The Gwin Faulconer Lippert Show on KTOK radio in Oklahoma City.

Gwin interviewed Pete Mietzner, who is a Wichita City Councilman, about the expansion of the Heartland Flyer into Kansas.  Our thanks to Gwin and Pete for moving our cause forward.

Listen to the show here.

With support from his council colleagues, Meitzner has spent nine months investigating the viability of a northern route into Kansas for Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer, which now links Dallas-Fort Worth to Oklahoma City. And key elements of such an extension have started coming together.

The Kansas Department of Transportation, Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration have signaled that a completed initial planning study “is a good first step that gets us in the game,” Meitzner told The Eagle, with the next necessary steps an environmental study and a regional passenger-rail workshop. An interim legislative committee also encouraged the idea in November, agreeing that passenger rail was an important investment for the state.

Meanwhile, commercial developer Gary Oborny has a letter of intent to buy the old Union Station with plans to revive its use as a rail terminal as well as renovate it into a hospitality, office and retail development.

Continue reading here.

The document can be found here.

Emily Behlmann
Web producer-
Wichita Business Journal

The advocates who are pushing for passenger rail in Wichita aren’t just interested in accessing a fun new mode of transportation in downtown Wichita.
As I worked on a story for this week’s Wichita Business Journal about the effort to extend Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer route through Wichita, I kept hearing these broad discussions about our city’s economic future.
First, a rundown of what the Northern Flyer Alliance and other advocates are trying to achieve: Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer ends and turns around in Oklahoma City. The Southwest Chief runs east and west across Kansas, passing through Kansas City, Newton and Garden City. The alliance wants to connect the two, extending the Heartland Flyer north, through Wichita and into Newton.

Continue reading here.

Monday, October 29, 2012 (Reported by KAKE)

The Kansas Legislative Interim Committee on Transportation recommended going forward with a study for the expansion of the Northern Flyer today.

“We still want to connect Texas and Oklahoma up through us and we don’t want it going to Tulsa and bypassing our state,” said Pete Meitzner, Wichita city council member.

Meitzner along with council member, James Clendenin, went to Topeka to present a business case for passenger rail service through Wichita.

“What we’ve tried to take is a real honest approach. We’ve found that by riding it, you have productive hours versus non-productive hours if you had to drive the same length,” he said.

Others who supported passenger rail said it’s the idea of connecting commerce in the region.

Continue reading here.

Click here for the story

This week, Wichita City Councilmen, Pete Meitzner and James Clendenin went on a local TV show to discuss a possible passenger rail service study to return passenger rail service to the city.  With the completion of the study, it would give the city and region up to 10 years to find the funding to complete the project.  Please share this link with all interested parties!

Click here for the video

Passenger rail service is back on Wichita’s radar, with an eye toward the economic benefits of luring the Heartland Flyer to downtown’s Union Station.

But apparently it’s not on the radar of state transportation officials, the first significant obstacle in what local and state officials admit is a long-term economic development vision.

Wichita City Council member Pete Meitzner is leading the city’s investigation into the viability of passenger rail. The Newton City Commission — Newton is the current Amtrak depot for the area — also has expressed interest in the Heartland Flyer.

And now is the right time to be checking out rail, Meitzner said, with federal officials choosing between two proposed routes to extend the Heartland Flyer line north of Oklahoma City. One route would take the line north through Oklahoma City to Wichita, and the other would miss Wichita and veer off to the northeast through Tulsa and Joplin to St. Louis.

Read more here:

Note: This story was also on the front page of the Arkansas City Traveler for May 31, 2012 as well as the Wichita Eagle for May 27, 2012.

The American Planning Association carried the story here.

CHICAGO, June 26, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Mortenson Construction has brought the Great Hall at Union Station and its attached 8-story office building into the 21st century while preserving its historic heritage. As part of a $25 million infrastructure improvement project funded by Union Station owner Amtrak and project-managed by Jones Lang LaSalle, Mortenson Construction upgraded or replaced the building’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems while installing fire safety equipment, including sprinklers and fire alarms to help make the 87-year-old building compliant with city regulations and set the stage to market the upper floors for tenants.

Continue Reading Here

We’ll be sharing more in the coming days, including speaker presentations, pictures, and video.

In the interim, please check out this blog post about the Symposium from Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood:     click here

Symposium Agenda  click here

NARP Symposium Handout  click here

Symposium PowerPoint (Large 38.3 mb)  click here

Symposium PowerPoint in movie format (Smaller 6.3 mb)  click here

Speaker Profiles   click here

The video recordings of the speakers are listed below:

Welcome by Councilman Scott Wagner  click here

Pat & Kris Larkin  click here

Chris Larson, President & CEO Larson Binkley, Inc.  click here

Joe Szabo, Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration click here

Derrick James, Amtrak  click here

Dennis Slimmer, KDOT  click here

Ross Capon, President & CEO, Natl Association of Railroad Passengers click here

Pete Meitzner, Councilman, Wichita, Kansas  click here

Homer Nicholson, Mayor, Ponca City, Oklahoma  click here

Rick Harnish, Executive Dir Midwest High Speed Rail Association click here

Stu Nicholson, Engage Public Affairs click here

Due to technical difficulties, the rest of the speakers were not recorded.