huskerscott
Starter
I thought this was a interseting read. I think pretty cool if it was revived. I like the idea of the train going to Ames,Manhattan, or Lawrence. Providing the fact that we stay in the Big 12.
http://www.huskerextra.com/articles/2010/05/15/football/doc4bedb8f6a63d5487350283.txt
Grad study: Husker train from Omaha to Lincoln is feasible
Matthew Roque will present his feasibility study on a commuter train that would carry Husker football fans from Omaha to Lincoln Saturday to ProRail of Nebraska, an advocacy group for rail transportation.
The public is invited to attend ProRail’s quarterly meeting, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege St. in Lincoln. It started as a project to compare the perennially challenged Amtrak to passenger rail services in other nations.
“I’m a systems guy,” Roque said. “I like efficiency.”
After $140 in library fines, he got a tip from his former adviser, retired planning Professor Brito Mutunayagam, who told Roque a planning alumnus who works at Union Pacific had this idea for a Husker train.
So, guided by new adviser Bob Kuzelka, Roque, the systems guy, systematically started work on what became a thorough, 91-page analysis on whether a football game day train could be restored between Lincoln and Omaha.
“Although it will require tremendous entrepreneurial effort to purchase and refurbish passenger equipment, work with a rail operator to schedule and run the trains, and negotiate with the freight railroads to use their track, the benefits of this service outweigh the costs,” his study concluded.
“With the financial estimates presented in this report, there should be a small profit to the company that provides this service.”
Forgotten to many, a football train used to run from Omaha to Lincoln, but it stopped more than 30 years ago.
John E. Bush, an avid railroad advocate, agent of NP Dodge Insurance in Omaha and a source in the footnotes of Roque’s study recalls the earlier rail service vividly.
“I was, effectively, the porter,” he said.
Operated by Omaha P.R. guy Bill Kratville from the mid-1960s to the mid-’70s, the service typically brought four or five cars of people to Lincoln, on what is now the Amtrak route on BNSF Railway tracks.
The operation was popular with the Husker administration, the study says.
“When the South Stadium was opened in the mid-1960s, Bill was offered a block of seats, 30 of which are still administered by his son, Mike Kratville,” the study says. “Although a popular service where the cost was $25 per couple, the game day special came to an end in the mid-1970s primarily because of increased railroad freight traffic, increasing insurance premiums, and the inability to cover costs.”
Kratville’s Auto-Liner company ran special trains to away games as well, Bush recalled.
But that was a different time under different railroad management regimes.
“The railroads were still running passenger trains on a regular basis,” Bush said. “It was a fairly simple matter to operate on an ‘extra’ basis.
“Asking or expecting a freight railroad to do that now ain’t going to be easy.”
Roque is undaunted.
It’s being done elsewhere, his study showed. A Hawkeye Express is leased to the University of Iowa athletic department, for example.
Roque sees a “rolling tailgate party” running from the Amtrak station in Omaha to the Amtrak station in Lincoln, or to a new passenger setoff north of Memorial Stadium, on Union Pacific rails through Wahoo or BNSF Railway lines through Ashland and Waverly. The bi-level commuter cars would have concessions, advertising and corporate sponsorship.
If Amtrak won’t do it through its charter services, Roque nominates Herzog Transit Services of St. Joseph, Mo., which operates commuter services around the country.
For every unlikelihood or doubt in logistics, scheduling, financing, authority and equipment, Roque’s study has what appears to be a realistic option.
The greatest skepticism came from Amtrak, BNSF and UP, as might be expected.
“My greatest support was from the insurance company, United Shortline Insurance Services Inc.,” Roque said. “I was ecstatic.”
He sees reason for his enthusiasm to be contagious, from a survey of more than 100 people in and around Omaha.
“Approximately 90 percent of survey respondents answered that they would use this service if available,” Roque wrote.
“It has been suggested to ProRail Nebraska that there is interest in having a game day service that starts in McCook, Nebraska, and travels to Lincoln for home games.
“The popularity of this service could even spur interest in attending away games in locations such as Manhattan and Lawrence, Kansas, and Ames, Iowa.”
Roque said he’d love to manage it.
As United Shortline Insurance Services says on its website: “Welcome to a new train of thought.”
http://www.huskerextra.com/articles/2010/05/15/football/doc4bedb8f6a63d5487350283.txt
Grad study: Husker train from Omaha to Lincoln is feasible
Matthew Roque will present his feasibility study on a commuter train that would carry Husker football fans from Omaha to Lincoln Saturday to ProRail of Nebraska, an advocacy group for rail transportation.
The public is invited to attend ProRail’s quarterly meeting, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege St. in Lincoln. It started as a project to compare the perennially challenged Amtrak to passenger rail services in other nations.
“I’m a systems guy,” Roque said. “I like efficiency.”
After $140 in library fines, he got a tip from his former adviser, retired planning Professor Brito Mutunayagam, who told Roque a planning alumnus who works at Union Pacific had this idea for a Husker train.
So, guided by new adviser Bob Kuzelka, Roque, the systems guy, systematically started work on what became a thorough, 91-page analysis on whether a football game day train could be restored between Lincoln and Omaha.
“Although it will require tremendous entrepreneurial effort to purchase and refurbish passenger equipment, work with a rail operator to schedule and run the trains, and negotiate with the freight railroads to use their track, the benefits of this service outweigh the costs,” his study concluded.
“With the financial estimates presented in this report, there should be a small profit to the company that provides this service.”
Forgotten to many, a football train used to run from Omaha to Lincoln, but it stopped more than 30 years ago.
John E. Bush, an avid railroad advocate, agent of NP Dodge Insurance in Omaha and a source in the footnotes of Roque’s study recalls the earlier rail service vividly.
“I was, effectively, the porter,” he said.
Operated by Omaha P.R. guy Bill Kratville from the mid-1960s to the mid-’70s, the service typically brought four or five cars of people to Lincoln, on what is now the Amtrak route on BNSF Railway tracks.
The operation was popular with the Husker administration, the study says.
“When the South Stadium was opened in the mid-1960s, Bill was offered a block of seats, 30 of which are still administered by his son, Mike Kratville,” the study says. “Although a popular service where the cost was $25 per couple, the game day special came to an end in the mid-1970s primarily because of increased railroad freight traffic, increasing insurance premiums, and the inability to cover costs.”
Kratville’s Auto-Liner company ran special trains to away games as well, Bush recalled.
But that was a different time under different railroad management regimes.
“The railroads were still running passenger trains on a regular basis,” Bush said. “It was a fairly simple matter to operate on an ‘extra’ basis.
“Asking or expecting a freight railroad to do that now ain’t going to be easy.”
Roque is undaunted.
It’s being done elsewhere, his study showed. A Hawkeye Express is leased to the University of Iowa athletic department, for example.
Roque sees a “rolling tailgate party” running from the Amtrak station in Omaha to the Amtrak station in Lincoln, or to a new passenger setoff north of Memorial Stadium, on Union Pacific rails through Wahoo or BNSF Railway lines through Ashland and Waverly. The bi-level commuter cars would have concessions, advertising and corporate sponsorship.
If Amtrak won’t do it through its charter services, Roque nominates Herzog Transit Services of St. Joseph, Mo., which operates commuter services around the country.
For every unlikelihood or doubt in logistics, scheduling, financing, authority and equipment, Roque’s study has what appears to be a realistic option.
The greatest skepticism came from Amtrak, BNSF and UP, as might be expected.
“My greatest support was from the insurance company, United Shortline Insurance Services Inc.,” Roque said. “I was ecstatic.”
He sees reason for his enthusiasm to be contagious, from a survey of more than 100 people in and around Omaha.
“Approximately 90 percent of survey respondents answered that they would use this service if available,” Roque wrote.
“It has been suggested to ProRail Nebraska that there is interest in having a game day service that starts in McCook, Nebraska, and travels to Lincoln for home games.
“The popularity of this service could even spur interest in attending away games in locations such as Manhattan and Lawrence, Kansas, and Ames, Iowa.”
Roque said he’d love to manage it.
As United Shortline Insurance Services says on its website: “Welcome to a new train of thought.”
