INDIANAPOLIS (AP)
- Indiana state and federal agencies announced Monday a short-term deal to
keep Amtrak service between Indianapolis and Chicago going and are working
on a long-term agreement .
A federal
Railroad Administration policy announced last month would have effectively
deemed Indiana a rail carrier even though it does not own any tracks or
trains, which threatened to derail the state plan to keep the
four-days-a-week service running.
The agreement
calls for the Indiana Department of Transportation to write contracts to
ensure that Amtrak and Iowa Pacific meet federal safety rules and
requirements for the disabled. The state agency will also designate a
staff member to oversee compliance, spokesman Will Wingfield said.
“We are both
committed to a path toward continuing the Hoosier State service,” INDOT
Commissioner Karl Browning said in a statement. The agency has been
working to improve passenger rail service along the 196-mile Hoosier State
line for the past year.
Federal Railroad
Administrator Sarah Feinberg said she expects a “positive outcome.”
“We are confident
that our joint commitment will help enable continued safe access for
passengers between Indianapolis and Chicago,” she said.
Under the
proposed service, Amtrak would be the primary operator, working with host
railroads, providing train and engine crews, and managing reservations and
ticketing. Iowa Pacific would provide the train equipment, train
maintenance, on-board services and marketing.
The Hoosier State
train stops in Crawfordsville, Lafayette, Rensselaer and Dyer, and is the
least-traveled Amtrak route, with just under 34,000 passengers in fiscal
year 2014. The line is one of 28 Amtrak routes under 750 miles affected by
a 2008 congressional act that shifted most of the costs of those lines to
the states in October 2013.
INDOT announced
last month the rail service would cease April 1, but then said the
passenger line would continue through April 30.
Amtrak, Railroad
Administration and U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspections of Iowa
Pacific equipment are ongoing, INDOT says.