ProRail Nebraska

ProRail Nebraska -- Nebraska's Association of Railroad Passengers and Supporters

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Welcome to ProRail Nebraska

Dedicated to supporting and advocating for railroad service
in the State of Nebraska.

Supporting

Commuter Rail - Light Rail - Intercity Rail

We're Helping Get Nebraska On Track!

ProRail Nebraska Meetings

Our next membership meeting will be on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at the Ashland, Nebraska Country Club located about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln at 16119 Highway 6. Light refreshments available at 8:30am, meeting begins at 9:00am. Meeting is open to the general public, and there is no registration fee. However, to be sure we have adequate seating, please make reservations by Thursday, Feb. 11th. Contact Clyde Anderson for details and reservations.

An informative program is planned. Our guest speaker is Amanda Martin, on the staff of the Office of Rail Transportation – Iowa DOT.

Here is the tentative meeting agenda:

· Welcome and statement of ProRail Nebraska objectives – David Purdy, President.

· Study regarding establishment of special passenger trains between Omaha and Lincoln on Cornhusker football game days – Matthew Roque, UNL student

· Update on proposed Omaha-Kansas City and KC-Oklahoma City Amtrak service

· Nebraska legislature activities related to rail passenger service - Ray Lineweber, United Transportation Union

· NARP report/update – Roger Clark

· Iowa Dept. of Transportation proposal for Chicago-Omaha rail passenger service - Amanda Martin, Iowa Office of Rail Transportation

· Update on Lincoln Haymarket Development, including relocation of Amtrak passenger station

Optional lunch after the meeting at nearby Parker's Smokehouse.

The next meeting of the ProRail Nebraska Board is scheduled for 9:00am Saturday, March 13th. The meeting will be held in Lincoln . All PRN members are invited to attend. Contact David Purdy for details.

ProRail 2010 Membership Dues

Dues notices to existing ProRail Nebraska members were mailed after Thanksgiving. Dues are still just $20 for Individuals, $30 for Families, and $10 for Students. If you haven't sent in your dues yet, please do so today! Dues help fund ProRail Nebraska's educational and activist efforts to promote more trains, faster trains, and more efficient trains in Nebraska.

If you aren't already a ProRail member, click here to find out how you can join today!

Train Film Festival at Homestead National Monument

A train film festival starts Jan. 17th and continues weekly through Feb. 7th at Homestead National Monument of America, located a few miles northwest of Beatrice, NE.

On January 17, visitors enjoyed the History Channel Modern Marvels "Transcontinental Railroad," a 50-minute in-depth look at the people, struggles and triumphs associated with the building of the transcontinental railroad, which connected Omaha to Sacramento, Calif.

The remaining schedule:

· January 24 -- "The Greatest Enterprise Under God," an episode from the Ken Burns series, "The West," which focuses on the construction of the transcontinental railroad

· January 31 -- "Transcontinental Railroad," a Hidden Hill Productions Film for American Experience.

· February 7 -- "American Experience," the Orphan Trains." a 60-minute documentary recounting the stories of thousands of homeless children who traveled west on trains to be adopted by rural families.

The films are appropriate for people of all ages. Admission is free of charge.

For more information, visit www.nps.gov/home or call Homestead National Monument (402) 223-3514

What's going on at Omaha Amtrak Station?

Union Pacific and BNSF are constructing a new connection just north of the Amtrak Station. In this photo taken November 14, 2009, the new right-hand turnout with concrete ties has been installed in UP's No. 2 Main Track. On the left workers are installing the new signal cabin and radio tower. In the distance another crew is installing an insulated joint near the new gantry signal bridge. BNSF has not yet installed the turnout on its side of the connection. The new crossover will expedite the movement of OPPD coal trains destined to the Florence Power Station on the north side of Omaha. Today those trains arrive on the UP and pull across the bridge to Council Bluffs, then back through the existing connection to the BNSF, and then proceed east to Gibson Yard. The train must again reverse direction for the move from Gibson to North Omaha. Distributed power on both ends of the train simplify the back-up moves.

Update 12/20/09 - There has still been no visible progress on the BNSF side of the new connection. This past week, according to Tim Vana, two loaded OPPD coal trains derailed on the BNSF just east of the Amtrak depot. Now there is a stack of track panels near the site of the derailments.

Railroad study tracking unorganized data

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln study on railroads parallels its subject in uncanny ways. Like early railways, research will chart new tracks through a frontier of untapped data. UNL’s “Railroads and the Making of Modern America,” led by history professor William Thomas, was one of eight research projects worldwide to receive funding from the Digging into Data Challenge grant, awarded Dec. 3 in Canada. The nearly $100,000 grant will allow the project to tap into and organize vast pools of digitized data, such as old newspaper scans. Click here to view the full article from the Dec. 10, 2009 Daily Nebraskan.

The Pioneer Restoration Organization is seeking to get Amtrak's Pioneer train service restored between Denver and Portland/Seattle. Visit their new web site at http://www.pioneertrain.com/ for details. Click here to read Amtrak's Sept. 18, 2009 report on restoring the Pioneer.

Missouri to apply for $200M in high-speed stimulus

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 – St. Louis Business Journal

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission on Wednesday approved 11 rail projects totaling $201.3 million as part of its five-year transportation plan.

These projects will be included in the Missouri Department of Transportation’s final application to the Federal Railroad Administration for a slice of the $8 billion in stimulus money available nationwide for high-speed rail projects.

Click here to read details

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The Midwest High Speed Rail Association publicly released the first-ever feasibility study of a 220 mph high-speed line connecting St. Louis to Chicago. Click here for details and links to a copy of the study. It shows that a 1 hour 52 minute trip between St. Louis and Chicago is feasible. The report is the first step in building the case for 220-mph lines connecting all the major cities in the Midwest.

ProRail Nebraska Statement of Objectives - ProRail Nebraska exists to advocate for improved passenger rail transportation serving Nebraska. It is an affiliate of the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP), which advocates passenger rail service on a national basis. Our current projects are:

Encourage Nebraska to take a more active role in the Midwest Interstate Rail Compact.
Improve service and ridership of Amtrak's California Zephyr across Nebraska.
Advocate commuter rail service between Omaha and Lincoln.
Advocate establishing Amtrak service between Omaha and Kansas City.
Advocate establishing a Department of Public Transportation in Nebraska State Government. Nebraska is the only state that has no Department of Transportation, just a Dept. of Roads.

Click here to read the full Statement of Objectives (a one-page PDF).

Transportation for America is a coalition seeking to align our national, state, and local transportation policies with an array of issues like economic opportunity, climate change, energy security, health, housing and community development. N.A.R.P. is a member of this coalition.

ProRail Nebraska advocates safe, environmentally-friendly, fuel efficient, affordable, comfortable, and all-weather mobility that rail transportation can provide.

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We think trains need more prominence in the U.S. because:

Trains provide more mobility and travel choices, especially in the post-2001 travel environment.

A wisely developed train network has great potential to accommodate future travel demand.

Trains are energy-efficient -- Intercity (Amtrak) trains are far more efficient than airlines (2441 Btu's per passenger-mile vs. 3999 for airlines in 1998, according to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory).