Iowa City/North Liberty passenger rail study on track

A feasibility study over a passenger rail service between Iowa City and North Liberty remains on track.

Jeff Woods, manager of marketing and business development with Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway, or CRANDIC, said in a Friday email the $50,000 feasibility study had been approved.

The study aims to determine the feasibility of a diesel-powered train service with six potential stops between Iowa City and North Liberty. The passenger rail-only service would have a 30-minute run time and trains would not exceed 40 mph.

Woods said evaluations of existing infrastructure will being next month. The entire study will take three to four months to complete.

The study is being spearheaded by the Iowa Department of Transportation and 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.

After the North Liberty City Council opted out of the study, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors increased their investment to $6,000 to ensure the study moved forward.

The study will be Phase 2 of ongoing research over passenger rail service in Eastern Iowa.

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.