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 ID program and described the state’s technical working group: KDOT as applicant, BNSF as host railroad, Amtrak as operator and partner state DOTs in Oklahoma and Texas. Alvarez added that KDOT has one grant currently obligated for $500,000 to support the service development plan.

KDOT outlined infrastructure work the project would require on BNSF-owned track: signal upgrades, curve realignments, crossing improvements, extended sidings or additional double-track segments to increase capacity, and layover facilities in Newton and Oklahoma City. The presentation identified a target operating speed of 79 mph for parts of the route, versus current freight operating speeds of about 55 mph, and noted those changes would drive much of the capital cost.

Officials reviewed likely federal/state cost shares at program milestones: an environmental review that KDOT characterized as an 80/20 federal/state split, preliminary engineering with an example 70/30 FRA/state split, and operating-assistance scenarios that begin with a heavy federal share early in service. KDOT’s materials presented a staged operating support model in which federal assistance is greatest in the first years and state funding plays a larger role by year seven.

The agency also presented ridership and cost projections. KDOT’s slide materials estimate an initial increase of roughly 16,000 riders after startup, rising to about 33,000 by the fourth year of service. Alvarez said those figures informed the financial modeling and potential federal funding applications through Corridor ID and subsequent federal programs.

Ty Dragu, who identified himself as representing railroad workers in Kansas, voiced organized‑labor support for passenger service, saying, “Anytime there’s passenger rail, it really is an infrastructure and jobs bill.”

Mark Maglieri, Amtrak spokesman, emphasized economic impacts he said passenger service can bring, citing examples of towns that received new stations and private investment after service expansion. “When you have frequent passenger trains that are reliable, that are fairly priced, that are on a schedule that’s attractive, it brings people to your town,” Maglieri said, describing how increased frequency and reliable scheduling can create local economic activity and hotel and retail development.

Advocates from the Northern Flyer Alliance also spoke at the caucus. Northern Flyer Alliance president Deborah Fisher urged continued legislative support and referenced other states’ experiences; in her prepared remarks she asserted, “KDOT needs senate bill 86,” signaling the alliance’s view that state statutory authority or appropriations are necessary to speed project advancement.

Presenters and panelists addressed practical questions from legislators about track ownership, capacity and freight interactions. KDOT and Amtrak representatives said the rail corridor is active with BNSF freight traffic today and that the proposal centers on upgrades to allow mixed freight and passenger operations rather than on major new right‑of‑way acquisition. They said work financed through federal grants and state matches would increase capacity and reliability for both freight and passenger trains.

Next steps described at the meeting: KDOT will submit the updated service development plan to the Federal Railroad Administration for review under the Corridor ID program, continue monthly coordination with FRA staff, and pursue competitive grant opportunities that could fund environmental and engineering phases and later construction. KDOT said it would distribute the presentation and a state fact sheet to caucus members and others who requested the materials.

No formal votes or statutory actions were taken at the caucus meeting; the presentations were informational and advocacy in nature, and presenters asked legislators to consider the project as they deliberate on related bills and budget matters.

Kansas Department of Transportation, Amtrak, FRA and local advocates will continue project development, and KDOT said federal program decisions and future grant awards will determine the schedule for final design and construction.