KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration earmarked $500,000 for a study that would connect Kansas City and St. Joseph with passenger rail service.
The proposed route would extend Amtrak’s existing River Runner service currently operating between Kansas City and St. Louis, with stops in Independence, Lee’s Summit, Warrensburg, Sedalia, Jefferson City, Hermann, Washington and Kirkwood.
Instead of the western terminus being Kansas City’s Union Station, the proposed route would extend north to St. Joseph.
But the extended route is far from a done deal. Step one of the program calls for developing a scope, project timeline and costs for the service development plan.
RELATED | Feds approve $500K grant for planning, development of Amtrak Heartland Flyer route
The proposed extension was one of 13 announced Friday.
Announcement part of President Biden’s focus on passenger rail
As part of Friday’s announcement, 10 passenger rail projects received $8.2 billion in grants, which will go toward efforts in California, the Northeast Corridor, the mid-Atlantic region and around Chicago.
One of the projects that received a $500,000 grant would study higher-speed rail between Chicago and St. Louis. The route is currently served by the Lincoln Service, which has stops in several Illinois cities between Chicago and St. Louis. The higher speed service would improve travel times and reliability.
It could also make getting from Kansas City to Chicago quicker. Currently, rail passengers have two options to get to Chicago from Kansas City: the Southwest Chief and through St. Louis on the River Runner and Lincoln Service.
Currently, it takes nearly 12 hours to get between Kansas City and Chicago on the combined River Runner/Lincoln Service route, and roughly seven hours on the Southwest Chief, though delays — especially on the eastbound train out of Los Angeles, are possible.
—
