TIGER Grant History
As the BNSF line serving the Southwest Chief is not a major freight route, the conditions of the rail were deteriorating which led to BNSF to reduce the speed limit on the route from 79 to 60 mph and it was highly probable that the speed limit could be further reduced to 30 mph. This caused concerns with Amtrak, due to the ability to complete the Chicago to Los Angeles run in 24 hours. Major improvements were needed to restore the overall speed and reliability of the line as well as the ride quality experienced by Amtrak’s passengers.
There were also rumors regarding BNSF having an interest in divesting of their route through western Kansas. In January 2010, BNSF offered to reroute the Southwest Chief to other freight routes, thereby eliminating the Southwest Chief between Newton KS and Lamy NM. At that time, Amtrak chose to maintain the current service and pay the additional maintenance costs. In 2011, BNSF estimated that the 10-year capital investment needed for Amtrak to preserve the entire 636 miles of the Southwest Chief from Newton, KS to Lamy, NM was $300 million.
Garden City officials met with BNSF officials, Kansas Senate President Steve Morris and KDOT officials on January 25, 2012, regarding future intentions along the La Junta subdivision. BNSF stated that this line will stay in their ownership.
From that early 2012 meeting, the Southwest Chief Rural Rail Partnership was born and a phased approach to rehabilitation of the route was conceived. The Partnership includes municipal governments, county governments and other interested passenger rail organizations. The four participating cities in Kansas are Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City. In 2012, Garden City and Dodge City (TIGER applications have to be from a governmental unit) were unsuccessful co-applicants for $15 million in TIGER IV funding. A second attempt with Garden City as the applicant was made in 2013 for TIGER V funding, which was also unsuccessful.
Finally, the 2014 TIGER VI application submitted by Garden City was approved. This was the first year the BNSF participated in funding. The ‘local’ match was $9.3 million against a Federal award of $12.5 million. That initial replaced 40 miles of track between Pierceville and Las Animas.
In 2015, the City of La Junta CO was the applicant for a successful TIGER VII grant. They matched $9.2 million against $15.2 million in Federal funds. The project replaced an additional 38 miles of track in Kansas and Colorado and replaced 18.5 miles of ties and ballast in New Mexico.
The City of Lamar CO submitted an unsuccessful TIGER VIII application in 2016. The grant was not awarded. It requested $31 million with a match of $10.1 million to complete the remaining 60 miles of track replacement in Kansas and Colorado and tie replacement and other upgrades New Mexico.
Colfax County NM (Raton) submitted the 2017 TIGER IX application. The project includes 29 miles of track replacement in Colorado. In New Mexico, the project includes some centralized traffic control around Lamy, a new switch and drainage improvements on the Lamy siding, track replacement and a rock slide fence at Devil’s Throne, and replacement of ties between Lamy and Trinidad. The local match is $9.16 million against the $16 million grant. With completion of TIGER IX, there will only be 27 miles still needing replacement between Hutchinson & La Junta, between Pierceville and Howell. The four western Kansas cities served by Amtrak, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City, contributed to all three TIGER grant matches. The Kansas Department of Transportation participated in all three TIGER Grants, with $3 million on TIGER VI and $1 million each for TIGERS VII and IX.