IOWA CITY, Iowa — A proposal to launch battery-electric commuter train service between Iowa City and North Liberty, Iowa, appears to be dead after the railroad involved said it would not allow use of its trackage.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway, or CRANDIC, told those involved with the proposal that “leasing the line is not a viable option, particularly with many parts of the ultimate vision yet to be determined,” according to an email from Jeff Woods, the railroad’s director of business development and marketing. Liability and regulatory concerns, as well as impact on shippers, were factors, Woods wrote.
Johnson County was considering a three-year pilot program leasing the Pop Up Metro transit system — a package of remanufactured British multiple-unit cars, station platforms, and related equipment and services — for the proposed 8.2-mile operation, at a cost of about $2 million. [see “Iowa county looks at Pop Up Metro …,” Trains News Wire, July 17, 2024]. A low-cost trial is one of the tenets of the Pop Up Metro concept, which has seen interest from a number of entities but is still seeking its first chance to operate the package [see “Pop Up Metro aims to provide …,” News Wire, Oct. 1, 2021].
County Supervisor Rod Sullivan told the Kalona News that all rail options “are pretty much on hold for now … just because they seem to have changed their minds. That’s disappointing to hear, but we’ll just have to move on from there.”
Mr. Roche appears to have asked all the right questions on this “Pie-in-The Sky” boondoggle (even though it’s only a three-year ‘Pop-Up’ demonstration project) but I just couldn’t help chiming in after reading this.
Even though this is only a modest “demonstration” project proposal for three-years, I find the $2M (annual ?) cost to be utterly not credible, even with “secondhand” ex Brit. DUM equipment available. What kind of station would they even have at North Liberty, along with parking and all other station amenities for this low-ball estimate? And yes, what would the liability-insurance cost be for this three-year commuter rail “demonstration” proposal? A good chunk of that $2M cost-estimate, I would think ….
It’s been many years since I have been to Iowa City & Johnson Cty., but unless traffic congestion has gotten so much worse on the I-380/I-80 corridor (maybe it has?) to warrant this idea, I cannot imagine a commuter rail service would be really viable on this corridor unless it is heavily subsidized. And yes, “The Crandic” is probably terrified of the liability costs and provisions for hosting this “demonstration” service.
Nonetheless, there is an element of historical “irony” in this, given that the Crandic was originally an interurban electric railway between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City back in the day ….
Typical, some pie-in-the-sky folks get this “wonderful” idea about rail transit (Lots of ideas are ‘wonderful’ but how realistic?, What are the projections for ridership? Is it “sustainable”/economical?)
Given the politics of Johnson County, I’m surprised the proponents aren’t pushing this as a way to ‘fight’ anthropogenic “climate change.” But reality (liability concerns, insurance costs, the trial bar) tend to intrude on these utopian visions.
Don’t blame CRANDIC at all. THEY will be the ones that get sued in the event of an accident. Maybe the Local Branch of the League of Women Vipers can have a bake sale to raise funds to buy the 8.2 miles from the railroad.
Surprised that neither the state nor local governments aren’t condemning the line, seizing it, and using it for commuter rail. Eminent Domain trumps private property rights.
CRANDIC probably got the estimate just for the liability insurance and freaked out.
Presuming the insurance coverage would even be available.