AMTRAK TO CUT 2 WESTERN ROUTES.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Amtrak Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corp., authorized to operate virtually all intercity passenger railroad routes in the United States. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 in response to more than two decades of continuous operating deficits by privately run will discontinue Desert Wind service from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , as well as Pioneer service from Denver to Seattle, on May 10. Amtrak announced Thursday that it will terminate the two money-losing routes in May, but it granted Texas and Massachusetts more time to craft financial packages to save two other routes. Facing major budget shortfalls and reduced federal subsidies, Amtrak had targeted four routes for termination in August. After congressional and local officials complained, Congress provided $22.5 million in stopgap funding to keep the routes running until May. With the disappearance of the Desert Wind and Pioneer, Amtrak will restore daily service to the full route of the California Zephyr The California Zephyr is a 2,438-mile (3,924-km) passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Western United States. It runs from Chicago, Illinois in the east to Emeryville, California in the west, passing through the states of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, from Chicago to San Francisco. It also will resume daily service to the full route of the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle via Minneapolis-St. Paul. |
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