(rshsdepot) Fw: passenger service - Ark City

["Paul Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

Passenger train blues
Talk continues about bringing it back to Ark City

By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer

A grass-roots effort to resurrect passenger rail service through northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas, including Arkansas City, is
starting to gain steam.

Campaigns in both Kansas and Oklahoma are underway to extend Amtrak service from Oklahoma City to Newton, which is a stop along
Amtrak's Chicago-to-Los Angeles' Southwest Chief line.

Creating such a route would restore portions of a former passenger service that stretched from Chicago to Houston, with a stop in
Arkansas City.

Arkansas City Mayor Wayne Short said Wednesday he supports bringing passenger rail back to Arkansas City, which was the headquarters
for the Oklahoma Division of the Santa Fe.

Ark City provided profitable passenger service until Amtrak shut it down in 1979.

"The problem is the lack of real support we've seen out of Topeka," Short said. "(State Rep.) Joe Shriver worked really hard on it,
but finally had to give it up because of a lack of support."

Several towns north of Oklahoma City that were on the former north-south Santa Fe passenger rail route have petitioned Oklahoma Gov.
Brad Henry to extend the existing Heartland Flyer passenger rail service north to the state line with Kansas.

The Newton Area Chamber of Commerce recently wrote Gov. Kathleen Sebelius asking that the state get involved in the passenger rail
effort.

"The proposed expansion would connect the Chicago-to-Los Angeles Southwest Chief with the Oklahoma City-to-Fort Worth Heartland
Flyer," said Evan Stair, director at large of Passenger Rail Kansas.

The problem with getting passenger rail back in Ark City is "the number of dollars required," Short added.

In his letter to the Kansas governor, Virgil Penner, CEO of the Newton Area Chamber, noted that the Heartland Flyer route was
established five years ago as (an Oklahoma) state-funded service.

It "has become the number-one rated train in customer satisfaction from coast-to-coast," Penner says in the letter. "The train has
doubled ridership projections; however, it could do even better."

Ponca City, Okla., Mayor Dick Stone said Wednesday he also recently had written a letter of support for extending the Heartland
Flyer from Oklahoma City north to Newton, with a stop in Ponca. His letter to Gov. Henry is dated Oct. 29.

"We think (the expansion) would be good for tourism and economic development," Stone said. "We're very supportive."

Officials from other Oklahoma towns also have written letters, including Perry, Guthrie and Edmond.

Oklahoma presently pays Amtrak $17,200 per mile annually to operate the Heartland Flyer for a total of $3.6 million, Stair said in a
press release.

If the line is extended into Kansas, that state's contribution would be approximately $1.4 million, plus start-up fees for stations
and track upgrades, he added. This estimate is based on the current costs for Oklahoma.

Oklahoma's rate would increase to $5.6 million annually plus start-up fees from Edmond to the Kansas line, the press release states.

Kansas could extend the line further, to Kansas City, Stair added.

"It's all about economic development and saving small town USA," he said.

Oklahoma is one of five states subsidizing passenger train service, according to a recent article in The Daily Oklahoman. The
article appeared June 15, the day after rail enthusiasts celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Heartland Flyer. Amtrack reported
that almost 300,000 passengers had ridden the Heartland Flyer since passenger service was restored in 1999, the story states.

Amidst the celebrations supporters were quick to admit the train's future is in doubt. The $23 million in federal funding obtained
for the operation five years ago will be depleted by September 2005, and the state is earmarking $850,000 a year for the route, far
less than its $3.6 million cost, the Oklahoman article states.





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