Group challenges some of the talk about commuter trains

This coming Saturday, train travelers and fans from the Midwest will gather in Omaha. Dan Lutz, president of “Pro-Rail Nebraska” says it’s a nonprofit, nonpartisan group, with the goal of keeping the inter-city passenger trains running and add urban commuter trains. This weekend’s meeting includes railroad passengers and advocates from Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota. He says Amtrak claims to be a national rail passenger network, though many think to survive, trains will have to be high-speed ones. He says the Midwest hi-speed rail corridor would have Chicago as a “hub” would go through Des Moines to Omaha. The ProRail group has approved a resolution calling on Congress to keep funding passenger trains and add a second daily Amtrak route across Iowa and Nebraska.