Getting aboard plans to expand services

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.

Although the 55,000 square foot station, complete with its high ceilings and marble trim, still stands just south of downtown, the station's days of serving passengers have ended.

But passenger rail service in Oklahoma does not have to be a thing of the past, and some state leaders and train enthusiasts are hoping that it never is.

"I think the important thing for Oklahomans to remember is railways and rail access created modern Oklahoma,” said Tom Elmore, executive director of the North American Transportation Institute, a Moore-based nonprofit that studies the nation's transportation system. "The passenger service of the commercial railroad was a source of pride.”

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.”

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