Efforts continue to keep passenger rail on track in Iowa

DES MOINES - The occasionally derailed effort to expand passenger rail service in Iowa apparently is back on track but will need more funding down the line if it's to keep rolling.

Iowa transportation officials have forged a cooperative agreement with the Federal Rail Administration to do preliminary engineering work and follow-up environmental assessments for a proposal to extend Amtrak service from Chicago to the Quad Cities that currently is in the works on to Iowa City at some future time, according to Tammy Nicholson, chief of the Iowa Department of Transportation's rail office.

'It doesn't commit the state of Iowa to implementing service at any point in time, but it does get us very well prepared so that if there is federal funds in the future and the state decides to go forward with this, we would really know fully what this means, how it would operate, what the operating costs would be, and how we would work with the local railroads and Amtrak,” Nicholson said.

'It really positions us in good shape for if and when there are additional federal funds and the state decides to go forward,” Nicholson said of a cooperative arrangement whereby Iowa put up $1.2 million of state rail funds and the federal rail authority pitched in $4.9 million for work that is needed if the Moline, Ill., to Iowa City passenger service is to become an eventual reality.

Expanded passenger rail service still faces a number of hurdles, not the least of which would be the need for additional federal funding in the future to help fill a gap that has grown to $72 million as much of the original $310 million two-state allotment has gone to work on the Chicago-to-Quad-Cities connection that has a scheduled startup target of late 2015.

Also, Republicans in the Iowa Legislature have balked at committing more state aid to passenger rail and Gov. Terry Branstad does not want the state saddled with a yearly subsidy once pegged at $3 million but since has shrunk to $600,000 pending future negotiations with Illinois officials over operating costs and other expenses.

'I've always been open to looking at different options and alternatives with regard to this, but I don't want the state stuck with an ongoing subsidy. That's my biggest concern,” Branstad said Friday. He said Illinois has a new governor so discussions likely will start anew regarding the future of passenger rail service connecting the two states.

Last week members of the Iowa Chamber Alliance, which represents business interests in Iowa's 16 largest cities, reiterated their continued support for expanded passenger rail service that was envisioned from Chicago across central Iowa to Omaha. ICA officials said communities are considering creative approaches for raising money to help defray any yearly subsidy that include local funding, private support, advertising and corporate sponsorships.

'The alliance remains committed to leveraging federal dollars to invest in passenger rail in Iowa,” said Tara Barney, president and CEO of the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce.

'We're not willing to give up hope,” added Nancy Quellhorst, president and CEO of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce. 'It's an investment in the future. I think everybody understands the infrastructure needs that exist and an effective rail system through Iowa is certainly going to be far less costly than would be an investment in another lane in I-80.”

Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, co-chair of the Legislature's Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals budget subcommittee and a key passenger rail backer, had ended hope for the Iowa portion of the new Amtrak service, calling it 'an insurmountable lift” after funding efforts stalled in the 85th General Assembly and declaring 'it's time to cut our losses and move on.”

However, McCoy said last week he sees signs the initiative can be resurrected if legislators keep an open mind and consider the potential economic benefits that expanded passenger rail could spur by enhancing Iowa's link to Chicago and improving existing rail tracks in Iowa for freight traffic as well.

'I said that I felt that we were at the end of the line. I still feel like we're at the end of the line, but I still feel like there's still an opportunity for us to have that final discussion,” he noted.

'I would say it's a slim chance but there's enough of an opening in the way that conversations are occurring,” McCoy added. 'We just want to keep it alive at least as an option for Iowans.”