KC Capacity

[ZSmith]

Kansas City is hoping to get 1 billion in federal funds for their 180mi commuter rail plan. The trains would use US Railcar's (formely Colorado Railcar) DMU's and terminate at Union Station from lines radiating out of the city. However, capacity will be extremly tight with 120+ freights, 6 Amtraks a day & possibly 4 more Amtraks from the proposed Heartland Flyer extension/extra Missouri River Runner round trip; all on 3 main tracks leading to Union Station. Twenty highway overpasses, within a couple miles distance, would need to be replaced to add an additional main. Can room be made for the commuter plan utilizing more crossovers & positive train control? The science museum and office buildings would need to be razed in order to make room for additional tracks at the station itself, which I assume has been taken into account in the plan. The cash flow generated from the new services would be a major step in making Union Station financially solvent.

 

 

Union Station not viable as transit hub, KC councilman says
JEFFREY SPIVAK, The Kansas City Star

 

City Councilman Russ Johnson had a message Thursday for anyone who expects Union Station to ultimately become a transportation hub of commuter-rail and light-rail lines:

 

Don't count on it.

Johnson presided over a meeting of the council's transportation committee at which more impassioned pleas were made to have Kansas City's light-rail starter line connect with Union Station.   Currently, the city's proposed 12-mile, $727 million route runs through downtown on Grand Boulevard, two city blocks east of the landmark attraction.   Union Station serves as an Amtrak train station and a bus transfer point, but station supporters envision it taking on a bigger transportation role, as a hub of commuter-rail lines from area suburbs. Southlander Lou Austin was among those who discussed that at the meeting, expressing his hope to someday ride a commuter-rail line from south Kansas City into the station, then transfer to light rail.   "I don't want to walk two blocks," Austin said.   But Johnson, who is heading the council's light-rail strategy, pointed out the logistical problems of Union Station serving as a commuter-rail hub.   Railroad lines feeding the station from eastern and southern Jackson County come through a narrow passage called "the trench," a walled-in channel with three tracks and room for no more. So many freight trains use those tracks, Johnson said, that there would be little opportunity for commuter-rail usage. Widening the channel would require replacing 20 street bridges over it -- "at great cost," he added.   As a result, regional commuter-rail discussions this summer among Missouri-side county leaders have focused on the lines terminating at the River Market, not Union Station.   "There's no feasible easterly option for commuter rail at Union Station," Johnson said.   This dovetails with what HNTB Corp. found in an official commuter-rail study last year, and Johnson's analysis was confirmed by John Dobies, an HNTB consultant for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority who attended Thursday's meeting.   "Nobody would expand that trench," Dobies said.   Johnson reiterated that he hoped for a light-rail station stop that could serve both Crown Center on Grand and Union Station on Main Street. But that station location, he said, will not be known until after the November election, when more engineering can be done to figure out a suitable spot.

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