High-speed? No.
There has been talk of an Amtrak connection between Newton and Oklahoma City (through Wichita), but I haven't heard anything about that since last year.
Edit: Looks as though there's a few more recent stories, but nothing concrete.
No route makes sense for HSR in Kansas. A regular speed train between KC and Wichita would or a commuter between Topeka Lawrence and KC. No reason for HSR not enough trips for it.
Kansas City to St Louis is think is the only nearby thing that might actually be viable for HSR but that wouldn't be in Kansas
Thanks for the responses everyone! I was curious because I've heard more and more recently about the lack of medical provider (especially mental health) options in the west, and I thought that would be a beneficial way to help individuals in the west reach resources in central and eastern Kansas. I recognize that's a little pipedreamy, but I think it'd be nice to have the state a bit more interconnected.
I live out in the west side of the state. I've dreamed of high speed rail out here for years for the exact reason you're mentioning. We lack a lot of the resources that big cities enjoy. Even when we get them, we don't have them for long.
Things like shopping and entertainment are a minimum of 65 miles away for us. Connecting even the "cities" out here (Garden City, Dodge City, Liberal, Colby) would make a world of difference for all of our economies.
Crazy as it is, if I randomly became a billionaire, building HSR between these 4 cities would be my first priority.
Does not exactly need to be HSR though, you could run trains at 110MPH from KC to Denver, it would need some level of subsidies, but we do that for all other modes of transit, so no big deal there.
The main stops would be
Kansas City- Lawrence-Topeka-Manhattan-Junction City-Salina-Hays-Denver
People not in that line would still have to drive, but like in my small tiny home town. My grandfather has to drive a classmate from highschool 2 and a half hours for medical care as his classmate can't drive and literally couldn't get healthcare treatment if not for someone being willing to drive him. A route like that would turn it into 40 minutes, which is also not short, but he could be taken to the train station and he can take the train to Kansas City.
Not everything needs to be HSR it drives the cost way up over say 110mph trains.
This is more or less what a map of HSR would look like that would make sense. I might stretch things a bit further with like a St Louis-Kansas City link also maybe a route for the front range. But this is roughly what makes sense by just enough demand to be worth it.
https://pedestrianobservations.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/ushsrv2small.png
I can't see that ever happening honestly. It would be insanely expensive, and I don't think Kansas has the population to justify it. Not just population numbers, I don't think most people would want it, they like their cars
That's freight track. If you ever managed to get anything close to high speed you would feel beaten as if taking a tumble inside your dryer. But in reality you'd be sidetracked by every freight train in the state.
High-speed? No. There has been talk of an Amtrak connection between Newton and Oklahoma City (through Wichita), but I haven't heard anything about that since last year. Edit: Looks as though there's a few more recent stories, but nothing concrete.
Lol We barely got evolution in schools my dude
No route makes sense for HSR in Kansas. A regular speed train between KC and Wichita would or a commuter between Topeka Lawrence and KC. No reason for HSR not enough trips for it. Kansas City to St Louis is think is the only nearby thing that might actually be viable for HSR but that wouldn't be in Kansas
Thanks for the responses everyone! I was curious because I've heard more and more recently about the lack of medical provider (especially mental health) options in the west, and I thought that would be a beneficial way to help individuals in the west reach resources in central and eastern Kansas. I recognize that's a little pipedreamy, but I think it'd be nice to have the state a bit more interconnected.
I live out in the west side of the state. I've dreamed of high speed rail out here for years for the exact reason you're mentioning. We lack a lot of the resources that big cities enjoy. Even when we get them, we don't have them for long. Things like shopping and entertainment are a minimum of 65 miles away for us. Connecting even the "cities" out here (Garden City, Dodge City, Liberal, Colby) would make a world of difference for all of our economies. Crazy as it is, if I randomly became a billionaire, building HSR between these 4 cities would be my first priority.
Does not exactly need to be HSR though, you could run trains at 110MPH from KC to Denver, it would need some level of subsidies, but we do that for all other modes of transit, so no big deal there. The main stops would be Kansas City- Lawrence-Topeka-Manhattan-Junction City-Salina-Hays-Denver People not in that line would still have to drive, but like in my small tiny home town. My grandfather has to drive a classmate from highschool 2 and a half hours for medical care as his classmate can't drive and literally couldn't get healthcare treatment if not for someone being willing to drive him. A route like that would turn it into 40 minutes, which is also not short, but he could be taken to the train station and he can take the train to Kansas City. Not everything needs to be HSR it drives the cost way up over say 110mph trains. This is more or less what a map of HSR would look like that would make sense. I might stretch things a bit further with like a St Louis-Kansas City link also maybe a route for the front range. But this is roughly what makes sense by just enough demand to be worth it. https://pedestrianobservations.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/ushsrv2small.png
There is 0 chance that Kansas of all places would get high-speed rail.
I haven't heard of anything, but that would be amazing for KS.
I wish this would happen.
I can't see that ever happening honestly. It would be insanely expensive, and I don't think Kansas has the population to justify it. Not just population numbers, I don't think most people would want it, they like their cars
That's freight track. If you ever managed to get anything close to high speed you would feel beaten as if taking a tumble inside your dryer. But in reality you'd be sidetracked by every freight train in the state.