MODOT official
addresses MOKSRail group meeting
EDITOR’S NOTE Only about 20 MOKSRail
members attended the last meeting, April 13, 2002.. This report,
from April, shows how the Missouri Department of Transportation
views passenger rail funding.
Sharon Dashtaki, assistant administrator of railroads for the
Missouri Department of Transportation, Jefferson City, updated
the group on legislative funding efforts of Missouri's
cross-state passenger train service at the Missouri-Kansas Rail
Passenger Coalition's Kansas City Union Station April 13 meeting.
Dashtaki addressed the group shortly after the Missouri House of
Representatives passed a budget approving $6 million out of the
general revenue account. She was pro-passenger rail in her
comments.
"We just have to get our legislators to think there's an
alternative mode to highways and airports," she told the
group. "You've got to contact those legislators. You've got
to let them know the importance of rail transportation."
Dashtaki recommended people write not only state lawmakers
representing people along the Kansas City to St. Louis corridor,
but representatives and senators in outlying areas.
FUNDING UPDATE:
Legislative negotiators from the House and Senate -- which had
earlier agreed to $6 million for Kansas City-St. Louis service
(passed by the House), late in the session changed it back to $5
million (as passed by the Senate).
Amtrak had said earlier that the lower amount would lead to a
reduction in service. Rep. Joan Bray (D- University City.), a
great rail supporter and one of the budget negotiators, according
to the National Association of Railroad Passengers, said she
hoped the state and Amtrak would run both daily round trips as
long as the funding lasted, keeping in mind that the state could
provide a supplemental appropriation later.
Missouri is still negotiating with Amtrak for next year's service
(July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003), according to Dashtaki.
The news is uncertain. During early June, there was the
certainty of one train, and the possibility of a second -- and
even a remote possibility of a third train, but it depends on
many variables, according to Pete McMasters.
Missouri's Amtrak service is also becoming important for big-city
residents such as those in St. Louis and Kirkwood who make short
day trips west to Washington, Mo., to enjoy a dinner at one of
the community's riverside restaurants.
Of MODOT's 6,000 employees, only 24 work in the state agency's
multimodal division, which encompasses rail, transit, waterways
and aviation, Dashtaki said. "Everything else is
highways," she said. "We can't do very much when we
only have 24 people doing four modes of transportation."
On the positive side, Dashtaki said, MODOT is slowly improving
its stance towards passenger rail.
"The highway department is changing," she said.
"It used to be all-highways (focus). But it is slowly
changing."
MODOT has no advertising dollars in its budget to promote the
train service, Dashtaki said, "unless the senate comes up
with some funding." $125,000 has been invested in radio and
TV commercials in the past.
MOKSRail president John Mills recommended the group invest $1,000
of MOKSRail's $2,100 budget in promoting the Missouri service for
fiscal year 2003. Members approved the motion.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
From the May 10th St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel\pdweb.nsf/text/86256A0E0068FE5086256BB5003F3C45
Panel trims $1 million from cross-state Amtrak service
This story was published in Metro on Friday, May 10, 2002.
By Ken Leiser
Of The Post-Dispatch
Reversing course from a week ago, Missouri legislators have
trimmed $1 million from Amtrak service between St. Louis and
Kansas City.
A two-house panel negotiating a 2002-03 budget bill reduced the
state's payment for the Amtrak service to $5 million late
Wednesday. The House had proposed spending $6 million for
passenger rail.
"It is a done deal," said state Rep. Joan Bray,
D-University City. "I can't imagine anyone is going to fall
on their sword over this."
Bray, who sits on the conference committee that oversees
transportation spending, tried to salvage the $6 million line
item to maintain two round-trips a day between Kansas City and
St. Louis.
Amtrak had threatened to cut service if it doesn't get the full
$6 million it costs to provide the cross-state service. Amtrak
has not decided how it will deal with the latest cut, said
spokesman Howard Riefs.
Bray has urged the Missouri Department of Transportation and
Amtrak to preserve the two daily round trips and "see how
long $5 million will buy us."
It is her hope that Congress increases federal subsidies for the
passenger rail service. If not, state legislators could seek a
supplemental appropriation toward the end of the 2002-03 budget
year, she said.
The train stops at eight communities between Kansas City and St.
Louis. Many of them have refurbished train depots and spruced up
surrounding streets to spotlight passenger rail.
Some say the trains bring in tourists that help their local
economies.
Amtrak carried 208,000 passengers last year on the line
connecting St. Louis and Kansas City.
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