ProRail Nebraska

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

ProRail Nebraska Meetings

Next Member Meeting: Saturday, March 23, 2013, 9:00 am in Omaha at the UNO Campus. Check back for details.

Next Board Meeting: Saturday, February 23, 2013, 9:00 am at Hardin Hall at UNL's East Campus in Lincoln. Please contact Dave Purdy, PRN President, for details.

COUNCIL BLUFFS — The day after a snowstorm brought much travel to a halt, a rail official from Maine made a timely case for passenger rail: Trains cut through snow much better than a car.

“Sometimes it's hard to drive. And when the airports close and the roads really aren't very good, there's not much that is going to stop those P42 locomotives,” said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority.

About 50 people attended a meeting Thursday afternoon in Council Bluffs promoting passenger rail between the Omaha area and Chicago.

The meeting, held at Bayliss Park Hall downtown, featured two speakers, Quinn and Geoff Fruin, who is assistant to the city manager for Iowa City. Fruin is also a former city official in Normal, Ill., which used the city's Amtrak rail stop as a centerpiece of its downtown redevelopment.

“It brought back our urban core,” said Fruin of the transformation of Normal's downtown. “Prior to that it was a very suburban-driven economy.”

Transportation officials in Iowa and Illinois are planning a possible passenger rail line between Council Bluffs and Chicago. The line would be faster, more direct and have more daily trips than Amtrak's California Zephyr, which travels between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay area.

Whether the line ever gets built in Iowa may hinge on whether the state's governor and Legislature can be convinced that the project is economically feasible. A cost estimate will not be available until later this year.

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority operates the Downeaster, which runs five round trips per day between Boston and Portland, Maine. (Two of those trips go further into Maine, to Brunswick.)

Since the route opened in 2001, 4.2 million passengers have taken the Downeaster, Quinn said. And more take it every year. It has also triggered needed redevelopment in the old New England mill towns it serves.

In Normal, the city's efforts, beginning early last decade, brought in new hotels, restaurants and stores. Fruin cited a local newspaper report that said property values in downtown Normal had nearly doubled since 2005.

Quinn said the Downeaster does not directly pay for itself — $7 million of its $15 million budget is not covered by ticket sales, with the gap filled by state and federal money.

But a study commissioned by the rail authority found that by 2030, the money saved by people using the train instead of driving would have put $244 million back into the economy. It would also generate nearly $76 million in state and local tax revenue.

“The Downeaster has really demonstrated itself to be not just a transportation alternative but an economic engine for the region,” she said.

Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan said city planners are looking at possible sites for a train station in the city — possible locations include near Mall of the Bluffs or downtown. If the line is extended to Council Bluffs, it would be years in the future.

Officials are also looking at having the rail line cross the Missouri River into Omaha.

“I'm intrigued by the opportunity for a lot of different reasons,” Hanafan said.

IOWA CITY (AP) — Time is running out for Iowa to take advantage of federal funding to expand passenger rail service in the state, according to advocates for a project that's at a standstill.

Several Democratic leaders say millions of dollars in federal funding approved more than two years ago for a passenger rail line between Iowa City and Chicago remain untapped because the Legislature won't agree on matching funds.

“The clock is ticking, and this year is it,” said Rep. Dave Jacoby, D-Coralville.

COUNCIL BLUFFS — It's an intriguing proposal — a faster train that zips from Council Bluffs to Chicago in less than 7½ hours.

The train — whose route could extend west to Omaha — would make numerous stops across Iowa, including in Atlantic, Des Moines, Grinnell and Iowa City.

Whether the line ever gets built may hinge on whether Iowa's governor and State Legislature can be convinced that the project is economically feasible.

“Basically, what it boils down to is we need the state money in order to move forward,” said Amanda Martin, policy coordinator of the Iowa Office of Rail Transportation.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A proposed high speed rail corridor between Chicago and Omaha, Neb., would attract 1.3 million passengers a year, reports the Des Moines Register. The planned route would serve Iowa City, Des Moines, and Council Bluffs. The state of Illinois is starting new Chicago to Quad Cities service in 2015.

Republicans in the state recently refused to provide $20.6 million in matching funds to secure an $87 million federal grant awarded in 2010 to extend the Illinois-sponsored service to Iowa City. The current study, provided by HDC Corp. of Omaha, cost $2 million and examined an incremental approach to adding rail service.

Trains would start operating at 79 mph, with an eventual 5 daily round trips operating at 110 mph. Train travel between Chicago and Omaha would take 6.5 hours, compared to 9.5 hours by car.

The trains would use Iowa Interstate Railroad tracks west of a connection with BNSF Railway at Buda, Ill. The former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific route is the only east-west route to serve Des Moines, the state's largest city and its capitol.

Last month, Henry Posner III, chairman of Iowa Interstate and of its parent company Railroad Development Corp. told KCRG-TV, “The railroad is more than willing to work with Amtrak, the states, or anybody else that’s involved in passenger service. Our main business is freight, but one of the benefits of being a railroad is you can do more than one thing at once."

COUNCIL BLUFFS — About 25 people attended a hearing Thursday on a proposed passenger rail line between Omaha and Chicago.

Some questioned the wisdom of spending large amounts of money on a new passenger rail system. Others spoke in support, touting the proposed rail line’s potential environmental benefits, such as reducing vehicle emissions and traffic congestion.

There is not yet a cost estimate or timeline for completing the project, which would use existing rail lines.

Officials project that a train trip would take about 7½ hours from Omaha to Chicago, with speeds reaching 110 mph at times. Officials are considering five round-trips per day between Omaha and Chicago, and seven between Des Moines and Chicago.

Current plans for the rail line call for stops in Omaha, Council Bluffs, Atlantic, Des Moines, Grinnell and Iowa City.

The proposed route is designed to be faster than Amtrak’s California Zephyr, which travels from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area with a stop in Omaha. Zephyr speeds are limited to 79 mph.

Kansas City streetcar gains approval

Voting results, released Wednesday, show 358 votes, or 63% of the 549 votes cast, approved two tax measures to generate local funding. One is a one-cent sales tax increase; the second would increase property taxes in the assessed district by roughly 5%.

The starter line would run from River Market to Union Station, mostly along Main Street.

Kansas City hopes to begin construction next year and start running the streetcars in 2015. Project approval follows years of false starts and several failed initiatives during the past decade to advance streetcars or light rail transit, with most (though not all) such efforts rejected by voters citywide.

“This is going to be a game changer for our city, especially our downtown,” City Councilwoman Jan Marcason said to local media.

Both HDR Inc. and URS Corp. have responded to the city's Request For Proposals, issued before the vote tally was finalized. HDR worked with the city as a consultant on the streetcar project.

Canadian Pacific cancels plans for PRB extension

Canadian Pacific announced today it will take a fourth-quarter pre-tax, non-cash charge of about $180 million — or $107 million after taxes — on the railroad's option to build a line into the Powder River Basin (PRB).

When CP acquired the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp. in 2007, it also obtained an option to build a 260-mile track extension into PRB coal mines. Components of the fourth-quarter charge include the option, engineering design costs, land and capitalized interest.

The Class I plans to indefinitely defer the extension into PRB mines, "based on continued deterioration in the market for domestic thermal coal, including a sharp deterioration in 2012," CP officials said in a prepared statement.

[If CP gained access to the Powder River Basin coal fields, considerable coal train traffic now moving across Nebraska on BNSF and UP could have been diverted to the DM&E's route across South Dakota.]

SOUTH AMANA, Iowa - The Iowa Interstate Railroad remains willing to host new passenger rail service across Iowa if the state and Amtrak can reach an agreement to develop and fund it. Henry Posner III, chairman of Iowa Interstate and of its parent company Railroad Development Corp. told KCRG-TV. "The railroad is more than willing to work with Amtrak, the states, or anybody else that's involved in passenger service. Our main business is freight, but one of the benefits of being a railroad is you can do more than one thing at once," he said.

A feasibility study on new passenger service between Chicago and Omaha picked the Iowa Interstate's ex-Rock Island route across Iowa from Davenport through Iowa City and Des Moines. Public meetings on the study will be held next month in cities along the line.

Iowa Interstate is already working with Amtrak and Illinois to restore passenger service between Chicago and Moline, Ill., by 2015. Former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver was an enthusiastic supporter of extending that service to Iowa City, but current Gov. Terry Branstad and state house Republicans oppose the $3 million annual subsidy that would require.

"We're back to, does Iowa want to be a part of it?" said Posner. "If Iowa's interested, we can work it out."

ProRail Nebraska Updates Its Objectives

Mission: PRN is a member organization that 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 proposed priority objectives are:

1. (MIPRC) Nebraska is a member of the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission (MIPRC), an association made up of officials appointed by the Governor of ten states in the Midwest. Nebraska’s representatives include two State Senators and two public representatives. MIPRC’s purpose is to coordinate development of passenger rail service in the several Midwest states. Nebraska has not paid annual MIPRC dues ($15,000) for three years and has not taken an active role in this organization. PRN advocates Nebraska’s full and active participation in MIPRC.

2. (NEB-CHI Service) The State of Iowa’s DOT is designing the establishment of a second Chicago – Iowa train service which would be routed through Des Moines and would terminate in Council Bluffs. PRN advocates that this line be established to include service though Omaha terminating in Lincoln. We encourage the State of Nebraska and the cities of Omaha and Lincoln actively support this Iowa DOT project to include a Nebraska extension.

4. (Stations) PRN advocates for the expansion of the use and accessibility of the AMTRAK stations in the state as hubs for all surface public and private passenger transportation systems.

6. (OMA/LNK to KC) PRN advocates for the creation of a passenger rail line from Omaha and Lincoln to Kansas City. The states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri currently are studying and undertaking a passenger line that would connect Dallas-Fort Worth through Oklahoma City/Tulsa and Newton, KS to Kansas City. We encourage the State of Nebraska and the cities of Omaha and Lincoln to actively support and participate in this project to include its extension to Nebraska.

7. (OMA/LNK Commuter) The urban region of Lincoln and Omaha contain the major population centers and growth in Nebraska. PRN advocates establishing commuter public transportation service including commuter trains for this urban region. The State of Nebraska needs to restudy the feasibility for such commuter service.

Opposition to trains nonsensical

It appears that Republicans have declared war on passenger trains. Mitt Romney, who comes from a state with extensive Amtrak service and lots of commuter rail lines to relieve congestion on the area roads, said while campaigning that he will cut Amtrak's budget to zero if elected president.

A Nebraska state senator has introduced a bill to withdraw Nebraska from the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Compact even though the cost is less than nominal to belong. Sen. Mike Johanns can't see the value in having a nice modern, high-speed passenger train from Chicago to Omaha.

Perhaps this is because Republicans think all citizens are rich and want to fly. This is certainly not the case. With the security hassle and airport terminal congestion, a train from Chicago to Omaha and perhaps on to Lincoln is certainly a wise transportation alternative that should be promoted -- especially with gasoline approaching $4 a gallon.

I'm not going to vote for any Republicans who talk such nonsense as not supporting rail passenger service, and I urge other voters to do likewise.

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.