(The following article by Darrel Koehler was posted on the Grand Forks Herald website on August 10.)
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Amtrak passengers traveling on the Empire Builder trains through Grand Forks later this month will enjoy renovated rail cars and new on-board services and amenities.
Once the pride and joy of the former Great Northern Railway when the then dome-car equipped train was referred to as “the incomparable Empire Builder,” it badly needed a facelift. The route travels over 2,200 miles, covering eight states, between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest, making it the longest route in the Amtrak schedule.
Amtrak officials in Chicago say the quasi-governmental agency, which has operated most inter-city passenger trains since May 1971, expects to complete renovations on five sets of trains that operate on the route by Aug. 21. The same equipment also is used on the Chicago-New Orleans “City of New Orleans” route.
Officials report first-class sleeping cars are being redecorated and will have updated bedrooms and redesigned showers. The interiors of the double-deck coaches, dining and lounge cars also are being refurbished for the first time since they went into service more than 20 years ago.
The Builder already offers feature movies, games and hospitality hours, but there are plans to expand those amenities as well. The Builder, along with other western long-distance trains, offers a trails and rails program, a cooperative effort with the National Park Service, in which volunteers provide commentary aboard trains on weekends and holidays. There also are plans to bring a more regional flavor to dining car menus.
The move is hoped to increase patronage and revenues on the daily trains, whose North Dakota stops include Fargo, Grand Forks, Devils Lake, Rugby, Minot, Stanley and Williston. Long-distance passenger trains have come under fire by some as being wasteful, little-used, money losers. The White House zeroed out Amtrak’s budget; Congress is attempting to restore funding to $1.2 billion. Amtrak is seeking $1.8 billion for the coming fiscal year.
The Builder is the last rail passenger service between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest. Prior to Amtrak, three railroads, Milwaukee Road, Northern Pacific and GN offered seven passenger trains daily each way for a total of 14 daily trains. Milwaukee Road ceased service in 1961. Burlington Northern, which inherited GN and NP’s four trains each way service in 1970, operated them until the Amtrak take-over a little more than a year later. Amtrak chose to retain only the Builder, citing a lack of good highways, bus and air service on the northern route.
For less than a decade beginning in June 1971, passenger service in the form of the North Coast Hiawatha served communities along the old NP route in southern North Dakota and Montana before it was taken off in October 1979, leaving only the Builder. The North Coast Hiawatha was reinstated on an experimental basis upon the insistence of former Montana Sen. Mike Mansfield.
The eastbound Builder stops in Grand Forks about 1 a.m. while the westbound train arrives about 5 a.m. For precise times and reservations, call Amtrak toll-free at (800) 872-7245 or go to www.amtrak.com. You also can contact local travel agencies.