Spokane

Loan preserves Amtrak service in Spokane through summer
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John Stucke
Staff writer

Amtrak's deal with the federal government is expected to keep passenger rail service in Spokane through at least the end of summer.

With a $100 million loan from the Transportation Department, Amtrak has averted a Fourth of July weekend shutdown. Now Congress will be asked to consider a financial structure for Amtrak's long-term needs, the railway and government announced jointly last week.

The rail service lost $1.2 billion last year and officials openly talked of cutting back long-distance routes such as the Empire Builder, which stops in Spokane.

More recently, Amtrak darkened its outlook and said the entire rail system -- not just the long-distance routes -- would be shut down without some sort of interim financial package.

The route linking Chicago with Seattle and Portland provides the only passenger rail service to Spokane, which like many Western towns has a rich railroad tradition.

Last year, 36,713 passengers were destined to or from Spokane on the railroad. About the same number is expected this year, said Kathleen Cantillon, an Amtrak spokeswoman in Chicago.

The trains arrive and depart in the early morning hours from the downtown depot.

Amtrak was founded in 1971, and employs 496 people in Washington state. Many of those work in the rail service's large maintenance yard in Seattle. Amtrak pays wages of about $22 million each year in Washington.

Across the country, Amtrak has about 24,000 workers and more than 500 destinations. Only South Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska and Hawaii aren't served by Amtrak.

The route through Spokane is among Amtrak's longest.

It travels through North Idaho to Whitefish, Mont., a popular destination for Glacier National Park visitors and skiers of The Big Mountain.

From there it travels through the northern tier of Montana, across North Dakota and into St. Paul, Minn., before moving on to Chicago.

Earlier this year, Amtrak said it may cut routes such as the Empire Builder, named in honor of railroad magnate James J. Hill, whose Great Northern Railway brought Easterners to the grand lodges in Glacier.

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