WINTER PARK, Colo. — More than 19,200 skiers and snowboarders rode Amtrak’s Winter Park Express this winter, a 7% increase over the train’s 2018 season and an 8% increase over its inaugural season in 2017.
Officials with Amtrak and Winter Park Resort attributed the ridership increase to improved services aboard the train to and from Denver, including the addition of a lounge car, and a deep snowpack that kept skiers coming back weekend after weekend.
“With the train’s continual growth in ridership, it’s been gratifying to see the incredible popularity of this Colorado institution for visitors on the Front Range, throughout the country, and beyond,” says C.A. Lane, vice president of operations and assistant general manager for Winter Park. “Nowhere else in North America can you take a train from a major metropolitan city to the slopes of a world-class ski resort and we look forward to working with our good friends at Amtrak and the other railroads to continue to evolve this service for the future.”
The Winter Park Express began running in January 2017 and is a reincarnation of the Denver & Rio Grande Western’s Ski Train that operated until the 2000s.
More than 52,000 people have ridden the train since it returned in 2017.
Amtrak and Winter Park Resort were working under a three-year contract to operate the weekend ski train over Union Pacific’s Moffat Tunnel Subdivision. Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari tells Trains News Wire that the railroad and the ski area are expected to begin negotiations on a contract to continue the service in the coming months.
The Winter Park Express has been marketed as an alternative to driving on Interstate 70, the primary route to ski areas west of Denver, that is often packed with traffic every weekend.
“We’ve made it even easier and even more fun to do a day, a weekend or more in Winter Park,” says Amtrak Senior Director Rob Eaton.
Just goes to show that if you run trains where & when people want them, people will ride them!
Food service is good for this train.
Why not for long distance trains?
This was started before Mr. Anderson, and was still under a contract. We will see when they start negotiating on a new contract.
I guess there are exceptions to Amtrak’s “no special trains” dictum.