WASHINGTON — The Kansas Department of Transportation will receive a $250,000 grant to plan for a new passenger route in Kansas. The grant is included in the $8 billion in economic stimulus money announced by the Obama Administration Thursday afternoon for high-speed passenger trains. KDOT will use the money for a Service Development Plan for the proposed Heartland Flyer, which would connect a train between Fort Worth, Texas, and Oklahoma City to the Southwest Chief in Kansas at Newton. The state didn’t get money for two other requests. One request KFOT didn’t get was for nearly $8 milllion to improve the BNSF track between Emporia and Barclay in Osage County.
