North Coast Hiawatha - Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA)

Most who go there aren't just going "to Yellowstone" --- they're taking the Great American Road Trip which involves seeing everything between their homes and northwest Wyoming.

Today, there are numerous daily flights into Bozeman or Billings from every major airline hub in America. But 40 years ago, that wasn't the case. If you wanted to go to Yellowstone, the Great American Road Trip was the only way to get there. There weren't any other options.

Today, a round-trip road trip from Minneapolis to Yellowstone requires about $350 in gas and at least 2 nights in motels somewhere in the scenic Dakotas (or 2 exhausting days of driving). Alternatively, a family could fly into BZN and rent a car for $150-200 per day, depending on how many people you have to carry. I haven't a clue about how much investment would be needed to launch a Yellowstone Auto Train, but I would like to study options other than exhausting or expensive.

You can't see or experience Yellowstone or the Tetons in less than 7 days... Autotrain might be cheaper than a 7 day rental, but it's not going to be cheaper than driving by a wide margin.

I've driven Chicago to Cody, WY with a single overnight, and that was at 62mph in a motorhome pulling a minivan... 600 a day miles works out to 12 hours with only fuel stops. Not what I'd call exhausting, but I know some people struggle to do 6- 8 hours in a car.

It's an hour longer than driving Chicago to Orlando, which tens of thousands of families from the Upper Midwest do each year, many in a straight shot without overnighting...

If Amtrak were going to add another Autotrain, it's not going to be to Billings or Bozeman. It's going to be NJ or CHI to Florida.



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Long before A-Day, the Class I roads understood that good destinations beget business. Hence, they connected to the parks.

Sadly, Amtrak has never understood that simple fact.

They did... and it was a 90-120 day service because of the snow. Roads aren't fully clear until late April and some close in October.



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