Commuter rail could be reality for EJC

Jackson County officials are unveiling plans for a metro commuter rail system, mostly using tracks already in place, with lines through Blue Springs and Independence.

“It has the potential to transform the greater Kansas City area in the span of two years,” County Executive Mike Sanders said this week.

The system could be running in about two years. Half a dozen lines would lead to Union Station in Kansas City, and three of those would be in Eastern Jackson County. The Kansas City Southern line that runs through Oak Grove, Grain Valley, Blue Springs and Independence would be one line. A second, shorter line in Independence, using a Union Pacific spur that runs south of the Square, would tie into the Kansas City Southern line near Crysler Stadium. There are also lines to Lee’s Summit, Grandview, the Legends and Kansas Speedway, Kansas City International Airport, and to Liberty and Kearney.

A rider could take an express from Blue Springs to the airport in 40 minutes for $3 or might find getting to downtown Kansas City less of a hassle.

From Independence, “you’re a 20-minute ride on a trolly and a train from Bartle Hall,” said Jim Terry, a principal at TranSystems, the Kansas City company that has drawn up the plans, pro bono, for the county.

Still, officials emphaize the main focus is on getting people to and from work.

The pricetag is slightly more than $1 billion, but officials are not seeking a tax increase or voter approval to proceed. They plan to press the federal government for economic stimulus money, maintaining that the Kansas City area has been shortchanged so far. Sanders said he and others will be heading to Washington “in the weeks and months ahead.” They say the plan, per mile of track, costs a fraction of previous plans such as the light rail plan Kansas City voters rejected last fall.

Sanders says officials assume it would take “a small tax” – maybe a one-eighth-cent sales tax – to run the system, something officials would have to take to the voters sometime in the future.

“If the federal government gives us the money to build this, we’ll find a way to run this,” Sanders said.

Sanders and Terry stressed that the plans are economical in large part because they rely on unused and underused lines that Kansas City has in abundance. They say the system is basic but can be expanded.

“We’re going to crawl, then we’re going to walk, then we’re going to run, but we’re going to do it cost efficiently,” Terry said.



Getting people to work

In a detailed presentation this week – down to specific stops and schedules – Sanders and Terry made their case, and they repeated two dominant themes: The first plan is primarily about getting people to and from work.

“That was by far the No. 1” concern, Terry said. The lines and stops generally connect with major employment centers in the area.

Second, the focus has been on being functional and frugal. For example, each stop would have a simple, utilitarian station, enough to get people out of the rain but without frills. Terry said the Amtrak station in downtown Lee’s Summit is a good example. Add-ons such as buses or streetcars to get people around the southeast Independence shopping area or from Union Station to attractions in downtown Kansas City could be included, but those costs are not in the $1.03 billion pricetag.

Terry is leaning toward a model of train – diesel-electric powered – called a Stadler GTW 2/6 DMU railcar, used in Europe and the United States.

“And these are extremely good riding vehicles, as opposed to the light rail in St. Louis,” Terry said.

Proponents emphasize that this isn’t light rail but would be something closer to a regular passenger train. It would have conveniences such as WiFi and tray tables. There would be bike racks.

It would be more comfortable and convenient than a bus, as Sanders described it, adding that people simply prefer trains to buses.

This is also conceived of as a plan that could be built upon. The tracks are there, so service could go to Odessa just over into Lafayette County or Pleasant Hill just into Cass County. The old inter-urban line to St. Joseph could be put back into use.

“That would probably be the first expansion,” Terry said.

It’s even possible that this system could hook up with railroads running passengers to Lawrence and Topeka, Branson, or Tulsa and Oklahoma City.



Gathering support

Sanders has been quietly showing these plans to local leaders – mayors, economic development officials, railroads – for some time. He said the 2,000 or so people who have peaked at the plans have embraced the idea quickly.

“The majority of cities in Eastern Jackson County are on board,” Blue Springs Mayor Carson Ross said.

“I think it’s going to help Blue Springs,” Ross said, adding that if it can be done with stimulus money and without a sales tax, “You betcha I’m for it.”

Independence Mayor Don Reimal said it’s important that everyone benefit from the plan.

“I think we need to start a lobbying program, and if we have to go to Washington, we’ll go to Washington,” Reimal said.



 Rail plan more cost effective than others


Jim Terry, principal and senior vice president of TranSystems, says he barely missed his goal of designing a commuter rail system for Kansas City, using a lot of existing rail lines, for less than $1 billion.

Officials put the pricetag at $1.036 billion for the 134-mile system that includes four counties.

The biggest share of that would be in Jackson County, with 72 miles of track at $670 million.

County officials underline this point: This approach is significantly cheaper than other plans that have been floated. The light-rail plan that Kansas City voters turned down last year would have served a limited area in Kansas City and cost an estimated $60 million to $75 million per mile.

This plan comes in at $7.73 million per mile, and there is “no gold plating in this thing at all,” Terry said.

Officials also use this illustration to put this $1.03 billion plan in perspective: When it’s needed someday, just adding a fourth lane to Interstate 70 from downtown Kansas City to I- 435 near the stadiums will cost about $3 billion.

Sanders says officials who have looked at the plan figured it would cost four or five times the $1.03 pricetag. But Terry – who uses the phrase “value engineering” a lot to emphasize function and frugality – gives this illustration:

Take the unused Rock Island line that passes between the Truman Sports Complex and the old Leeds plant. It crosses other railroads’ tracks and the Blue River. Think of the cost of building those bridges from scratch. Putting that old line back into use saves a lot of money.

“That’s one of the ways you keep this in the billion-dollar range,” Terry said.