Passenger Trains > Amtrak to test late night Saturday Hiawatha service

Amtrak is going to add a late evening Saturday departure from Chicago and Milwaukee. From an Amtrak press release:

"The attached “fall-holiday schedule”shows the addition of Train 343, departing from Chicago at 11:10 p.m., and Train 344, departing
from Milwaukee at 10:40 p.m."

I would guess this will have good ridership. Both cities have plenty to do that takes you into that timeframe. Metra's evening Saturday service seems to be plenty full on many trains/routes I've ridden, and personally I've wished they had higher frequency in those hours. I would also wonder if they could do this later departure on Fridays as well.

Attached is a picture of a Hiawatha train last week doing something unusual - making a stop at Lake Forest, IL, to let off a passenger. (It isn't a scheduled stop.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/15 20:28 by inCHI.

---

And extend the train all the way to Minneapolis-St. Paul with a sleeper!

They've done this before for big events in Chicago, and the southbound Milwaukee train appears to balance the equipment pool.  Good to see it's being done for an extended period.  Nice service enhancement.

Once upon a time, when Amtrak still ran the North Star from Chicago to Duluth/Superior, it's daily 10:30PM departure from Chicago worked well for me arriving on the Cardinal when it was on a 12hr different schedule than today (9:30 PM departure from WAS, IIRC)  I think I used it a couple of times when other LD trains to Chicago arrived much later than expected as well.  I'd arrive in Milwaukee at Midnight, and be good to go to work the next morning.

Maybe they'll think about restoring the North Star someday.  I did a couple overnights MKE-MSP as well.  Work all day in MSP, and take the train back to MKE.