By Alfred Runte, National Parks Traveler; August 8, 2018
Editor’s note: National parks historian Alfred Runte has over the years closely watched how Congress has managed and funded Amtrak. Although funding for Fiscal Year 2019 is halfway to being assured — the Senate has approved $50 million for the railroad, but the House of Representatives has yet to take up the measure — he reminds us that only weeks ago Amtrak’s board approved the scenario here. A stay of execution for the Southwest Chief aside, Dr. Runte continues to lobby for the trains Americans deserve—and notes how to make that possible.
Anticipated by fall, planned cutbacks approved by the Amtrak board would truncate the Southwest Chief.
Imagine you’re a European travel agent with a client who wants to visit Grand Canyon National Park. She would prefer to take the train. At your local library you find a copy of Trains of Discovery: Railroads and the Legacy of Our National Parks, and start making plans from there. A few pages in, you learn that America’s railroads were instrumental in establishing the national parks—and the National Park Service. And yes, a train to Grand Canyon is available. It’s called the Southwest Chief.
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