New Arkansas Rail Plan Aims to Boost Freight, Passenger Services by 2025

A file photo of Union Pacific trains (Shutterstock)

Arkansas hasn’t refreshed its state rail plan since 2015, but that will change next spring.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation is required to develop a state rail plan through the Highway & Transportation Act of 1977, though the department does not finance, own, operate or maintain any rail infrastructure itself.

The new plan will have a lot of the same themes as the 2015 plan, but with a few updates, according to Travis Brooks, ARDOT division engineer for planning and research.

“Key needs” for the new plan include additional capacity, improvements to crossing safety, access to support economic development, new or enhanced passenger rail service and ongoing maintenance.

And while the 2025 plan will not prioritize specific corridors or projects, it will document capital investment opportunities across the state. Proposed investments include new mainline tracks along congested rail corridors, replacement of substandard track, grade crossing safety improvements and construction of sidings and spurs to improve access.

Each proposed improvement could create significant economic benefits if implemented. The state’s rail network moved more than 160 million tons of freight valued at more than $300 billion in 2019, the base year for the analysis in the new plan. By 2050, those numbers are expected to be at 194.7 million tons and $486.7 billion.

Arkansas’ outbound freight  is also expected to surpass inbound shipments by 2050.

“Investment in rail infrastructure can support economic development in several ways,” Brooks said. “Extending or reactivating rail lines would provide rail service to new areas of the state; rehabilitating aging track would preserve existing rail corridors and improve rail service by supporting faster operating speeds and heavier cars; and constructing sidings and spurs to industrial areas would enhance competitiveness by providing cost-effective options for shipping and receiving.”

Brooks said that “one key takeaway” from the 2015 plan was the need for early and active coordination between railroad stakeholders. So the new plan was guided by a “rail advisory committee” made up of representatives from the railroads, shippers, industry, planning organizations and passenger rail advocates.

“Implementation will be an ongoing process requiring coordination and cooperation between numerous rail stakeholders, including railroad operators, customers, roadway authorities and others,” Brooks said.

The timing is critical as the state seeks to capitalize on federal funding through the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA), which renewed existing railroad programs and created new ones.

“A state rail plan provides a strong foundation for competing for discretionary grant funding,” Brooks said. “Generally, these discretionary grant programs look favorably on having a proposed rail project included in a state rail plan. Moreover, the state rail plan supports continued dialogue and coordination between key railroad stakeholders, and those partnerships can strengthen the case for federal rail investments across the state.”

And federal funding is necessary. Though ARDOT does invest state and federal funding in roadway improvements at railroad crossings, it does not finance railroad assets.

Brooks said funding for the new plan could include several grants for railroad system improvements from the IIJA and federal Section 130 Program funding to improve the safety of railroad crossings, as well as continued “significant investments by railroad companies” since they are the predominant owners and operators of rail infrastructure in Arkansas.

Arkansas’ rail network spans more than 2,700 miles operated by three Class I carriers and 23 smaller operators.

The state’s largest railroad operator is Union Pacific. The company’s second-largest freight car classification yard is in North Little Rock, along with a $70 million, 600-acre intermodal facility in Marion.

According to a fact sheet provided by the railroad company, UP maintained 1,324 miles of track in Arkansas, employed 1,772 workers with an annual payroll of $223.3 million and invested $155 million in capital improvements in 2023.

From 2019-2023, UP spent more than $819 million on Arkansas tracks, structures and facilities.

ARDOT also released a survey in January to get the public’s opinion about rail opportunities, needs and challenges throughout the state to integrate that into the new plan.

Brooks said the department received more than 1,500 responses to the survey, and that the themes from those responses included frustrations with blocked crossings, concerns about crossing safety and the desire for additional or enhanced passenger rail service.

Passenger Rail

“During our stakeholder engagement process, we documented support for expanding passenger rail in Arkansas,” Brooks said. “Common themes included the desire for additional service, daytime service and additional stops such as a stop in Bald Knob.”

Brooks said the 2025 plan will have opportunities for improved passenger rail service, but that “this is just the first of many steps” for any major improvements to the passenger rail system.

There is only one passenger train in the state, the Amtrak Texas Eagle. In 2022, Arkansas stations saw more than 24,000 boardings and alightings, with Little Rock accounting for more than 13,000 of those.

Though rail travel is “inching” back up to pre-pandemic numbers, Arkansas’ passenger rail system still faces many of the same issues highlighted in the 2015 rail plan.

Multiple grade crossings along the Texas Eagle route affect travel time and safety, and many of the crossings lack protection for higher-speed passenger rail service such as four-quadrant gates, median barriers or flashing lights with gates.

Amtrak’s service in Arkansas also suffers from inconvenient arrival and departure times, a schedule the 2015 plan claimed had “a negative impact on train ridership.”

Amtrak also does not own any rail lines in Arkansas. It operates over freight lines owned by UP, resulting in scheduling conflicts, delays and unreliable service — issues the 2025 plan hopes to address.