“We’ve been involved in grant applications for what’s called the Corridor Identification and Development Program that’s under the Federal Railroad Administration,” John Gleason, public relations director with UDOT, told the Standard-Examiner. “It’s a study phase for potential passenger rail. UDOT’s the grant applicant for studying Las Vegas to Salt Lake City — this is in partnership with the UTA (Utah Transit Authority) and the Nevada Department of Transportation — and the portion also being requested for study is Salt Lake City to Boise. The Idaho Transportation Department is the grant applicant for studying Salt Lake City to Boise. That’s in partnership with us as well as UTA and the City of Boise.”

Gleason said it won’t be known until September whether the grant applications are successful, and even then, it’s not a guarantee that passenger rail service will return along these routes.

“They’re just exploratory study efforts and don’t mean that passenger rail necessarily is moving forward,” he said. “But we’re definitely supportive of exploring the possibilities and the feasibility of it and how it would all work.”

Gleason said he was unsure of how the study may be conducted, its timeline and what parameters it might measure, but it would allot $500,000.

He said it would be up to the states themselves to fund a service after the study is complete.

Ogden was last served by Amtrak in 1997 when the Seattle-to-Chicago Pioneer was discontinued. Efforts to restore the service in some shape or form have come and gone over the ensuing years. Amtrak’s California Zephyr is currently the only intercity passenger train to serve the state of Utah.

Gleason said there are some distinctions between past studies and this potential one.

“This program is looking at a slightly different type of service that’s potentially more frequent than previous services,” he said.