JEFFERSON CITY — Amtrak will cut the number of passenger trains running between ºüÀêÊÓƵ and Kansas City in half in January in response to a lack of funding from the state.
Under the budget approved by Missouri lawmakers in May, state aid for the two round-trip trains only covered the first half of the fiscal year.
In an announcement from Amtrak, service on the Missouri River Runner will be reduced to one trip each way beginning Jan. 3, with a morning departure from Kansas City to ºüÀêÊÓƵ and an afternoon departure from ºüÀêÊÓƵ to Kansas City.
Missouri Department of Transportation spokeswoman Linda Wilson Horn said a timetable for restoring the service is dependent on the Legislature.
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“Our funding has to go through the legislative process,†Horn said.
According to MoDOT, the projected cost to fund one daily round trip is $9.1 million. The projected cost to fund twice daily round trips is $13.25 million.
By comparison, the current budget for Amtrak approved by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and signed by Gov. Mike Parson allocated $10.8 million.
Also left unfinished is work to restore the building that formerly housed the Jefferson City station. The historic structure was deemed unstable in 2019, forcing passengers to wait for trains in a converted mobile office building. No funding has been set aside to address the issue.
Ridership on the line, which includes stops in Kirkwood, Washington, Hermann and Jefferson City, has been hit by the pandemic and, in 2019, by flooding on the Missouri River.
Typically, an estimated 170,000 people ride the route, but service cuts and COVID-19 restrictions reduced that number to 58,000 last year.
In a statement issued in July, MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna said the funding issue would be reevaluated heading into the legislative session.
Originally posted at 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 14. Updated at 9:18 am Wednesday, Dec. 15 to correct current budgeted amount for service to $10.8 million.