NEWS




National Railroad Passenger Corporation
Amtrak Intercity
210 South Canal Street
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Fax: 312 655-2565


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE			                 Contact: 
February 23, 1996					                 Marc Magliari
ATK-96-32						                 312 655-1338
									

AMTRAK EMPIRE BUILDER TO OFFER SERVICE EVERY DAY IN MONTANA


	WHITEFISH, Mont. -- A schedule change to take effect in April will add service across Montana to Seattle/Portland or Minneapolis/Chicago on Amtrak's Empire Builder (trains #7 & 8).  On-time performance should also be enhanced, thanks to arrangements made with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.  

 	Under the new schedule, to take effect Apr. 14, the Amtrak Empire Builder  will depart from either Chicago or Seattle Saturday through Thursday and depart from both directions on Friday.   The outcome will be trains both ways to Whitefish and other Montana locations on Saturdays. 

	The schedule change will ease congestion on a single-track segment of the BNSF between Malta and Havre by scheduling the Empire Builder so the two trains are not in that area simultaneously.
	
	At a news conference and a series of meetings in Whitefish, local officials and Amtrak also announced the forthcoming installation of the an electric power facility on a railroad siding in Whitefish for the parking of up to eight Amtrak or private railroad cars hauled to Whitefish on the Empire Builder.

	A large share of the cost of the electric facility was donated by the local electric utility, Pacific Power.
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