JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Amtrak, the Missouri Department of Transportation and Union Pacific are celebrating the restoration of regular twice-daily round-trip trains on the St. Louis-Kansas City Missouri Mules route.
“The interrupted service has been frustrating for several months for passengers,” said Missouri State Senate President Pro Tem Michael R. Gibbons. “We can all be thankful for the return of safer and smoother full service in time for the holiday season.”
The celebration marks a $32 million rehabilitation of the 283-mile route, which is primarily owned by UP.
Nearly 70 miles of track has been improved to make rail service more reliable and smoother. The track work, which began April 1 and ended last week, resulted in lengthened travel times and the substitution of chartered motor coaches for all or parts of many of the trains.
The end of the 2006 track work project also means the reintroduction of regular schedules for all four trains on the route, two westbound and two eastbound, including Trains 313 & 314.
– Special to Railfanning.org News Wire
