where in kansas city can I find a passenger train that travels to Colorado or Chicago?

Question

I have a friend who's never traveled outside of KC in 20 years & is looking to do so after the end of the year..... Chicago & Denver are good choices but I am open to any suggestions.

Answer 1

Chicago is a more direct trip than Denver by train with several daily departures with the fastest choice being the "Southwest Chief" which leaves KC daily at about 7AM for a travel time to Chicago of under 6 hours. The alternate departures require traveling through St. Louis enroute. Another great travel option for the KC area is the Megabus system which has low cost express bus service between KC & Chicago. Good luck! I'll list links to these services below. If Denver was the choice the only ground transportation provided is Greyhound with less than decent service.

Answer 2

Several reasons: Money is #1. Ever since Amtrak was formed, way back in 1971, it has been supported mostly by Demcrats, and attacked by Republicans who think of it as a huge waste of taxpayers dollars. Right now, with the House, Senate and White House in solid Republican control, it is virtually impossible to get new funding for Amtrak, so the system is just dying a slow death. The nation's railroads were losing tons of money on pax trains since the end of WW2, and after the failed Penn Central merger in 1968-69, the US gov't stepped in to take away passenger trains from the RRs by creating Amtrak to buy out all the equipment and employees from those RRs. The most important trains were in the Northeast Corridor betw Boston and Washington, DC; and to/from Chicago. Every other route was lower priority - and today, most of the states are subsidizing long-distance trains because the federal gov't is not paying enough. I don't know if there were any passenger trains running in 1970-71 between KC and points south, but it is not likely there were many, and those that existed probably had low passenger loads. Political will is #2. If the US wanted to have a world-class train service to rival those in Japan or Europe, the investment needed would exceed $50 billon - and probably closer to $100 billion -- and that kind of taxpayer cash is just not lying. There is not enough political benefit to re-build the US passenger rail system - the unions are not strong enough and the railroads would see an expansion of Amtrak as an a serious impact on their freight operations. #3 Train travel is extremely slow. Except for high-speed rail, standard rail travel requires only the most patient type of person. Though trains can hit 80 mph is certain sections, most trains average less than half of that, due to bad track, or delays due to freight trains and track maintenance. Check the article in the source for how one of Amtrak's premier trains, the Coast Starlight, is now routinely 8 or more hours late, off its published schedule. Wish I had better news.

Answer 3

Chicago or St. Louis is probably best, although train travel can be really, really slow. You can drive to St. Louis in about 4h, but it takes 5h 40m by train. However, looking at it online I see it's super cheap ($25). Check out your options:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/HomePage

Answer 4

See amtrak website below. you might find it is best to call them. i always find the website kind of difficult to use. If you call, they can help you plan a route and schedule. either of tose cities would be a great destination. They both have great museums and things to do.

Answer 5

Amtrak...I know they go to Chicago but don't know if they go to Denver...I would imagine they would though.

Answer 6

Amtrak departs for behind union station...not sure of what destinations they offer