of Amtrak in Kansas.

The Kansas House is expected to take up the measure soon on funding.