Again the twice daily service was preserved, but at less convenient hours. October 1, 1979 saw the Empire Builder cut to three days per week and the NCH eliminated. The tri-weekly Builder and the daily Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers overnight Northstar provided twice (WisARP) daily service only three days per week. This situation prevailed until TCMC TRAIN UPDATE September 22, 2019 October 24, 1981 when the Empire Builder went back to daily service By Terry Brown, WisARP Vice President- Communications
[email protected] and became the only train running between the Twin Cities and Chicago. We are approaching four TWICE DAILY SERVICE? decades later now. Is there a real Once Upon a Time Twice Daily MSP to CHI Existed chance of restoring two daily trains between the Twin Cities and By Mark Weitenbeck Chicago? Before Amtrak, going back to 1950, three railroads vied for Mark Weitenbeck compiled this passenger business on trips between St. Paul, MN and Chicago: The information using Bruce Goldberg's Milwaukee Road, The Chicago & NorthWestern and the Burlington. Two of Amtrak: The First Decade. He also used www.timetables.org for the later 1981 these routes went through Milwaukee. None went through Madison on data. That site has copies of all Amtrak the way to the Twin Cities. national timetables. When Amtrak began on May 1, 1971, it had only the daily Empire Builder serving the Chicago-Twin Cities corridor. A little more than a What is the TCMC train? month later, on June 5, 1971, at the insistence of Senator Mike Mansfield The acronym is derived from the of Montana, Amtrak started the North Coast Hiawatha (NCH).