State officials work to further improve Heartland Flyer travel

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 29, 2000 by Bill May

Potential train passengers who remain on the depot platform for fear of going hungry during the 4.5-hour trip to Fort Worth on the Heartland Flyer may soon have nothing to grumble about.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation officials are negotiating with Amtrak to switch out the vending-machine snack car for a caf car, according to Joe Kyle, manager of the department's rail programs.

More, and even better, seats also could become the wave of the future.

Because of the continuing bubble of high interest in the train, Kyle noted that "on several occasions" people have been left behind because there was no room.

"So, we are negotiating with Amtrak to see if there's some way they can supply additional equipment when demand is greater than capacity," Kyle told a meeting of the Heartland Flyer Coalition in Purcell.

The coalition is a group of chamber of commerce, economic development, tourism and municipal officers representing each stop of the train. This group is designed to promote tourism efforts in each of the communities by bringing in visitors via rail.

"We would like to have a different consist (the way the trains are made up) so that we could be able to meet varying demand," Kyle said.

"Nobody likes the superlounger with a snack car on bottom. We're trying to get a caf car that would have some sort of service, but not as formal as a dining car."

The caf car would be a part of a lounge car, he said.

Oklahoma officials are looking at the potential of either a dome car and a parlor car as part of the caf car, said John Dougherty, manager of the department's rail program property.

"Some of these cars are different and nice to ride on, but we've got to be careful and not jeopardize our numbers," he said. "Some of the cars may not seat as many as the regular coaches do."

Amtrak already has a variable-sized train. On most days, there are three passenger cars, including the snack car, along with an engine at either end. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, the big demand days, there are four passenger cars.

Negotiations to alter the train's makeup comes only 14 months after the train started service between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth.

Amtrak officials are hailing the Heartland Flyer as "one of the true success stories" of the industry.

Before start-up, officials anticipated ridership to be between 20,000 and 25,000 the first year. Actually, 74,400 people rode the train the first 12 months of service, bringing in $1.7 million in ticket fares and snack sales.

Oklahoma's contract with Amtrak calls for a graduating scale of subsidies, starting with $5.2 million the first year, Dougherty said.

The subsidy will be $5.6 million this year and "right at $6 million," next year, he said.

Altogether, the subsidy is expected to total $18 million over the three-year period.

The subsidy is coming from a three-year federal grant obtained before service began June 15, 1999. Revenues earned by the train are being kept in a separate pot so that service won't end June 15, 2002.

"That's what we would like to have happen," he said. "We want to be able to use this money (earned revenues) to extend service.

"We are much more interested in long-term programs, that's why we held out for a three-year contract."

Texas doesn't help pay the Heartland Flyer subsidy, even though several Oklahoma officials have said that there are as many riders coming north as there are going south.

The money flow seems to be southward, though, to such an extent that Fort Worth tourism officials have geared up local transit services to coincide with the Heartland Flyer schedule.

"We are packaging a variety of vacations around the train," said Jeff Salmon, director of tourism for the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau. "To accommodate the passengers, we have rubber- tired trolleys that have changed their routes to cover the depot.

"Everything is arranged so that once you get off the train, you don't need to worry about a car."

He didn't gloat about the money coming into Fort Worth from Oklahoma City, although he did indicate that "Oklahoma City long has been one of our prime marketing areas."

The southern money flow has caught the attention of Stan Heller, Amtrak's marketing manager, who volunteered to assist the coalition's efforts.

"If you want some of that money to come back north, you've got to put together packages that will attract people, let them know what's available in each of the towns along this route," he said.

Depots are being revived all along the route, some to contain more than just a place to accommodate train riders. Some will have restaurants, museums and retail shops.

Both Heller and Salmon volunteered to assist convention and tourism bureaus or chambers of commerce officials in the towns develop better marketing efforts to lure rail passengers.

"We need to do more to bring the money back here (into Oklahoma)," Heller said.

Amtrak calls the route "a huge success" because 82,372 people rode the train between June 15, 1999, and July 31, 2000.

Although there has been a lot of talk this summer about extending the service north to Newton, Kan., there are no formal negotiations going on now, Dougherty said.