GARDEN CITY, Kan.—Garden City Commissioners are offering symbolic and financial support to help persuade Amtrak to keep running a route through southwest Kansas and southeast Colorado, rather than beginning an alternative route that would not stop in most of the region.
The commissioners on Tuesday approved a resolution asking Amtrak to maintain the Southwest Chief’s route between Chicago and Los Angeles, which passes through Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City. Lamar and La Junta, Colo., have adopted resolutions similar to Garden City’s.
The commission also approved spending up to $20,000 to help pay for federal lobbying efforts to keep the current route, The Garden City Telegram reported ( ).
Amtrak is considering an alternative route that would run south of Newton through the Texas Panhandle to New Mexico, citing conflicts with BNSF Railway over the condition of the tracks Amtrak uses in Kansas. It would cost an estimated $111 million in immediate costs and $300 million over the next decade to completely repair the lines, which would be feasible only for the federal government, City Manager Matt Allen told commissioners.
The alternative route would also bypass several southeast Colorado cities and at least one New Mexico city, Allen said.
“We’re fans of passenger rail. The communities west of Newton, we have the highest levels of ridership,” Allen said. “Keeping passenger rail service is keeping it alive for freight rail, as well. … We need freight rail options for industries we have and industries we want to recruit.”
Amtrak representatives said the costs of repairs and maintenance of BNSF’s rail are a “moving target” and they continue to talk with representatives from BNSF about the route.
“We have no plans to move and we have no desire to move,” said Marc Magliari, a spokesman from Amtrak’s Chicago office. “(BNSF’s) preference is that we move, but we don’t wish to. … Their freight network is constantly shifting, and there’s a lot of unresolved issues.”
Magliari said symbolic support from communities such as Garden City is “helpful,” as Amtrak continues to negotiate with BNSF and state agencies such as the Kansas Department of Transportation and Colorado Department of Transportation.
The $20,000 expense would help pay expenses for a Southwest Kansas Coalition, made up of officials from Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City, to lobby on behalf of Amtrak.
Allen told commissioners that Alston & Bird, a Washington, D.C.-based legal firm, has offered communities in the three states’ legal representation at $12,000 per month. Former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole is a principal partner with the firm and offered to waive his fee for personal representation.
Allen said he expects between five to 10 of the other Kansas and Colorado communities to share the costs for legal representation.
