urbanSTL

Are they going to have to buy the rails to finally make QC happen?

quincunx wrote: ↑

Dec 07, 2023

Are they going to have to buy the rails to finally make QC happen?

Probably not - press release says $500k each

Yeah planning.

"The purpose of the CID Program is to develop a comprehensive intercity passenger rail planning and development program that will help guide rail development throughout the country and create a pipeline of passenger projects ready for implementation."

dweebe wrote:

Bart Harley Jarvis wrote: ↑

Dec 07, 2023

quincunx wrote: ↑

Dec 07, 2023

Are they going to have to buy the rails to finally make QC happen?

Probably not - press release says $500k each

It's only $500,000. But is that enough to add  a run or are they limited by equipment and people?

Planning grant only right now. Illinois will either use it to fund consultants for HSR (although they already have a planning consultant working on it) or to study general Amtrak STL-Springfield-Champaign-Chicago. They could also use it to study/plan general route or service improvements.

Looks like Chicago area, outside of a $93 million grant for Union Station, is being left out of the latest Infrastructure grants but full list coming out tomorrow so maybe premature on part,   Chicago Union Station Access Plan/CREATE plan had every bit of +1 billion in rail improvements that I believe had some benefits to Lincoln Service Corridor, especially through Joliet and a defunct bridge if not mistaken.  

Some of the of big grant winners in NC & VA/DC area and biggest winner is probably Cali & Las Vegas.  $8 billion in four grants

Brightline West - CA to Las Vegas HSR, +3 billion
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ral-grant/

California HSR, CaHSR +3 billion
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... a-funding/

NC - S Line , +1 billion and VA close to another +1 billion
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ion-grant/
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ion-grant/

Decided to add this tidbit,  Another grant to get another daily Harrisburg to Pittsburgh roundtrip added on a  well establish rail corridor is in the amount of +$100 million if anyone wants an idea of going rates between what Amtrak and what the Railroad wants.  I can't help to think that the $500,000 corridor study grants are a joke and even more depressing that Durbin is highlighting them because it probably means nada for Chicago area, the Lincoln Service corridor improvements or even the least expensive option of added frequency on existing corridor

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ral-grant/

Getting the California routes kickstarted are extremely important for the Olympics and world cup. We need to show world players that we are no longer gonna stay behind. St. Louis to Chicago is probably very low on the scale of national importance. And that might be a good thing. If you make the routes in LA a success during the Olympics, you change the national sentiment and get more funding for all of these routes.

 Same thing goes for LA metro. A bunch of new subways that just opened up (regional connector, K line light rail, A line expansion) as well as the Willshire subway, LAX line, Inglewood line, and Sepulveda connector that will open up soon. All the attention will be on LA being navigable car-free and the American public will have more aptitude for transit. 

Full announcement:

FY22 Corridor Identification and Development Program Selections

https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot ... es-Map.pdf

I'm not seeing "run more trains"
They can cut an hour off the travel time if they can keep the freights out of the way.

Thanks addxb2 but not sure if everyone understands that these are study/planning grants of up to $500,000 with no real funding towards any expansion, added service and or improvements.   A full size engineering/consultant firm and whatever agency & railroad is involved will burn through those dollars to give everyone a pretty power point presentation that maybe indentifies a needed siding or two for a given route.  

Here is the link to the other FRA announcement today as it relates to some of the grants I noted yesterday

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... er-grants/

Grants announced total $8.2 billion. Eight of these projects have previously been reported by Trains News Wire as they have been announced by local elected officials, including upgrades at Chicago Union Station, which are counted as two projects on the FRA’s list. The complete list, with links to the previously reported projects, includes:
— $8.2 million for replacement of an Alaska Railroad bridge at Milepost 190.5 in Willow, Alaska;
— $27.4 million for Downeaster corridor track improvements in Maine;
— $3.1 billion for the California High-Speed Rail project;
— $93.6 million for Chicago Union Station: $49.6 million for mail platform reactivation, and $44 million for platform expansion and trainshed ventilation improvements;
— $14.9 million for infrastructure improvements on BNSF Railway in the Malta, Mont., area and at the Malta Amtrak station;
— $3 billion for the Brightline West project;
— $1.1 billion for the Raleigh-to-Richmond rail project;
— $143 million for infrastructure improvements on the route of Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian;
— $729 million for passenger rail projects in Virginia, led by the construction of a second Long Bridge over the Potomac River.

Some noticeable misses in my mind -  Chi/Stl and Chi/Detroit corridor improvements or any of the Chicago CREATE projects, Heartland Flyer extension from OK into KS (should go all the way to KC imo), Empire Builder going twice daily.   Runnerups, Atlanta to Dallas & add Frontline corridor.

Maybe more in time but trying to do the math, I think 66 billion altogether was part of the Infrastructure Bill for Rail/transit.  Believe Amtrak got 18 billion for Northeast Corridor (Hudson & Baltimore tunnels, quite a few bridge replacements), another 8 billion above but not sure how much given out to transit/commuter rail to date.   

No problem taking the train Fri morning.

^ Curious on your take going through Springfield if somethin you noticed?   I think they changed over to the combined corridor and were able to complete some of the grade separation projects but not all of them.  Maybe off base on that 

Asked, because some disappointment expressed on Springfield rail improvement  project not getting a FY23 grant to carry project across the finish line as per link below.  I wonder what Chicago/IL/Lincoln might see FY24 as the only real grant money went into Chicago Union Station itself.   Their is some $58 Billion for Amtrak ($22B) and Federal-state grants for intercity rail ($36 billion) as per FRA website link below of which I believe roughly just under half as been granted to Amtrak Northeast corridor at $16.4B and intercity rail grants recently being awarded $8.4.   I believe there is a few bucks going into Amtrak Fleet rebuild and purchase.   Hate to see some well establish corridors with solid ridership miss out on some of these funds   

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... e-delayed/

https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/ ... ct-in-2024

https://railroads.dot.gov/BIL

We went up 3rd St

^I don't recall where I first heard the ferry vs. bridge story called into question, but I've long loved that painting that they use to top the article. It used to be on display in Jesse Hall. (Might still be, honestly.) I worked in the building for a great many years (at the theatre end, but we used the same elevator as everyone else, and the rest of the building pretended to be our lobby on show nights.) Anyway . . . 

At some point someone pointed out that the Civil War drove traffic north, away from the lines of battle. And of course it put an end to the cotton trade up and down the river. That and the fact that no matter how you slice it, it's just easier to bridge the river the further north you get. At the end of the day you don't really need anything more than geography to make Chicago the better railroad town. It's on a nice straight line from northeast to all points west, across far and away the easiest route. We're in tougher country, still more hilly, since the glaciers stopped and turned around when they got here and caught a whiff of southern summers. We're more eroded, more wrinkled, dissected with more, and larger waterways. Even without the Civil War it may have been inevitable. Sherman Hill is just a nicer crossing than Moffit, Tennessee, or maybe even Glorieta. Down around El Paso things are definitely easier again, and maybe without the war the southern route would have been more logical, but San Francisco was more developed until the quake broke everything, so I'm skeptical anyway. (And there's less water in the southwest, and we all know what that means. Or what it should mean, anyway.)

MoDOT wants to expand Amtrak service despite losing money
https://www.missourinet.com/2023/12/28/modot-wants-to-expand-amtrak-service-despite-losing-money/

What a dumb article.

"Losing money"

PeterXCV wrote: ↑

Dec 29, 2023

What a dumb article.

What is dumb about the article?  I assume you meant the title?  The title is wrong choice of words considering that MoDOT comments/quotes expresses a desire to expand Amtrack corridor service whether it be extension to St. Joseph and or adding 3rd daily.  All good things from MoDOT
 

Perhaps if they are extending the line from Quincy to Hannibal, they push that one further through St. Louis to Carbondale.

The return trip was 27 mins late. Nice you can know it's late and time your arrival to the station. I didn't have to stand in a huge security line either. Much sympathy to air travelers with few options.