The Empire Builder regains its title as the most-patronized Amtrak long distance train with 437,191 riders, eclipsing the Coast Starlight. The Empire Builder travels from Chicago to Seattle and back, giving you access to major cities, and some of America’s great wilderness all on the. But it also sounds like we’ll be taking the “over” on the over/under on when the Empire Builder will arrive. The Empire Builder from Chicago June 11 has Amtrak’s lone remaining dome car, an ex-GN Empire Builder full length car which was named Ocean View in the Great Northern version of the train. Empire Builder Route Overview The Amtrak Empire Builder will show you the best of the northern United States with incredible views of Puget Sound, Glacier National Park and the Mississippi River. It also said it plans to hire 5,000 new employees this year. It declined an interview request, but in an email exchange said it’s added 250 locomotives in the past two months and will buy another 125 to help move more cars.

In March, MPR News reporter Dan Gunderson wrote how farmers and elevators were fuming at costly grain train delays.īNSF blames delays on winter weather and significant increases in rail traffic hauling containers, trucks, coal and crude oil from the booming Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota. Oil deliveries are trumping foodstuffs right now, so forget Amtrak passengers. That dynamic won’t be changing anytime soon. The number of rail cars running oil has skyrocketed and North Dakota and the Bakken oil fields have accounted for the “vast majority of new rail crude oil originations,” according to the Association of American Railroads. Paul will add about 3 hours, and the trips out west will be listed for 90. Not good, but we pretty much know why: oil.Ĭrude rules the rails right now. Amtraks Empire Builder schedule changing to account for chronic freight delays Schedules from Seattle and Portland to St. The Post’s map shows the Empire Builder made it on time to its endpoint “only 21 percent of the time in the past year,” the worst of Amtrak’s interstate routes. The Washington Post put together a jarring look at the state of Amtrak’s on-time performance, which was apparently not great over the Fourth of July weekend. We just didn’t realize until today how bad it’s become. Geez, it showed up late on its second trip into St. We know the Empire Builder has a tough time being on time.

Empire builder timetable