May

9

Missouri Amtrak improvements on the horizon

May 9, 2008 | 5 Comments

Two bits of the new Missouri budget provide hope for Missouri’s beleagured Amtrak service between KC and St. Louis.  First, the state’s $8 million rail budget survived an attempted cut, so the trains will keep running.  Second, the General Assembly approved $5 million to improve capacity of the KC-STL line and hopefully reduce the delays and unreliabilty that have plagued the service in recent years as freight train congestion has increased.

Columbia Missourian: Lawmakers OK $140 million for construction projects.

Let’s Go KC: Amtrak funding saved.


Comments

5 Comments so far

  1. Bryan on May 9, 2008 2:44 pm

    This is great! I haven’t been taking the train the past couple years because it simply hasn’t been reliable.

  2. Jim S on May 11, 2008 3:37 pm

    I’d love to see something done on a national level to bring back viable passenger train service. For one thing, even if we can’t bring tracks up to the point of supporting high speed rail, what about just faster rail? Couldn’t we upgrade our systems enough to up the speed to 150 mph or so? I looked at taking the train to Seattle. 35 hours to L.A., then another 34 up the coast to Seattle. There’s just no way we could do that sitting in a regular car. The cost of even the little rooms with beds was prohibitive, though. It’s a shame.

  3. Tim on May 11, 2008 10:37 pm

    Megabus gets you to St. Louis in three hours, or to Chicago in eight, with fares starting at $1.

  4. Excelsa Basuel on May 20, 2008 9:47 am

    Seniors to visit families since driving is limited. It will be nice to improve this means of transportation. Thanks.

  5. Missouri Flurry on September 11, 2008 9:41 am

    I’d prefer a train type system over bus. The bus isn’t bad but you see stories of people getting mugged and stabbed and it scares you away.

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