Passenger Rail: The Northern Flyer Alliance

By Mark Corriston Kansas City Director Northern Flyer Alliance Everyone has an opinion regarding rail travel. Most people express strong enthusiasm, commenting that they desire trains similar to what operates today in Europe and Japan. When these people open to deeper beliefs the issues and opinions take on interesting twists; quite often reflecting assumptions that are repeated from coast-to-coast. John Q. Public often states: “Train travel is more viable on the coasts. We need bullet trains to cut travel times.” Opinions about High Speed Rail typically follow. Further discussion drifts to ever more specific issues including airline-rail line comparisons, costs, and ridership considerations. Understanding of passenger rail service has seemingly vaporized over the past 37 years since Amtrak ran its first passenger trains. This is especially true in Kansas City where only four daily passenger trains currently operate from Union Station. Quite a few organizations are promoting passenger rail expansion in the Kansas City area and nationwide. A recent article in Parade magazine clearly revealed where this is happening; revealing how much public support is emerging for an intercity passenger rail rebirth. Yet, this strong public referendum, as revealed in Parade’s on-line poll (97% in favor of increasing government funding for trains), seems to have little impact upon elected officials. A collective belief is growing nationwide that energy costs, affecting everything from food to transportation, will only grow. The energy crisis facing the nation will not be solved through singular improvements in fuel efficient personal transportation or alternate fuel technology. We are on the cusp of a paradigm change in how America travels and will be unable to continue along the path of highway expansion behind the curve of traffic congestion. This will require leadership not seen in today’s average politician. Many are awakening to the fact it was a mistake for the United States to turn its back and abandon its passenger rail services. Highways improvements have not improved connectivity for all American cities. Transportation planners now are actually bypassing many communities in the name of speed. This hastens rural decline but does not hide the effects. Fringe development, along the bypass highways promotes the transport of goods, but spells doom for the community. Major highways now only connect major cities, which are also connected by the major airlines. Airlines and highways provide critical supports for transportation. However, in Europe, as should be in America, a third transportation foundation exists. For the moving of freight it already exists on rails as well as highways. Expansion of passenger rail service is important and can be done at a fraction of the cost of other transportation development. The Northern Flyer Alliance is a political action association providing a communication conduit and a call to action for Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas communities. Our mission is to reconnect communities and major cities along an uninterrupted intercity rail transportation corridor from Illinois to Texas through Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. The State of Kansas holds the key to this expansion through a repurposing of the rail corridor between Newton, Kansas through Wichita and south to Oklahoma City The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill that can provide major funding increases for Amtrak, including provisions for intercity passenger service compacts between states. Kansas and Oklahoma are in a perfect position to share in up to an 80% federal match for the cost of corridor development mentioned above. For Kansas this translates into an estimated $8 million dollar requirement, of which $6 million would originate from the federal match. Ridership is projected in the neighborhood of 75,000 the first year likely higher based on similar routes that have developed in recent years. On Saturday, December 8th from 10:30-noon, the Northern Flyer Alliance will hold an open public meeting in the Jarvis Hunt room in Kansas City Union Station. This convocation and discussion will include representatives from regional rail advocacy coalitions whose efforts are supported by the NFA. All are welcome to attend, listen, learn, and share ideas that support our passenger rail expansion initiative.