MSA approves resolution in favor of shuttle to Jefferson City.
The Missouri Department of Transportation has recently received $31 million in grants to create a second rail bridge over the Osage River, create a crossover in Kirkwood and improve a series of crossing projects by putting more gates and lights where the motor roads cross the rail lines.
The investments are predicted to create more passenger friendly railroad services and increase its use.
Missouri Students Association passed a resolution in favor of creating a student friendly transit system from Columbia to Jefferson City in order to make the high-speed rails available to students.
MODOT Railroad Administrator Rod Massman, said they had shown interest in tapping into Columbia’s student base market but funding limits their options.
“Amtrak runs on existing tracks, and there have been no passenger rails running through Columbia in a long time,” Massman said. “There is no money in the budget to create them.”
Some private businesses view the project as unprofitable and are unwilling to undertake it .
“We hardly get any demand for Amtrak,” MO-X owner Norm Ruebling said. “Plus we would have to get licensing to provide that sort of transport.”
Ruebling said any student who wants to use Amtrak can be driven to either the Kansas City airport or St. Louis airport and then take the MetroLink from there.
