Getting aboard plans to expand services
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By Ja’Rena Lunsford
Published: April 20, 2008
It's been 77 years since passengers first began lining up at Oklahoma City's Union Station to jump aboard a Rock Island or Frisco passenger train.
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Connecting cities
Oklahoma got some of that pride back June 15, 1999, when the Heartland Flyer started service, ending a 20-year absence of passenger train service from Oklahoma and north Texas. The first year, 71,000 passengers rode the Heartland Flyer.
Last year, the state Transportation Department asked Amtrak, which operates the Heartland Flyer, to do a study looking at expanding the train's service to Tulsa.
"It would be nice to tie the two largest cities together,” said John Dougherty, assistant division manager of rail programs for the state Transportation Department.
"We think that's just a natural fit,” he said.
Dougherty said the study looks at how much the expansion would cost, ridership and what startup costs would be needed. He said the Transportation Department expects to have the results of the study within weeks.
The possibility of expanding the Heartland Flyer north of Tulsa is also on the horizon.
The Kansas Transportation Department has asked Amtrak to study what's required to provide passenger rail service between Oklahoma City and Newton, Kan. The hope is to connect the Heartland Flyer to Amtrak's Southwest Chief, which runs daily from Chicago to Los Angeles.
"We've have a good train whose ridership is increasing and we have a dead end in Oklahoma City,” Dougherty said. "I think the leadership of both states sees the benefit of working together.”
Toolbar sponsored by: David Stanley Ford
Related Topics:
Domestic Policy, Political Policy, Politics, Transportation, Train Travel, Transportation Policy


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