If the people have anything to say about it, Amtrak train service in Kansas is worth saving.

A recent poll conducted in several states, including Kansas, indicates strong support for federal funding of Amtrak’s passenger rail service, which includes the Southwest Chief that passes through Hutchinson.

The survey, conducted by Minnesota firm DFM Research, asked more than 3,000 people via telephone in eight Congressional districts in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri whether they supported maintaining or increasing Amtrak
funding or eliminating funding totally.

In the Kansas 1st District, which includes Hutchinson, Dodge City and Garden City, 76 percent favored keeping or increasing federal Amtrak funding while 16 percent wanted to eliminate it. About 8 percent were unsure. More than 800 people in Kansas and Colorado were contacted between Sept. 3 and 10.

The survey comes as Amtrak nears a deadline to either keep the Chief running on the BNSF and ask residents in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico to help share in 200-million dollars in major renovations to the track, or move the train to the BNSF Transcon Route through Oklahoma and Texas. Deteriorating track conditions in Kansas has force Amtrak to slow their trains down from the usual 79 miles per hour to under 50.