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New Amtrak terminal is almost ready but rail service needs cash
(by Rebecca S. Rivas - April 02, 2008)
Not all that long ago, Amtrak passengers arriving in St. Louis stepped off the train into a doublewide trailer, which was situated directly below Interstate 64/Highway 40 near architecturally glorious Union Station, which was St. Louis’ train station in the glory days of train travel. Today, St. Louis train travelers make do with a utilitarian-looking terminal surrounded by gravel and known by some as “Amshack.”
This make-shift replacement for Union Station has been in service for the past 30 years. Those who come into town on a Greyhound bus disembark at a crusty-looking building north of downtown, with only a KFC restaurant nearby.
“What a first impression of St. Louis!” said John Farrell, public information officer to the comptroller. But with the downtown Gateway Transportation Center at 413 S. 15th St. opening up in a few months, Amtrak and Greyhound passengers will see that “St. Louis has it going on,” Farrell said.
The transportation center could be up and going by June, but that date is dependent on completion of the building and installation of the electronic equipment and security systems Amtrak and Greyhound need to operate.
The new center, with its multicolored windows, is located between the Civic Center MetroLink stop and the rail yard, beneath the highways. Across the street are the Scottrade Center and the Sheraton Hotel. The restaurants and shops at Union Station are three blocks to the west and City Hall is a block to the north.
The comptroller’s office will manage the building’s maintenance and security, and will manage any disputes that arise between Amtrak and Greyhound.
Now that downtown St. Louis’ new train and bus hub is almost ready, the Missouri Department of Transportation is making a case to the state legislators for an upgrade of the rail system. On March 24, MoDOT asked the legislators to approve a $10.6 million funding increase to extend the “passing lane” tracks and add electronic on-time messaging boards.
Many Missouri communities, including St. Louis, Kansas City and Hermann, have recently built new train stations, said Brian Weiler, director for MoDOT’s multi-modal department, which handles all non-road transportation issues. If the state doesn’t support its public rail system, Weiler said, these new stations will have to reduce their services and, in some cases, close completely. As it is, Amtrak trains make only two trips per day between St. Louis and Kansas City.
Currently, passengers experience up to three-hour delays because the tracks can’t accommodate efficiently both freight and Amtrak trains, Weiler said. In 2001, about 208,000 people rode Amtrak on state-supported lines between Kansas City and St. Louis, and last year the number dropped to 144,000, according to MoDOT.
When freight trains are on a one-way track, Amtrak trains have to pull over to let them pass. This caused more than half of Amtrak’s delays in 2005, according to a University of Missouri study released last year.
West of Jefferson City, the tracks are all single-train tracks, which have sidings or pull-over lanes only long enough for Amtrak trains. To decrease the number of delays, MoDOT is proposing to extend the sidings to accommodate freight trains. Freight trains can then pull over and let the smaller, 10-car Amtrak trains pass.
About 55 to 60 freight trains travel on Missouri’s east-west track, according to MoDOT statistics, and 29 percent of Amtrak trains traveling this route arrived more than 30 minutes late.
“We can’t continue with the status quo,” Weiler said. “To continue a service that’s not reliable is a question of taxpayers’ dollars. But [MoDOT] thinks it’s worth saving. We just need to invest in infrastructure.”
Funding for the improvements must come from the state or a private investor, such as Union Pacific, Weiler said. MoDOT gets its funding for highway and road improvements from a sales tax on gasoline for motor vehicles. However, by law, the department is not allowed to use this money to fund rail projects.
It costs about $11.4 million a year to run train service twice a day between Kansas City and St. Louis. Amtrak generates $3 million in revenue, and the state pays the remaining $7.4 million in operation costs, Weiler said.
On March 25, the House of Representatives discussed allocating only $4.5 million for the rail service — less than half the figure requested — which would force Amtrak to reduce its operation to one train a day, Weiler said.
However, Weiler said, he hopes the Senate will be more generous.
The crisis has been years in the making, he said. “You could see it coming,” Weiler said.
His department partnered with the University of Missouri’s Engineering School to conduct a study on track efficiency last year. The university looked at Amtrak’s arrival and departure data and compared it to Union Pacific data, which showed when the freight trains arrive at certain points on the track. Researchers made a computer simulation of the train route to find out where the snags were and what improvements could be made.
“We’ve never had this type of data before,” Weiler said. “We knew if we were going to approach legislators, we had to have some indisputable data. And it is, no one disputes it.”
Although the future of rail service is grim on the state level, and unlikely to be resolved any time soon, the city is planning to celebrate the Gateway Transportation Center’s grand opening this June. The center has a loading area for 10 buses, a 1,000-foot passenger dock for Amtrak and a concession area with a deli and chain restaurants, including Pizza Hut. The building spans the train tracks and has escalators leading to train podiums. The $20 million project received federal, state and local funding.
“It’s one central location for transportation, located in the city’s main commerce area,” Farrell said. “With the airlines flying fewer regional flights because they aren’t as profitable, we think this is a good opportunity for us to offer that service.”
Surrounding states, including Illinois, have invested as much as $100 million in train travel and have seen significant increases in ridership. According to MoDOT, the service between St. Louis and Chicago has doubled to 409,000.
“There’s not a public transportation system that pays for itself,” Weiler said. “But if you define success as a growth in the number of people using the service, Illinois is a success. But it cost them money.”
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