Amtrak, suddenly popular, has more studies than it can handle

2 comments July 24th, 2009

Iowa folks may have to wait a bit on a study of extending Amtrak service to Des Moines, according to an Associated Press report today. The story is somewhat confusing, so let me break down all the Illinois-Iowa studie:

• Amtrak has done its study of service from Chicago through Rockford to Dubuque, Iowa, so it’s not affected by this. Service could start by November 2011 if funded by the federal stimulus and state officials.
• Amtrak also completed a study of service from Chicago to the Quad Cities, which would also be funded by the stimulus and the state and start in the next couple of years.
• Amtrak also added a study of extending the Quad Cities line to Iowa City.
• But on top of that, Iowa officials also want a study of continuing the Quad Cities route to Des Moines. It’s the study of the portion between Iowa City and Des Moines that’s being delayed. Also, officials eventually want Amtrak service to continue on that line to Omaha, Neb.
• Finally, Iowa officials want Amtrak to also study extending the Dubuque route farther west into Iowa. So some day, who knows how far west we could go from Rockford?

This is good news for Amtrak. Between the federal stimulus and other pro-train comments from the Obama administration, Amtrak could be expanding a lot in the coming years. Like any expanding entity though, there will be a lag. Hopefully for train advocates, the momentum continues.

Getting to fly Frontier Airlines for the first time

3 comments July 24th, 2009

Leaving soon on vacation to Denver and then Santa Fe, and other than a possible outbound trip report I won’t be updating the blog until the first week in August. There may be a couple more posts today, though.

So, as a transportation dork, I managed to convince my wife to let us drive to Chicago Midway International AirportĀ  to fly Frontier to Denver (”DirecTV!” I said. She rolled her eyes.)

Never flew on them before. As far as I can remember, the airlines I’ve flown on are: Aer Lingus, AirTran, Allegiant, American, ATA, Continental, Eastern, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest and United.Only two deceased ones.

I’ve also never been to Colorado and New Mexico, so looking forward to that. The downside to all this, of course, is the drive to Midway. But the airport has improved over the years (way better than my just-out-of-college days of taking ATA out of there), and we got a good deal on parking.

(You know how RFD’s slogan is “The way flying should be”? Chicago airports should go with “The way flying is. Deal with it.”)

Any Frontier fans out there?