Barber County Commissioner,

    This in regards to the proposed abandonment of railroad lines by the Central Kansas Railway.  The need for rail service in South Central Kansas has been a very hot issue by counties, and elevators that desire to ship wheat by rail to terminals in Wichita and points further south in Texas.  With the CKR putting these lines up for abandonment the hopes for any future rail service is gone.  There are groups who are out to save rail service and do have a plan for saving any rails from being torn up.  The best way to make a railroad work for the areas in discussion is to run from Wichita directly west to Kingman, and south Belvidere, thus serving communities and elevators online on a regular basis.  At Belvidere an 8.4 mile connection would be placed back into service to run the train from Wichita (connecting with the BNSF mainline) directly to Medicine Lodge.  The tracs between Medicine Lodge adn Attica (app. 20 miles) could be removed if no service is ever anticipated in Sharon, and the rail used for the new track.  With trains being ran more regularly and on a set schedule, rail service could also be brought back to the gypsum mine in Sun City.  With Medicine Lodge being a frequent user of rail service, the benefit to online shippers between Medicine Lodge and back towards Wichita would be a drastic change for the better from current service.  At present the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County has plans to pull up 20 miles of track extending from Wichita to Garden Plain to bypass a bridge said to cause flooding in west Wichita.

    We would like to ask that you help us in protesting the abandonment of tracks by the CKR west of Rago to Protection and west of Wichita to Garden Plain.  If interest is lost in the area for serving  and maintaining the lines now, it may only be a matter of time before Medicine Lodge is also on the list of rail lines to be abandoned.

Thank you.