By JOHN GREEN

Special to The Hays Daily News

HUTCHINSON -- A proponent of linking Amtrak's Southwest Chief to passenger rail service in Oklahoma suggests Kansas lawmakers should act, and do so quickly, to ensure the Southwest Chief continues to cross western Kansas.

On Aug. 20, BNSF Railway ordered that passenger trains on the western route from Newton to La Junta, Colo., slow from 79 mph to 60 mph on nearly half the route because of the roughness of the track. That added about 45 minutes to the ride going east.

Experts say the track, which is made up of short unwelded 39-foot segments, will continue to decline because of its age, and further slowdowns are likely. BNSF is responsible for maintaining the Kansas route for slower freight speeds, but Amtrak for any higher speeds.

BNSF has proposed Amtrak move its route to another line that drops south and cuts across Oklahoma, rather than western Kansas, but Amtrak has declined.

As part of the effort to tap into federal stimulus dollars for a potential new passenger rail route tying into the Heartland Flyer, which goes from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, the Kansas Legislature last March passed Senate Bill 409, creating the Kansas Passenger Rail Development Act.

That, in turn, created a state revolving fund that can be used for rail investment.

But there's no money in it.

"It does set up a framework, to provide for the state to transfer money into account," said Dennis Slimmer, KDOT's chief of transportation planning. "But I don't know where it would come from."

In fact, there's only about $5 million in the state's 10-year transportation plan earmarked for rail reconstruction, he said.

"Kansas legislators could use this situation as an opportunity to trickle investment into the rail line, fulfilling its multi-modal vision," said Evan Stair, executive director of Passenger Rail Oklahoma.

"The impetus for the program was, of course, getting an extension of the Heartland Flyer or a new train between Kansas City and Fort Worth," Stair said. "But it's a passenger rail development program. So if the state desires, they can help fund the annual maintenance to ensure it keeps speeds up from Hutchinson to Garden City."

Stair had no estimate on the repair costs or where the funding would come from. But he noted that both the Southwest Chief and freight on the line have economic impacts on Kansas.

"A lot of fiscal conservatives will pooh-pooh the amount of money it takes, but you have to look at the amount of money put into road infrastructure. In some cases it costs up to $18 million per mile to widen roads and things of that sort."

And improving the line would allow more freight on it, Stair contends, taking heavy trucks off U.S. 50.

"The savings in road maintenance alone justifies such an investment," he said. "Keeping truck traffic low on U.S. 50 is also a very important safety consideration."

There also could be opportunity for federal rail funding, Stair suggested, if the state joined an effort to study extending passenger rail service from La Junta, Colo., north to Denver, thus creating service from Kansas City to Denver.

"If they think outside the box, KDOT could probably apply for federal funding from the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program," he said.

It would be similar to the Kansas City to Fort Worth effort, which qualified for federal dollars for a study, and which officials expect to apply for significant federal dollars to build.

As it works to develop the new north-south route, the state is assuming the east-west Southwest Chief will continue as it is, Slimmer said.

"The route once hosted the Santa Fe's Super Chief; arguably the premier passenger train in the United States until Amtrak took over operations in 1971," Stair noted in an e-mail of the Southwest Chief. "Dubbed 'Train of the Stars,' it once hosted movie stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Julie Garland, Lucille Ball and Bing Crosby. However, history is only a small part of what would be preserved with investment."

"Without such public investment, it is likely just a matter of time before Amtrak is forced to reroute the Southwest Chief through Amarillo rather than Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City," Stair said. "Keeping the Western Kansas economy strong requires investment in such transportation infrastructure. This is not just about a passenger train. It is about the future of regional transportation."