Amtrak may bring back Pioneer Route

Amtrak may bring back Pioneer Route

[@markrobinowitz8473]

Several years ago (a decade?) I read that EVERY town along the route had endorsed resumption of this service. Liberal towns and conservative towns. Even towns that will be stuck with the train arriving in the middle of the night. Also, the 1971 law that created Amtrak requires the freight rail companies to give Amtrak priority, that was a deal made for allowing those companies to abandon passenger service. Rarely enforced, unfortunately. Some of these communities, especially in eastern Oregon, have harsh winters that make driving dangerous and Amtrak would be a lifeline.

[@adventuresofamtrakcascades301]

I really hope it happens, and I wish Amtrak the best of luck

[@johnniesmith3041]

This is a great idea, I would love to see the route restored as well the old Gulf Coast line from Houston to New Orleans.

[@steve3ri]

I traveled on the Pioneer in the 80s from Seattle to Denver. By far, my favorite Amtrak experience. The scenery was beautiful. I still remember traveling along the Colombia River and then the Colorado River. If the Pioneer returns, I would love to do it again.

[@grizzfan08]

About how long of a trip was it?

[@steve3ri]

@@grizzfan08 It was around 34 hours.

[@grizzfan08]

@@steve3ri That doesn't sound too bad at all. Of course it also depends on the time schedule.

[@steve3ri]

@@grizzfan08 , if memory serves me we left early in the morning, and arrived dinner time the next evening.

[@grizzfan08]

Seattle, Portland, Boise, and Salt Lake City are university towns, so this would help the students immensely and even save them money when returning home for the holidays.

[@darthmaul216]

Seattle? Yeah we have a university but I wouldn’t call it a university town. Spokane is more of a university town

[@grizzfan08]

@@darthmaul216 How about Seattle being more of a military/port-of-call town. You know it's true.

[@Brianrockrailfan]

that would be so Awesome if Amtrak does :)

[@borissavinkov440]

I hope Amtrak keeps expanding. A train is the most environmentally clean way to haul passengers. And it uses much less fuel than an airplane carrying an equivalent number of passengers. Critics want to defund Amtrak because it requires government subsidies. But federal, state and local governments subsidize highways, airports, and transit systems, very few of which turn a profit. The big challenge in the future will be to get Amtrak off privately owned tracks that give right of way to freight traffic. The only solution is to build dedicated passenger tracks with electrically powered locomotives. European and Asian cities have had them for years. Why are we so far behind?

[@sunandsage]

... and the train is the most comfortable way to travel. Stretching your legs, pit stops and even eating can be done without stopping the trip.

[@sunandsage]

I know I'm a little late commenting on this but I really hope they do this.

[@KYLOWW]

This would be awesome

[@samueljohnson4259]

The Pioneer shouldn’t terminate in Denver, but operate to Houston via Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, Fort Worth, and Dallas.

[@vl8835]

THere should be a route between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. And it should stop by some of the national parks.

[@checkyoursix5623]

There used to be one - it was discontinued in 1997, over 20 years ago, about the same time they pickled the Pioneer - the Desert Wind ran though Las Vegas from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, and on to Chicago. Bring that one back, too !!

[@starburst22]

I want to take a train to LA

[@jackjules7552]

Back in the 1960's Union Pacific used to run three passenger trains daily in each direction between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City and on to points East including Chicago.

[@grizzfan08]

@@checkyoursix5623 I can definitely see this Amtrak line come back, especially with the amount of traffic between LA and Vegas on any given weekend. But instead of having the Desert Wind go all the way to Chicago, maybe have it terminate in Salt Lake City so that it can meet up with the CA Zephyr there.

[@sunandsage]

@@grizzfan08 Brightline is building High-Speed Rail between LA and Las Vegas.

[@YukariAkiyamaTanks]

Maybe if the Pioneer comes back then maybe we can get back the Desert Wind, Northcoast Hiawatha, Floridian, or even the Montrealer

[@dsarmy1]

I like this idea but I also would like SLC to Las Vegas.

[@nicholaslash8760]

Vegas needs amtrak

[@KYLOWW]

For sure yes they need it.

[@Perich29]

Brightline west will take care of that Vegas to California route beginning of next year.

[@markrobinowitz8473]

Vegas needs water. It may be the first large city in the country abandoned due to drought.

[@nicholaslash8760]

That is some false ish right there. All those small towns in southern utah would go bye bye long before vegas bro..

[@markrobinowitz8473]

@@nicholaslash8760 There are a couple small towns in California that might run out of municipal water this year, but they are small and won't be noticed by the rest of the country. The water source for Las Vegas is more critical and its demise will be much more noticed. Future ghost town.

[@PrincessOPD_Utah]

We need more transportation.

[@PrincessOPD_Utah]

@Egon Pax absolutely. I like you ✌️👍😀

[@ronclark9724]

What is so wrong with flying? Even in small rural airports one can charter a small airplane...

[@judycorbridge6470]

Cool

[@roachtoasties]

You guys are dreaming if you expect those new Acela trains your report showed over and over, for this route. That isn't going to happen. This isn't Europe or Japan. If the route is reinstated, it will have ancient trains to go with it. :/

[@checkyoursix5623]

Whomever decided on the film clips to illustrate the story doesn't know the difference between an Acela and a deep dish apple pie. They think, "hey, it's a train. run it".

[@VieleGuteFahrer]

These will run on the Northeast Corridor, not Europe or Japan lol.

[@Perich29]

Yes bring back that Pioneer route no it won't be the bullet train that your seeing, it will probably be the super liner pull by two diesel locomotive traveling up to 79mph.

[@anthonypellico2235]

Nothing wrong with that. I want a scenic train ride through the gorge.

[@checkyoursix5623]

Great !! It would make a terrific journey from Chicago to Portland, OR, without having to choose between two less desirable choices - the Empire Builder (not the worst choice), and the California Zephyr with a transfer to the Coast Starlight in California.

[@ronclark9724]

Flying is usually cheaper and quicker... Hours instead of days... There IS a reason why the USPS terminated the railroads mail contracts more than 50 years ago...

[@petethetraveler]

Oh come on, this route is never going to be restored. As much as I would love to see this route operational, Amtrak has no desire to create another long distance route, which are money losers to Amtrak. All Amtrak wants now are a few couple hour routes in the Northeast. Amtrak does not care about us, the people in the Western, rural states, all they want is to please congress so they can get more money, to put into their pockets. If anything, we should be trying to save the long distance routes still operational, before they end up like the Pioneer, history.

[@am8115]

The total cost doesn't seem that high

[@ruinedsoup9337]

How about some high speed rail. You know like the rest of the world has.

[@ES-hr6vg]

We’re trying in California but right wingers are determined to ahem, derail it.

[@MrPolandball]

@@ES-hr6vg you mean liberal politicians that embezzled the funds which were supposed to go for the rail?

[@ES-hr6vg]

@@MrPolandball whatever you say Q. Honesty is determined by your political preference.

[@sch_ilis9928]

honesty is determined by you. You can be a lying Democrat or Republican. It doesn't matter what you are, we all have lied at some point.

[@ES-hr6vg]

@@sch_ilis9928 ya think?

[@nodfexxover7877]

Guess what? These trains will never run!!

[@dvferyance]

The route they should bring back is the Floridian.

[@josephunderwearssmith6960]

Utah = corona mormoon pioneer amtrack

[@happyraccoon4791]

In c.1847 there were Mormon roads and American roads. Mormons used their own roads because they couldn't even walk down the road without starting fights and wars. They secreted themselves along the roads, like at Mountain Meadows Massacre. For every Mormon pioneer there about 200 non Mormon pioneers

[@hugodunsany5576]

All aboard for Mormonistan!

[@dennissavage5069]

Boondoggle

[@darthmaul216]

Lol. Ok sheep

[@patriot8087]

If Amtrak won't pay for it's self it needs to go.

[@nicholaslash8760]

lol.. yeah if it isnt willing to pay its share time to kick it out the house

[@markrobinowitz8473]

Meanwhile airports and highways require gargantuan subsidies ...

[@sch_ilis9928]

@Mark Robinowitz yeah u right.

[@samueljohnson4259]

For goodness sake. Airports and highways can’t pay for themselves either.

[@ronclark9724]

The real truth rail advocates fail to comprehend, is that less than 2 percent of Americans have ever rode a Amtrak regional or long distance train while some 80 percent of Americans have flown at least once, and that 100 percent have used a highway one way or another: driving, biking, walking, or riding... Frankly considering these facts, Amtrak gets too much of the transportation budget...

[@jesdrt]

Failed train system that's outdated and just spends more money ...

[@darthmaul216]

Not even close bud

[@JennyKate33]

Amtrak is terrible. They are not like European train travel at all. Amtrak pulls over for every time freight train that use the same tracks. I went on Amtrak and my train was pulled over for 18 hours without electricity or water while freight trains went by. They had to get McDonald's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 3 miles away and we were not able to flush the toilets.

[@sch_ilis9928]

It's better than nothing tho

[@samueljohnson4259]

Sorry about your experience. I rode the Capitol Limited the whole way last week. and we were delayed three hours after a tree clipping caused the headlights to fail on our lead unit. The next morning, we were still running three and a half hours behind, but the freight dispatcher ordered a freight train ahead of us traveling the same direction as us to pull over and let us pass it and then ordered a freight train traveling the opposite direction to stop to let us pass it. We passed 20-25 freight trains the whole way and we only had to stop for two. Bottom line is it seems like the host railroads are starting to take Amtrak’s preference rights more seriously.

[@PGHammer21A]

European passenger rail is like European air travel - government-owned and subsidized. Even Thalys - the one European passenger rail carrier that was NOT government-owned - was forced to go to the French, German, and Swiss governments for money due to Covid-19. (European rail travel is a shining star compared to intra-European AIR travel - which is worse than even AMTRAK - according to the European travel reviewers, such as Paul Lucas and Simply Railway). On the other hand, US interstate air travel is largely unsubsidized -and is far LESS expensive, and far more comfortable than intra-European air travel, which is government subsidized. Then there is something that was the case in Europe and Japan - which was NOT the case in the US - both rail networks were rebuilt due to being bombed nearly to dustbunnies during World War II. That is also why the US rail network - and especially the Northeast Corridor - is in such poor condition; even the NEC largely predates World War I in major areas. Why is US infrastrusture - not alone RAIL infrastructure - in such rotten shape? Because we HATE spending on it!

[@ronclark9724]

Well, the dispatchers know who puts butter on their bread, and it isn't Amtrak...

[@bentrider]

More and bigger waste of our tax dollars!

[@travelsofmunch1476]

Transportation is an investment, $2 Trillion in Afghanistan is a waste

[@justsamoo3480]

Afghanistan cost US 3 trillion dollars, maybe don’t spend money on war, how about that? Also you know that regional Airports don’t make much money? If you can give money to Delta, you can give money to Amtrak.

[@darthmaul216]

This would be great