NICK GOSNELL and ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Local leaders in Hutchinson and Amtrak officials celebrated the completion of a $3 million improvement of the Hutchinson train station with a ribbon cutting Friday afternoon. Marc Magliari with Amtrak said ridership has recovered well since the Southwest Chief got back to seven day a week service.
"One of the reasons Amtrak ridership has recovered to about 80% of normal is getting back to daily," Magliari said. "You can't get anything close to normal ridership if you're not running anything close to normal schedules. We're happy to say the Southwest Chief is daily. We have enough staff to run seven days here in this part of the country, but not everywhere can we say that. Between Chicago and New Orleans, we're running five days a week, between New York City and New Orleans. We hope to get those trains back up to daily by October."
Amtrak recently completed the renovation which includes a raised platform allowing for easier boarding, new lighting which was not available before and the building’s exterior has also been renovated. The improvements also include ADA parking and new curbing and fencing adjacent to the platform.
"The trains themselves here in Hutchinson aren't as big as they would normally be in a normal summer, because again, we're still trying to hire staff, to have enough staff to maintain the trains and to staff them themselves with the onboard service."
To date, Amtrak has completed 171 ADA station-related projects as part of the ADA Stations Program, including 20 additional stations meeting ADA compliance last fiscal year for $82 million.
They will continue their ribbon cutting tour Saturday in Dodge City with U.S. Senator Jerry Moran. Magliari said Friday that they can tell when gas prices go up, as more people at least look at taking the train.
"Whenever there's a big move in gasoline prices, three to four dollars, four to five dollars, five, oh my gosh, to six dollars, people start looking for alternatives. We don't have research that says this is why I bought a ticket, but what we do see is traffic on the website and inquiries to the 800 number. Whenever there's a pain point, like crossing from four to five dollars, people start saying wow, maybe there's another way to get from here to there. The good news is, in this part of Kansas there is. It's called Amtrak."
The Southwest Chief has daily service to and from Chicago and Los Angeles, via Kansas City and Albuquerque. About 4,000 Amtrak passengers use the Hutchinson train station each year.