Empire Builder - Former Stops

Former Stops

In 1970, the flooding of Lake Koocanusa necessitated the realignment of 60 miles of track and the construction of Flathead Tunnel forcing the Empire Builder to drop service to Eureka, Montana. The Empire Builder also served Troy, Montana until February 15, 1973. On October 1, 1979 Amtrak moved the Empire Builder to operate over the North Coast Hiawatha's old route between Minneapolis and Fargo, North Dakota. With this alignment change, the Empire Builder dropped Willmar, Minnesota, Morris, Minnesota and Breckenridge, Minnesota, while adding St. Cloud, Minnesota, Staples, Minnesota and Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Another alignment change came on October 25, 1981, when the Seattle section moved from the old Northern Pacific(which had also become part of the BN Railroad in 1970) to the Burlington Northern Railroad's line through the Cascade Tunnel over Stevens Pass. This change eliminated service to Yakima, Washington, Ellensburg, Washington and Auburn, Washington. This change also marked the inauguration of the Portland section of the Builder, which returned service to the former Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad (it, too, became part of the BN system in 1970) line along the Washington side of the Columbia River to Portland. The route kept Pasco, but added Wishram, Bingen-White Salmon, and Vancouver (all in Washington)to the route. From Vancouver, the Builder followed the same route as the Coast Starlight and Cascades trains to Portland Union Station.

It is proposed that the Empire Builder, along with the Hiawatha Service, would shift one stop north to North Glenview in Glenview, Illinois. This move would eliminate lengthy stops which block traffic on Glenview Road. This move would involve reconstruction of the North Glenview station to handle the additional traffic, and depends on commitments from Glenview, the Illinois General Assembly and Metra. In Minnesota, the Builder is expected to return to Saint Paul Union Depot in 2012, 41 years after it last served the station the day before the formation of Amtrak.