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Published: July 17, 2008 12:00 am    print this story   email this story   comment on this story  

More cities on board for northern Flyer leg

Passenger rail service in southern Oklahoma, relaunched on Flag Day in 1999, has yet to catch on with the general traveling public. Although riding the rails is a novel experience to those of us who didn't grow up on them, fewer than 70,000 persons rode the 206-mile route between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth last year.

Even with $4 a gallon gasoline, the passenger count barely makes a ripple in the pool of travelers heading south and north each day. But with a northern expansion, more travel times and better connections, the Heartland Flyer could pick up some travelers.

The city of Edmond became the latest city to endorse an expansion of the Flyer. Norman was among the first to support an expansion north to Kansas City. In Kansas, travelers can board an east-west train that ties them into other routes.

Edmond wants its own stop and needs to commit to building a station and providing long-term parking to serve rail passengers. Norman rebuilt its downtown station before the 1999 rail service return. Since then, the building has had many uses.

The Texas and Oklahoma departments of transportation commit about $2 million each year for the service. Expansion proponents say it will cost about $5 million expand the Flyer to Newton, Kan. Officials with the Kansas Department of Transportation have formally asked Amtrak to study the route. That study is expected to be completed by early fall 2009.

The Flyer needs a northern leg and it needs more than once-a-day service in order for it to be viable.

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