Southwest Chief Reroute News

[henryj]

According to the Service Development Plan, they project an additional 111,300 people would ride the HF each year if it were simply extended to Newton. That is on top of the current ridership of 89,200. The Newton stop alone has projections of 64,049 people getting on and off there. Despite the horrible timing in the middle of the night, there are plenty of people who will use this service.

I would believe that when I see it. If people wanted a 2am train to OKC they would be lining up at the bus depot. There are many corridors needing rail service between cities with populations in the multi-millions. Newton has only 19 thousand people. So you are telling me that 3 times the population of Newton will use this train and transfer in the middle of the night to the SWC or whatever. Like I said............. I thought Missouri was the 'show me' state. This proposal is a total waste of tax payer money.

 

[dart330]

Having a Northern connection to the national network would easily more than double the current HF ridership. The transfer in Newton would be a huge boost to the route which is why the projections are so high for such a small town. This connection will reduce the time it takes to get to Chicago from OKC by an entire day. There are plenty of people who would rather ride the train with a night transfer than have to do the same on the bus. Remember the first year the HF was put into service it more than doubled the predicted ridership estimates.

 

[NY Penn]

Would a through car HF-SWC be feasible? It would greatly ease the complications of transferring.

 

[dart330]

They are not currently considering a through car. I agree the transfer is a hassle, but the HF currently sits for 11 hours in OKC each night. The tracks are there and the trainset is available. No reason not to run it up and make the connection.

If it actually happens and is successful, then there would be the possibility of a day train from KC to FTW, but that will require two additional trainsets and hundreds of millions more dollars to get up and running.

 

[sechs]

Run the equipment through Ft Worth to Chicago via St. Louis using the existing schedules Heartland Flyer/Mo .River Runner/Lincoln service schedules.

I'm pretty sure that's a no-go for Missouri and Illinois. This is what lead to the demise of the Ann Rutledge

 

[sechs]

Newton has only 19 thousand people. So you are telling me that 3 times the population of Newton will use this train and transfer in the middle of the night to the SWC or whatever.

According to Amtrak, 13,890 people use that station now for just the two Chief stops each morning. That's more than any other Amtrak station in Kansas. Generally speaking, these are just people coming from the vicinity of Newton.
Taking into account new connecting traffic at Newton, new O&D traffic for all of the new Heartland Flyer stations, and new connecting traffic at FTW, it's not unbelievable that the route could add a pretty hefty number of riders.

 

[guest]

Newton has only 19 thousand people. So you are telling me that 3 times the population of Newton will use this train and transfer in the middle of the night to the SWC or whatever.

According to Amtrak, 13,890 people use that station now for just the two Chief stops each morning. That's more than any other Amtrak station in Kansas. Generally speaking, these are just people coming from the vicinity of Newton.
Taking into account new connecting traffic at Newton, new O&D traffic for all of the new Heartland Flyer stations, and new connecting traffic at FTW, it's not unbelievable that the route could add a pretty hefty number of riders.

Newton is the station nearest Wichita, with a population around half a million...

 

[AlanB]

Run the equipment through Ft Worth to Chicago via St. Louis using the existing schedules Heartland Flyer/Mo .River Runner/Lincoln service schedules.

I'm pretty sure that's a no-go for Missouri and Illinois. This is what lead to the demise of the Ann Rutledge

The Ann Rutledge is gone in name only; the actual run still exists and it is a through train. So someone going from Kansas City (KCY), or any point between KCY and St. Louis, still has a one seat ride. But officially they now ride the Missouri River River and then the Lincoln Service trains. For those of us in AGR, it means extra points, which IMHO is a good thing however.

 

[sechs]

I thought that the through equipment ended at one of the schedule changes. At any rate it *could* lead to the end of the through equipment at any point, should either of the states so decide.