The Kansas Department of Transportation’s decision to put planning for expanded passenger rail service on hold may be reasonable from a financial standpoint, but it still is disappointing to communities, like Lawrence, that would benefit from a new Amtrak route that would provide rail connections from Kansas to Oklahoma City and Fort Worth.

The plan being studied would extend Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer, which runs between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City, to the Southwest Chief, which runs from Chicago to Los Angeles and cuts across Kansas with stops at Lawrence, Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City. The idea is to extend the Heartland Flyer route from Oklahoma City to either Newton or Kansas City to provide a connection to the south.

Dennis Slimmer, KDOT’s chief of planning, told the Kansas Senate Transportation Committee last week that the department wouldn’t do further review or engineering work on the project until the Legislature identifies funding for the project and service. Infrastructure improvements to make the connection to Newton would cost about $87.5 million along with an annual operating subsidy of $4.4 million, which would be shared by the participating states. The connection to Kansas City would cost substantially more: $245.5 million for infrastructure and $10 million in annual subsidies.

Officials have indicated that a rail extension to Newton would probably attract about 200,000 passengers per year, while one to Kansas City would have 270,000. Those numbers seem to indicate that the less-expensive plans to connect with Newton will provide more bang for the buck. Either plan would be a big asset for Lawrence and the volunteer group that has worked so hard to update the local Amtrak depot.

The costs are certainly significant, and it probably makes sense not to spend additional money to plan for a route until more funds are identified to implement the plan. However, it would be too bad to see this plan shelved for long. Rail transportation once was a staple for American travelers, and with gasoline prices remaining high and air travel becoming more expensive and less convenient, it seems likely that rail travel could have a rebirth across the country. One key will be for destination cities to provide convenient transportation links for passengers arriving and departing by rail.

It may be reasonable for Kansas to put this project on the back burner for now, but we hope it won’t be long before the rail extension project gets back on track.