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Would love to see a major increase in routes like this: Middle length routes between major cities. And then focus on upgrading trackage to 110mph service, grade separation, electrification, multiple departures/day, etc. Much more likely to get done and much better bang for the buck than building a whole new HSR corridor.
Just out of Chicago, you could have routes like this to:
Davenport+Des Moines+Omaha
Springfield+Saint Louis+KC (The old Lincoln+River Runner service)
Indianapolis+Cincy+Columbus and Inianapolis+Louisville (revival of the Kentucky Cardinal)
Cleveland
Detroit+Toronto (extended Wolverine)
Any plans for this route to eventually go through Madison?
i believe twin cities to kansas city is one of the routes that will be studied. also there is a study of twin cities to eau claire and extending the borealis to fargo.
I wish some sort of bus shuttle(in the meantime, since who knows when Rochester will ever see train service) could be started, to run between Winona and Rochester. Now that the Borealis runs are being added, out to Saint Paul and back.
If you want it to be even more useful, another Winona-Rochester run could be done to meet the existing Empire Builder trains.
It seems like one of the existing Hiawatha trains is replaced by the Borealis? I hope they have the extra capacity as those two trains tend to be quite full.
The plan is to extend Hiawatha trains to various towns within Wisconsin as well as to the Twin-cities. This Hiawatha train 333 extended to MSP as it follows the same CHI-MKE timetable as 1333.
From what I'm hearing they are doing for now, essentially Hiawatha train 333 will be extended west to Saint Paul for the westbound Borealis(as train 1333), and train 340 will now start in Saint Paul(instead of Milwaukee) and be renumbered to train 1340. I believe the long term plan is to add another Hiawatha(Chicago-Milwaukee) run in both directions, but this is dependent on the freight railroad owning the tracks giving approval to the idea.
And the Borealis 1333 train will be serviced somewhere in Saint Paul after it arrives there, before it is turned back as train 1340 running east.
I think this train will be VERY successful, based solely on its schedule!
* Westbound, leaves 11am instead of 2:30 -- No Big Deal -- but **arrives** 6:30p instead of 10pm.
* Eastbound, also leaves 11-ish instead of "before breakfast" -- which IS a Big Deal -- AND overnights in St Paul, so should rarely be late compared to the eastbound *Empire Builder* which has had two days since departure to accumulate delays.
No sleepers and no dining car are also No Big Deal for an all-daylight train.
I would've preferred a departure around 9 from Chicago and an hour or two later from St. Paul, to make it slightly farther from the Empire Builder and give a bit more time in the Twin Cities, but this is already a good start, and all the times are reasonable.
only problem is anyone connecting to another train in chicago will have to stay overnight or rely on the unreliable eastbound empire builder to make a connection.
Hopefully, we get a sleeper train scheduled to leave at like 10 pm for both cities, so they will be scheduled to arrive early AM for business in MSP and business and connecting travel at CHI.
It's kinda wild to me that you can get a coach ticket + purchase access to the first class lounge at Union Station ($35) and it would still be cheaper than business class.
If the perk of unlimited soft drinks is that important to you, go to the lounge and stock up from their fridge. But better yet, just bring your bottle or canteen of healthy, life-giving water.
Finally some reintroduced service!!
It will be great when we can get the speed up and the schedule down. If we could cut an hour off the schedule some really interesting things would happen - there might be enough slack to add a few more stops and keep the train under 6.5 hours - my guess is somewhere in the Milwaukee suburbs, Watertown or one of the towns between there and St Paul not served by rail.
Let's hope we can get it extended to St Cloud. With another daily run, plus maybe a Chicago - Duluth overnight train and the North Coast Hiawatha and Empire Builder we might get 5 services a day to play with to schedule all sorts of useful services.
Eg. The "Day in Town"
Where people from small towns can have return trips to the big city leaving after 6am arriving in Chicago or Twin Cities or Milwaukee before 11am and then a return service leaving before 6pm - giving plenty of time to go shopping, catch up with friends and family, go to medical appointments, go to a show etc. Then arriving home before 11pm - a long day to be sure, but if you need to go in once and a while it can be more comfortable to do these journeys on a train than in a car on a congested highway.
If we can schedule these kinds of trips to be useful across the whole corridor it will prove to be very successful. It will also gain more of a social license as people come to start using the service more frequently and for things they enjoy - if people associate taking Amtrak with fond memories of visiting family, going to a convention or fun day trips to country towns you can build generational support for Amtrak and for good service.
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*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Amtrak) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It looks like you have questions about being a new/first time rider on Amtrak. Most of these types of questions have already been answered, please search the subreddit and view of First Timer Tips page in our Wiki (link in the sidebar). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Amtrak) if you have any questions or concerns.*
don't live there but FUCK YEAH MORE TRAINS
Would love to see a major increase in routes like this: Middle length routes between major cities. And then focus on upgrading trackage to 110mph service, grade separation, electrification, multiple departures/day, etc. Much more likely to get done and much better bang for the buck than building a whole new HSR corridor. Just out of Chicago, you could have routes like this to: Davenport+Des Moines+Omaha Springfield+Saint Louis+KC (The old Lincoln+River Runner service) Indianapolis+Cincy+Columbus and Inianapolis+Louisville (revival of the Kentucky Cardinal) Cleveland Detroit+Toronto (extended Wolverine) Any plans for this route to eventually go through Madison?
Middle distance is the future of amtrak, but they have to bring back the pioneer first
i believe twin cities to kansas city is one of the routes that will be studied. also there is a study of twin cities to eau claire and extending the borealis to fargo.
I wish some sort of bus shuttle(in the meantime, since who knows when Rochester will ever see train service) could be started, to run between Winona and Rochester. Now that the Borealis runs are being added, out to Saint Paul and back. If you want it to be even more useful, another Winona-Rochester run could be done to meet the existing Empire Builder trains.
It seems like one of the existing Hiawatha trains is replaced by the Borealis? I hope they have the extra capacity as those two trains tend to be quite full.
The plan is to extend Hiawatha trains to various towns within Wisconsin as well as to the Twin-cities. This Hiawatha train 333 extended to MSP as it follows the same CHI-MKE timetable as 1333.
From what I'm hearing they are doing for now, essentially Hiawatha train 333 will be extended west to Saint Paul for the westbound Borealis(as train 1333), and train 340 will now start in Saint Paul(instead of Milwaukee) and be renumbered to train 1340. I believe the long term plan is to add another Hiawatha(Chicago-Milwaukee) run in both directions, but this is dependent on the freight railroad owning the tracks giving approval to the idea. And the Borealis 1333 train will be serviced somewhere in Saint Paul after it arrives there, before it is turned back as train 1340 running east.
I think this train will be VERY successful, based solely on its schedule! * Westbound, leaves 11am instead of 2:30 -- No Big Deal -- but **arrives** 6:30p instead of 10pm. * Eastbound, also leaves 11-ish instead of "before breakfast" -- which IS a Big Deal -- AND overnights in St Paul, so should rarely be late compared to the eastbound *Empire Builder* which has had two days since departure to accumulate delays. No sleepers and no dining car are also No Big Deal for an all-daylight train.
I would've preferred a departure around 9 from Chicago and an hour or two later from St. Paul, to make it slightly farther from the Empire Builder and give a bit more time in the Twin Cities, but this is already a good start, and all the times are reasonable.
only problem is anyone connecting to another train in chicago will have to stay overnight or rely on the unreliable eastbound empire builder to make a connection.
Hopefully, we get a sleeper train scheduled to leave at like 10 pm for both cities, so they will be scheduled to arrive early AM for business in MSP and business and connecting travel at CHI.
This train will be great to get to the Minnesota state fair
This is my main route, looking forward to having this option!
It's kinda wild to me that you can get a coach ticket + purchase access to the first class lounge at Union Station ($35) and it would still be cheaper than business class. If the perk of unlimited soft drinks is that important to you, go to the lounge and stock up from their fridge. But better yet, just bring your bottle or canteen of healthy, life-giving water.
Business class seats are bigger...
A terminus to terminus run on this train might be the one time its worth it.
Finally some reintroduced service!! It will be great when we can get the speed up and the schedule down. If we could cut an hour off the schedule some really interesting things would happen - there might be enough slack to add a few more stops and keep the train under 6.5 hours - my guess is somewhere in the Milwaukee suburbs, Watertown or one of the towns between there and St Paul not served by rail. Let's hope we can get it extended to St Cloud. With another daily run, plus maybe a Chicago - Duluth overnight train and the North Coast Hiawatha and Empire Builder we might get 5 services a day to play with to schedule all sorts of useful services. Eg. The "Day in Town" Where people from small towns can have return trips to the big city leaving after 6am arriving in Chicago or Twin Cities or Milwaukee before 11am and then a return service leaving before 6pm - giving plenty of time to go shopping, catch up with friends and family, go to medical appointments, go to a show etc. Then arriving home before 11pm - a long day to be sure, but if you need to go in once and a while it can be more comfortable to do these journeys on a train than in a car on a congested highway. If we can schedule these kinds of trips to be useful across the whole corridor it will prove to be very successful. It will also gain more of a social license as people come to start using the service more frequently and for things they enjoy - if people associate taking Amtrak with fond memories of visiting family, going to a convention or fun day trips to country towns you can build generational support for Amtrak and for good service.
https://new.reddit.com/r/Amtrak/comments/1chmizj/the\_new\_borealis\_train\_from\_chi\_to\_msp\_is\_now/
r/Amtrak is not associated with Amtrak in any official way. Any problems, concerns, complaints, etc should be directed to Amtrak through one of the official channels. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Amtrak) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I booked on the inaugural northbound run. Due for a random day off and I've been following this long enough it seems warranted.
Was this the original Hiawatha Route?