Johnson County doubles investment in passenger rail study

NORTH LIBERTY — To ensure that North Liberty's decision to opt out of a passenger rail study doesn't derail the overall effort, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors is doubling its requested investment.

The board on Thursday voted to dedicate up to $6,000 on a study of the feasibility of a diesel-power passenger train service connecting Iowa City and North Liberty.

Supervisors said they didn't want North Liberty's decision to not provide funding for the study to derail the entire $50,000 project.

The study is being spearheaded by the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway — or CRANDIC, who will cover two-thirds of the cost. Johnson County, Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and the University of Iowa all were asked to put $3,300 toward the effort to make up the remaining third.

The North Liberty City Council on Tuesday decided not to fund the study, arguing that it will only reaffirm what has been found in previous research — that passenger rail service would be too costly.

Phase 1 estimated the cost for establishing a Cedar Rapids to Iowa City service at between $250 million and $520 million, with annual operations and maintenance between $5.6 million and $6.7 million. A streetcar model could cost up to $1.64 billion, according to the study.

A 2006 feasibility study estimated $21.4 million in startup costs for a Cedar Rapids to Iowa City route, which would have an annual operating budget around $5 million.

All other entities asked have expressed interest in funding the study.

Gazette reporter Madison Arnold contributed to this report.