Amtrak announces detour in North Dakota for summer

Posted: Saturday, May 10, 2014 8:00 pm

Amtrak announces detour in North Dakota for summer

Amtrak has agreed to a request by BNSF Railway to temporarily detour the westbound Empire Builder (train 7/27) in North Dakota to speed the improvement of BNSF infrastructure between Fargo and Minot, N.D. Chartered buses will cover the missed Amtrak stations in Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby through Sept. 30.

The use of an alternate route for the westbound Empire Builder will enable BNSF to accomplish work in shorter time. The eastbound Empire Builder (Train 8/28) will operate normally and serve all scheduled stops. A Passenger Service Notice is attached.

Amtrak has been notifying affected passengers and public officials. In addition, Amtrak president and CEO Joe Boardman visited the affected region this week and the lengthy delays the Empire Builder was a major topic in meetings with leaders in each of these North Dakota communities.

Local community and business leaders prize the Empire Builder and see Amtrak service as an important public transportation link, DJ Stadtler, Amtrak vice president of operations, said. BNSF needs to speed repairs and upgrades in order to return the Empire Builder to its previous reliability as fast as possible. We fully expect this work to be done by the end of September at the latest.

BNSF has announced it is investing approximately $400 million in North Dakota to expand, replace and maintain its infrastructure, and for the implementation of Positive Train Control

This includes three siding projects between Grand Forks and Minot and four siding projects between Fargo and Grand Forks. Other work along the route involves installation of new turnouts, high speed surfacing/shoulder ballast cleaning, replacement of ties, rail relay and signal upgrades.

We are committed to investing in our infrastructure to support the regions growing economy and to better serve all of our freight customers and Amtraks passenger service, DJ Mitchell, AVP passenger operations, BNSF Railway, said. This plan will allow the work to occur more efficiently and will benefit everyone.

Posted in News on Saturday, May 10, 2014 8:00 pm.

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Amtrak announces detour in North Dakota for summer