WASHINGTON – The national railroad passenger system Amtrak has updated its maps for expanded service connecting Chicago and the Twin Cities. One route is for a Winona-St. Paul route via Rochester – in addition to the current direct route along the Mississippi River. Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesperson, called the maps “aspirational” to move dialogue along about new regional train service by the year 2035. Magliari said the maps are not prescriptive: “There are other ideas that others will have.” Amtrak’s maps are in a 64-page chapter in a larger document. The maps deal with routes — not frequency of service. There is no discussion, for example, about a campaign to double the trains on the Empire Builder’s current Mississippi route to two roundtrips a day. The map show, however, a second Wisconsin route to the Twin Cites via Eau Claire – a possible rival to more frequent Winona trains.
Bullet trains of yore
The new Amtrak study suggests 4 minute, 40 minute service between Chicago and tt. Paul, which harkens back to the Chicago & Northwestern’s crack trains, the 400s, in the 1930s. The 400s’ schedule via Eau Claire was 400 minutes. Soon the 400s were matched by the Milwaukees railroad’s almost equally rapid Zephyr service via Winona and the Burlington’s Zephyr service via Bluff Side across the river from Winona.