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Kansas City News Today Kansas City Front Page is a weekly news publication, with daily updates, spotlighting attractions, events, business and hospitality in Kansas City. |
KANSAS CITY NEWS TODAY - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 
KANSAS CITY, MO, (kansascityfrontpage.com), April 28, 2009 - Representatives of the State of Missouri, the City of California, Union Pacific Railroad and Amtrak have kicked off the construction of a new $8.1 million, 9,000-foot railroad side track to add capacity and reduce delays on the route used by Amtrak Missouri River Runner trains between Kansas City and St. Louis. The new siding, located just west of California, Mo., will unclog a major "bottleneck" caused by a 25-mile stretch of single track and enable slower freight trains to move off the main line allowing faster Amtrak trains to pass and annually reduce delays by nearly 17 percent. "As the State of Missouri, Union Pacific and Amtrak break ground together on this project, it further represents our commitment to making the St. Louis to Kansas City rail corridor a more viable option for Missourians," said Pete Rahn, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT). "Improvements like this will ease congestion on the railroad tracks across Missouri and enhance our state's quality of life by making passenger rail a more reliable option and increasing our global competitiveness as the flow of freight rail traffic improves." "The Kansas City to St. Louis rail corridor has experienced such a steady growth in freight rail traffic over the years, that the corridor experienced capacity constraints. Union Pacific has invested more than $400 million since 1999 on this corridor in track capacity and maintenance projects," said Shane Keller, Union Pacific Railroad's assistant vice president - operations - Northern Region. "All of us at Union Pacific look forward to not only the completion of this project, but also what we hope will be more public/private partnerships like this one which benefits everyone across Missouri." "This kind of targeted capacity improvement can make a real difference in improving the on-time performance of Amtrak Missouri River Runner trains and make our service even more attractive," said Mike Franke, Amtrak Assistant Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development. When finished in December 2009, the siding will accommodate the mile-and-a-half long Union Pacific coal trains that haul low-sulfur coal from Wyoming to electric utilities in the St. Louis area and eastern power generation facilities. MoDOT secured the funding for this project from state funds, complemented with a federal grant from the Federal Railroad Administration. This location was chosen after a University of Missouri study estimated a siding in this area would annually reduce delays to Amtrak trains by nearly 17 percent. It was ranked as the first choice among three "bottlenecks" on the rail line between Kansas City and Jefferson City. The other locations are in the Knob Noster and Strasburg areas. The study helped Union Pacific's engineering and network planning groups make solid choices where capacity projects should be considered across the 275-mile rail corridor. MoDOT commissioned the study in 2006 in order to determine where rail line capacity enhancements should be made to improve train velocity. About the Missouri Department of Transportation Missouri Takes Steps to Deal with New Strain of Swine Flu KANSAS CITY, MO, (kansascityfrontpage.com), April 28, 2009 - Gov. Jay Nixon announced today that Missouri health officials are taking significant steps to deal with a new strain of swine flu that has prompted federal officials to declare a nationwide health emergency. The Governor said that while no case of swine flu had been confirmed in Missouri, state health officials and the medical community have been on high alert since Friday because of the contagious nature of the new flu virus. The Department of Health and Senior Services, headed by Director Margaret Donnelly, is the lead agency in coordinating the state's preparation for possible influenza cases. Missouri officials have stockpiled enough antiviral medications to treat more than 600,000 cases of swine flu. Over the weekend, Gov. Nixon directed state health officials to request Missouri's share of federal medical supplies. In response, federal officials are providing additional doses of medicine, three million surgical masks to limit the spread of the virus and three million enhanced medical masks for medical workers and others who may be repeatedly exposed. These supplies augment significant private stocks of antiviral medication and other medical supplies in Missouri. "Missourians should know that people, plans and protections are in place to do everything possible to prevent the spread of swine flu in our state," Gov. Nixon said. The virus, which is blamed for killing scores of people in Mexico, has now sickened people in five U.S. states - California, Texas, New York, Ohio and Kansas. Federal health officials have determined that the virus is susceptible to two antiviral medications. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is working closely with local public health agencies and medical facilities to increase detection of any cases of swine flu in the state. If cases are found, officials will take steps to limit the spread of the virus. The state is putting into effect plans and tapping into resources put into place as part of its pandemic influenza preparedness efforts. But Gov. Nixon said all Missouri residents could take steps crucial to halting the spread of the flu. "The public should know that we all have an important part to play," Gov. Nixon said. "There are very simple but effective measures we all can take to protect ourselves, our families and our communities from this virus, and I encourage everyone to join the effort to do just that."   The Kansas City Front Page is owned and maintained by the Moore Design Group for the sole purpose of disseminating news and information about the Metropolitan Kansas City area. Text or graphics may not be copied, rewritten or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For more information, contact editor@slfp.com All rights reserved world wide © 2007 - 2009 Moore Design Group. |
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