KDOT outlines plan to extend Heartland Flyer to Newton, highlighting funding, upgrades and ridership forecasts

Kansas Department of Transportation officials provided lawmakers and rail advocates with a progress update on plans to extend Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer north from Oklahoma City to Newton, adding proposed stops in Arc City and Wichita, during the Passenger Rail Caucus meeting in Topeka.

The extension would reconnect Newton to the Heartland Flyer and provide a direct connection with Amtrak’s long-distance Southwest Chief, creating a link between South Central Kansas and the national Amtrak network. KDOT presented service-development work, projected infrastructure needs, funding scenarios and ridership estimates, and said it has an active grant to support the planning work.

KDOT rail project coordinator Martin Alvarez said the extension would restore a route that previously ran until 1979 and would create multimodal connections between Newton, Wichita, Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. He described the current schedule concept as a same‑equipment round trip that would fit within 24 hours: about 3.5 hours from Newton to Oklahoma City, about 7.5 hours from Newton to Fort Worth, and roughly 11 hours for the full end‑to‑end trip time.

Alvarez said KDOT has produced a service development plan that covers operational analysis, infrastructure needs, financial analysis and an implementation plan. He said KDOT is participating in the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor…