LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A regional planning group has landed a $500,000 federal grant to begin looking at potential rail service between Louisville and Indianapolis.
The funds from the Federal Railroad Administration will be used to start assessing things like the possible location of stations, ridership estimates and other improvements to the existing rail line. Amtrak, the nation’s only intercity service, would likely be the operator.
“This is just the first step,” said Andy Rush, transportation director for the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency, or KIPDA, which sought the funds with the backing of Louisville Metro government and the Town of Clarksville.
“There's certainly no guarantee that it will come to fruition in a year or two or five or 10,” Rush said. adding that there are other studies also underway to evaluate rail service between Indianapolis and Chicago and look at reactivating other long-dormant lines.
Rush said it’s immediately not known how long the study will take to compete, although it’s expected to start in early 2024. It would be one of three major phases to determine if rail service is viable. A second phase known as a service development plan is “likely” once the study is complete, he added.
Even with more work ahead, local officials hailed Friday's announcement as momentum toward renewed Amtrak service.
Passenger trains are a “top priority” of Louisville’s business community, said Sarah Davasher-Wisdom, president and CEO of the Greater Louisville Inc. chamber of commerce.
“Connectivity with the rest of the world is critical for continued economic growth, and we are optimistic that a new point of connection between Louisville, Indianapolis, and Chicago would open new opportunities for our region to attract top businesses and talent,” she said in a statement.
Mayor Craig Greenberg told reporters downtown that the prospect of new passenger rail service is a "really exciting opportunity, and we’re excited to pursue it."
"We believe we will be very competitive for additional rounds of federal funding," he said.
Local officials notified freight operators about the grant application, said Mike King, director of Metro government’s Office of Planning. He acknowledged that there could be some “challenging conversations” with companies that now control those rails.
“But those are conversations that are already happening at the federal level, that the owners of those routes and the people that operate predominantly freight on those (know) that this is coming, and this is something that the federal government is supportive of and pushing,” he said.
Map of the projects funded in the Federal Railroad Administration's Corridor ID program and announced Friday, December 8, 2023 (Courtesy FRA)
The Louisville-Indianapolis proposal was one of dozens of similar passenger rail ideas that received funding, including the Indianapolis-Chicago line, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which announced $8.2 billion in grants on Friday.
A corridor in Ohio connecting Cincinnati and Cleveland via Dayton and Columbus also would move into the planning phase.
The massive $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure approved by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in 2021 renewed efforts to add Louisville and other cities across the U.S. to Amtrak’s network. The bill provided the rail company with $66 million.
That same year, Amtrak unveiled a map of possible expansion areas that showed a route connecting Louisville to Indianapolis and Chicago.
Amtrak operated the Kentucky Cardinal train from Louisville to Chicago from 1999 to 2003.
But those speeds often were slow because of the condition of sections of the rail line, said Rush, of KIPDA. The new study will determine if a new route would be "car competitive," meaning allowing trains to travel at faster speeds.
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