To the editor:

Rerouting Amtrak’s Southwest Chief would be a great loss of service to western Kansas, as the author of the April 17 Journal-World editorial notes. The author’s statement about the adverse effect that rerouting the Southwest Chief would have on the Heartland Flyer expansion and the Santa Fe Station in Lawrence does not ring true.

Should Amtrak need to take the undesired step of rerouting the Southwest Chief service between Newton and Albuquerque, the train would continue to serve all Kansas cities east of Newton, including, Topeka and Lawrence. This means that the Chief will continue to stop in Lawrence at the historic Santa Fe Depot thus having no effect on the project of the city’s proposed takeover of the facility.

The considered options for extending passenger rail service north from Oklahoma City would connect with the existing line at Newton, either as a connecting train to the Southwest Chief or as a through train using the same route of the Chief east of Newton. It should be noted that neither option is affected by a reroute of the Southwest Chief.