CHICAGO — Amtrak will restore a second day round trip of the Missouri River Runner between St. Louis and Kansas City as of Monday, July 18, reflecting additional funding by the state of Missouri.
The additional round trip will see train No. 311 depart St. Louis at 8:15 a.m. and arrive in Kansas City at 2:20 p.m., with train No. 316 departing Kansas City at 4 p.m. and arriving in St. Louis at 9:40 p.m.
This joins an existing round trip of trains which continue to or from Chicago — No. 318, which departs Kansas City at 8:40 a.m. and arrives in St. Louis at 2:20 p.m., and No. 319, which departs St. Louis at 3:05 p.m. and arrives in Kansas City at 8:45 p.m.
Service was cut to just one daily trip as of Jan. 3, 2022, when federal coronavirus funding ended. It had covered the state’s failure to provide sufficient funding for two round trips in the fiscal 2022 budget, which left the service facing a $2.5 million shortfall [see “ ‘Missouri River Runner’ service cut …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 3, 2021].
Missouri’s fiscal 2022 budget had allotted $10.85 million for Amtrak service; the budget for fiscal 2023 includes $13.25 million for “daily rail passenger service … provided the Department [of Transportation] operate the service without incurring any further arrears or otherwise commit itself or the state to any form of debt payments to operate the service.”
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