An article appeared in the May 24, 2007 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch entitled "Amtrak: Springfield route slow, empty". The study by Amtrak was requested by the Missouri Department of Transportation. Amtrak reported back that "the proposed route had strategic merit, including serving Missouri's third largest city and connecting it to the national Amtrak network that runs through St. Louis." But noted that the route would take substantial investment in the form of new stations and upgrades to the trackage. The route would generate only 34,000 passengers a year generating about $700,000 in ticket sales but would cost $3.4 million a year to operate. The study said that the ridership estimate was low because it would take nearly 6 hours to complete the 235 mile trip from St. Louis to Springfield. In my experience it takes a little over 3 hours to drive there via I-44. The article also mentioned that "Springfield hasn't had passenger train service since 1967, when the Frisco Meteor train ceased service."
Didn't this study include an extension through Tulsa to Oklahoma City, then to Fort Worth on the current "Heartland Flyer" route? Or am I imagining things?
The article didn't mention an extension to Tulsa, Oklahoma City or Forth Worth. Since the study was commissioned by the Missouri Department of Transportation, and if this did come to pass, the State of Missouri would be paying the bills, I don't think the idea of an extension past Springfield was considered.
Unless somebody is willing to spend the megabucks necessary to straighten out the curvey Frisco main, this service will come to nothing. The proposed schedule is way too much like that of the NC&StL City of Memphis between Memphis and Nashville that ended with a single coach before finally dying in the mid 1950's. And, that being on a route with no parallel interstate and a schedule not far off normal driving or Greyhound / Trailways time, and reasonable rail connections on the Memphis end to everywhere west.
Don't believe everything you read, there is a lot of politics involved when it comes to Amtrak. They even want to run passenger & commuter trains on the Ft.Scott Sub, which ain't gonna happen with 24-36 trains per day, mostly coal crawling up Lenexa Hill heading south out of Rosedale. If Frisco could get #33 from St.Louis to Springfield in under 6 hours, Amtrak can do the same. The problem is track conditions, BN never utilized the route to its full potential so lack of traffic equals lack of money for track maintenance in today's world. Though it has CTC, it still has a lot of jointed rail, old ties and a severe need for a tamper. The problems faced with running Amtrak on the Cuba Sub are fixable, there are just too many people with their own agenda screwing up the process. My 2 cents, Roger
Ever since the beginning of Amtrak, talk was there was "gonna be" some route or another through Springfield. Meantime, I've grown old waiting and watching Amtrak routes be changed (mostly dropped) here and there, but never through Springfield. I've decided I'll ride it if it comes through here, but I'm not driving to St. Louis or Little Rock just to take a little ride on the train to Texas to see my friends. But I'm not riding any of the cattle cars pretending to be airlines either. I'm going to "See the Yew Ess Aay in my Chev-ro-lay..." Tom
Roger, all I am trying to say is that the alignment of the old Frisco main is too crooked to run a fast schedule. That will be true no matter how good the condition of the track. Something like a weekend only train that went all the way to Branson might carry a significant number of people, but I would not want to bet on it. Unless you can get down to something under 5 hours to Springfield, and under 4 would be better, there is not much chance that the service would take off. Also, one train a day on a short route is not really a good set up. Best have a minimum of two, and three would be better. I am still waiting to see Missouri do something about the St. Louis to Kansas City service. While they moan about the reliability of the operation due to things they really can't control, they still do nothing (so far as I know) about the conditions of the stations which they can control.
