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Empire Builder moved to a more southerly route?

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[quote user="arbfbe"] cordon,The ONLY people advocating moving the EB south are some of the folks on this thread.  The citizens involved in the Congressional town meetings want to do what you last paragraph proposed, try a train on the southern line through the state and see if it is viable.  They understand how important the EB is to the residents already served by existing trains.[/quote]arbfbe,To be fair, it's really only myself who is advocating an outright move of the EB down through the more populous areas of Montana.  You can call me out by name, I'm fine with the critisism.The point I'm trying to make is that Amtrak is under a mandate to improve it's cost/revenue ratio to at least approach the break even point if at all possible.  The EB is the best performing.........er, I mean the least wasteful of taxpayer dollars.......and is doing so plying through relatively unpopulated territory during daylight (read - normal boarding) hours.  My hypothesis is that by moving the EB through the more populous portions of Montana might, just might, result in the EB achieving what everyone assumes is an impossibility in the US, namely running a passenger train service that covers all it's operating costs.Eliminating the split in Spokane would also aid in approaching this milestone.  It is not needed, and it is costing a whole separate crew to maintain for a handful of patrons.  Keep the train intact to the westside, then let the Amtrak I-5 service take up the slack.I think when push comes to shove, most others will also see it this way.  It's logical, reasonable, and begs an implementation on a trial basis.God forbid if logic and reason enter the Amtrak mindset, huh?!
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