The westbound Southwest Chief passes through Brookfield, Ill., on May 15, 2019. Chief service is temporarily suspended in Kansas because of a BNSF route closure.
TRAINS: David Lassen
KANSAS City, Mo. — Amtrak has temporarily suspended service on its Missouri River Runner between Kansas City and St. Louis, and on the Southwest Chief between Kansas City and Hutchinson, Kan.
The suspensions are in effect through Thursday, May 23.
The Missouri River Runner service has been suspended because of increased freight traffic caused by diversion of Union Pacific traffic. The Southwest Chief suspension reflects a temporary track closure on the train’s BNSF Railway route. Chartered buses will substitute for rail service on both routes during the suspension.
Amtrak’s bus connection to the Chief between Newton, Kan., and Oklahoma City is also suspended.
Check the Amtrak website or smartphone apps for train status or more information.
I was on one of last trains on St Pat’s Day before they closed down that time. a bunch of UP freights were passing us, we figured they were moving to get out of way before floods took over We returned from Golden Spike celebration 2 weeks ago and my friend had to take RR back to Lee’s Summit, good thing it was still running ok at that time. We did ride CZ part of the way into CO to pick up rental car and at Burlington, IA we moved thru a BNSF yard area that was all under water, our track was ok but water was right there on next track. BNSF plays nicer than UP does with Amtrak. But I’m partial too, as BNSF runs on some tracks and bridges Frisco built and they have kept Lindenwood Yard where Dad worked open and I can still see trains moving around. Different colors and name but still trains.
AMTRAK: America’s Pretend Passenger Railroad!
The next Amtrak announcement will be when routes using the MacArthur Bridge in St Louis switch to bus during its closure to rebuild a span on the Missouri side.
https://www.thefreightway.com/trra-awarded-7-1-million-for-macarthur-bridge-improvements/
another step to discontinue the southwest chief?
The McKinley Bridge was closed to rail and auto traffic in 2001 and reopened in 2007 for pedestrians, bicycles, and auto traffic only The pedestrian trail follows the path of the former IT rail line.
Regarding the temporary halt of the MO. River Runner, flooding has closed some of UP’s freight routes, causing it to route the traffic on to this route, which was pretty full to begin with. I live on that route and have seen the parade of trains rolling through.
If I am reading Amtrak’s current notice (3p today) on their website correctly, SW Chief as well as Newton – OKC bus service are being resumed effective today.
John: Why can’t Amtrak use the Merchants Bridge, like it does sometimes anyway? I guess that will be a lot of traffic funneled over it, but possibly the “Texas Eagle” could at least continue to use it while the Chicago-St. Louis corridor trains could use bus substitution across the river (on an as-needed basis?). And, what about the McKinley Bridge, is it still serviceable for rail?