» Project could be built on the “cheap” as it would use existing tracks; resistance likely from activists who are more excited by a proposed inner-city light rail system.
Hoping to push forward with new transit connections as quickly as possible, officials in the Kansas City metropolitan area are moving forward with a plan for a huge network of commuter rail lines that they say can be ready for operations in just two years. But with proponents of a long-proposed light rail system still angling for investment on their side and with no funding yet allocated for either project, the future of fixed-guideway public transportation in the region remains up in the air.
Missouri’s western metropolis has a history of public interest in better transit, but the city has yet to invest in new rail lines because of government confusion and voter discontent — over the years, eight serious rail proposals have been met with inaction. In 2006, voters approved a 27-mile light rail line, only to reject necessary funding for a streamlined proposal in 2008. Earlier this year, the Regional Transit Alliance declined continued involvement in the push for light rail, arguing that a metro-wide commuter rail plan would be more effective and more politically salient. But Clay Chastain, the non-local who has been the most active promoter of light rail, has recently pushed for another ballot provision for the system and he now has a new $2 billion project in the works. Nothing is funded.
Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders released early details of his regional rail plan this weekend. Kansas City is located principally in Jackson County, though also in the surrounding Clay, Cass, and Platte Counties. The rail concept, with 144 miles of rail service, would cost about one billion dollars to implement six radial lines extending from Union Station downtown to areas around the region, including into the state of Kansas. Though the proposal is very preliminary, Mr. Sanders appears to envision slight upgrades of existing tracks, building bypass tracks where necessary but spending most of the money on implementing new stations and buying trains.
Spending just $1 billion on so many miles of track is not going to provide the region with a very effective system, however. What could be realistically implemented: a few rush hour DMU trains, operating in one direction on each line. Despite Mr. Sanders’ assessment that “This is the most cutting-edge, cost-effective transit plan in America,” very few people in the metropolitan area are going to be using these commuter trains. According to early studies, the system could attract 20,000 to 25,000 riders a day — in a metropolitan area of more than two million.
Fortunately for Jackson County, Mr. Sanders expects Washington to cover the entire construction cost of the proposal, using Stimulus funds. Conveniently, the federal government is also being asked to sponsor a new streetcar line between Union Station and the downtown office core that would allow commuters a better connection to their jobs after arriving at the Kansas City terminus. Operations for the regional rail network might be funded using a yet-to-be-approved 1/8¢ sales tax.
For all of Mr. Chastain’s brashness, he has a better plan for the region’s future. A light rail line in the urban core would likely attract more riders and do far more to promote densification and reuse of existing neighborhoods. The regional rail proposal, while not a bad concept, should not be a top priority for the national government, as it will offer inconvenient, infrequent service to few passengers and do nothing to contain the region’s sprawl. Worse, it seems unfair for the Department of Transportation to allocate billions of dollars to a region whose voters have been so reluctant to invest in their own transportation systems, when the citizens of other cities have been far more proactive in moving towards a more sustainable transportation system — and have taxed themselves to do so.
Image above: Proposed Kansas City commuter rail network, from KansasCity.com
7 replies on “Kansas City Envisions 150-Mile Regional Commuter Rail System”
Johnson County, KS, must have excluded themselves from any regional tax proposal, as this system plan wouldn’t serve that high-growth, relatively affluent area southwest of the urban core.
Wow, this is sort of comical. Kansas City is probably a really bad place to do commuter rail projects like this since the rail lines are almost all routed through the river bottoms, where basically no one lives. It might not be fatal if there were good transport options after you got off the train, but this isn’t the case. Also, the one place that this might sort of make sense is along I-35 through Johnson County, which of course is completely left out of this plan.
The important thing is not total system length, but station density in the urban core. American transit systems are often no shorter than European ones – for example, Washington and Chicago have some of the longest rapid transit systems in the world. They fall behind in transit ridership because of the emphasis on hub-and-spoke service to far-flung suburbs.
Chastain should be described as an “ex-local”. He was a local in KC when he started advocating for light rail. He’s just continued to do so after moving out (perhaps because of the lack of transit service? ;-) ).
the so-called “regional rapid rail” concept is being evaluated as part of a commuter corridors study by mid-america regional council, the region’s metropolitan planning organization. the concept faces countless technical and institutional challenges — not the least of which is the need to construct (from the subgrade up) about 30 percent of the total mileage — and has been described by one knowledgable person as the most elaborately presented rail fantasy he’s ever seen. nobody in the know expects it to go anywhere.
I think they should have a two tracked main line to KCI to downtown. The train would go underground downtown with stops along the way. at the Crown Center stop, it would split and one would go all the way to Olathe and the other to Lee’s Summit via Truman Sports Complex and the zoo.
This proposal has merit in terms of the concept. But not including Johnson county is a serious misjudgment on the part of this proposal as traffic is often extremely dense during peak commuting hours as many residents of Jackson county work in Johnson and visa versa. It would be entirely far more effective I think to lease track rights to the existing radial rail network with DMU’s and build stations with shops, hospitality, and retail (such as they do in Hong Kong stations which provide profit from the tenants and keep tickets nearly free for all users, in our case most likely free like the bus system). Any built rail could be created after the system is proving to be functional. And any rail MUST include an expanded and improve Bus network in coordination to train arrival and departures.