Next month, Midwest City will be the final stopping point for passenger trains part of a test to see if travel by rail from Tulsa to Oklahoma City will make a comeback or not.
Three trips on the Eastern Flyer were scheduled by Iowa Pacific Holdings and quickly sold out after only three weeks of being on sale. Each train trip included 300 tickets for 900 tickets total.
Tickets ranged in price from $64 for a standard’s child ticket up to $259 for the more glamorous ride in a glass-dome dining car.
"The demand for rail travel continues to grow and ticket sales crushed our revenue goal of 300 tickets," said Angela Arias, vice president of marketing for Iowa Pacific Premier Rail Collection.
Iowa Pacific, who operates in eight different regions across the U.S. but not in Oklahoma, will be bringing three retro style cars in for the trips. The train will run on the state-owned Sooner Subdivision track leased by Stillwater Central Railroad, who will use one of its engines to pull the passenger cars.
Passengers will board the train as early as 8 a.m. in downtown Sapulpa, or in Stroud or Bristow after that, and then arrive in Midwest City approximately three hours later.
Motor coach busses will pick up passengers and deliver them to one of three destinations: Bricktown for shopping, dining and entertainment; Chesapeake Energy Arena to take in an Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game; or the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Departure time is 3 p.m. and passengers will be returned to the corresponding stops between 5:20 p.m. to 6:20 p.m., according to www.easternflyer.com.
The trip dates are Feb. 9, 15 and 23.
Bringing travel by rail back
Evan Stair, executive director of Passenger Rail Oklahoma, is a major supporter for passenger rail to be a vital industry in the state just like it once was.
He is encouraging Oklahomans to use their voices to see a regular train service between Oklahoma City and Tulsa revived. But he doesn’t want to see it stop just there.
He and other passenger rail advocates long for travel to be expanded to all areas and outside the state beyond that of the Heartland Flyer, which takes passengers from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, Texas.
The key to this, Stair said, is stopping the sale of the 97.5 miles that makes up the Sooner Subdivision track, which ODOT is accepting bids for until Jan. 30.
"Unless the people of Oklahoma stand up and ask Gov. Mary Fallin to do something, the sale of the railroad will effectively end the possibility of passenger service to Tulsa to OKC," Stair said.
Rep. Charlie Joyner, who represents Midwest City, authored House Bill 2180 last session but the legislation stalled. The bill is expected to make another appearance in the upcoming legislative session and seeks to create the Oklahoma Railways Commission, which would remove oversight of the industry from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
To find out more about Passenger Rail Oklahoma, visit their website at www.passengerrailok.org or to for more news on the Eastern Flyer, like their Facebook page "Friends of the Eastern Flyer."
