Hot take: Amtrak should stop running through smaller towns at night

I read that ridership on the Empire Builder dropped 30% on the western Montana stretch last year. But cancelling those stops would screw over people who rely on it. What do you think, keep the night runs or cut em?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sandra17d ago

Wait, have you looked at the actual times those trains pass through places like Glasgow or Malta? I took the Builder out of Chicago to Seattle last spring and we stopped in Wolf Point, Montana at like 2 AM. The station was empty, nobody got on, nobody got off. It felt like a waste of time and fuel honestly. I get that people rely on those stops, but maybe Amtrak could just run those sections during the day instead of keeping this weird schedule that makes nobody happy.

nora1846d ago

Right, because nothing says "efficient rail travel" like pulling over to let tumbleweeds board at 2 AM. I half expect the conductor to announce "Now arriving at Nowhere, Montana with a scheduled stop for absolutely nothing." Maybe the whole point is to give passengers a chance experience the town's vibrant nightlife of a flickering gas station and a coyote eating garbage. If Amtrak is really that committed to serving these stops, they could at least time them for when people might actually want to get on or off, not in the dead of night.

william81617d ago

Rode the Empire Builder from Spokane to Whitefish a few years back and a guy in the sleeper car spent the whole night arguing with the conductor about why we needed to stop in Libby at 3 AM.