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!

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.

ProRail Nebraska Meetings

Sorry if you missed our meeting in North Platte Sept. 19. It was held in conjunction with North Platte's Railfest Celebration which featured a lot of fun and educational events including free 2-hour bus tours of the huge Union Pacific Bailey Yard complex.

Dan Lutz mans the ProRail Nebraska - NRHS booth at Railfest located at North Platte's Cody Park September 18-20, 2009. Thanks to Roger Clark for making arrangements for the booth and for providing most of the display materials.

Our next membership meeting will be on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at the Ashland, Nebraska Country Club located about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln. Check our web site for details when they become available.

The next meeting of the ProRail Nebraska Board is scheduled for 9:00am Saturday, December 5th. The meeting will be held in Lincoln at Room 207 of UNL's Hardin Hall south tower, 3310 Holdrege Street. In addition to initiating plans for the February 12th meeting, ProRail's role in the upcoming legislative session will be discussed. All PRN members are invited to attend. Contact David Purdy for details.

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

Click here for printer-friendly version

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).

Results of 2007 ProRail Nebraska Survey of Members - All of the current ProRail Nebraska membership were mailed an interest survey in October 2007. Of the 110 distributed surveys 49 were returned by the end of November deadline. The results of this survey give the ProRail Nebraska Board good indications of the issues that the organization’s membership feel are important.

On the survey five rail passenger issues were listed. The following are these issues in the order of importance based upon survey responses:

1^st Continue and improve the current daily Chicago to San Francisco AMTRAK service though Lincoln (California Zephyr) 39 ranked this as their highest interest and 47 ranked it from medium to highest.

2^nd Insure the continuation of Nebraska’s active participation with eight other states in the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact 27 ranked this as their highest interest and 40 ranked it from medium to highest.

3^rd Increase to beyond once a day the Chicago to Denver AMTRAK service through Lincoln 26 ranked this as their highest interest and 41 ranked it from medium to highest.

4^th Develop commuter rail, possibly high speed, in the Lincoln and Omaha corridor 24 ranked this as their highest interest and 40 ranked it from medium to highest.

5^th Provide a route alternative to that of the current California Zephyr in Iowa (such as service through Des Moines) 14 ranked this as their highest interest and 38 ranked it from medium to highest.

Click here to read the full report (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.

The Midwest Regional Rail Initiative has formally released its updated study of the nine-state passenger rail system that will bring faster, more frequent passenger rail service to the region. The new study includes: Updated capital and equipment cost estimates; Updated and refined MWRRI feeder bus system recommendations; Updated MWRRI plan ridership and revenue forecasts; Updated operating cost estimates; and An updated operating plan and schedules.

You can view the report at:

http://www.miprc.org/pdfs/railmidwest1.pdf

You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the report.
For a free copy, click here.

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).