TransitTyrant
Service Attendant
The name comes from the advocacy group that pushed hard for the service, the Great River Rail Commission. Personally I don’t mind the name and frankly calling it the “400” makes no sense. The CNW train was gone before the idea of Amtrak and the only historical name that would fit would be the Twin Cities Hiawatha.Great River (train) - Wikipedia
Looks the train has a new name: Great River
I do not like it. Doesn't even spend a third of its route along the Mississippi. Should call it the '400', except for the fact that our modern Amtrak can't manage to get this train to run on a 400 minute schedule like Amtrak's predecessors were able to do. Twin Cities Hiawatha would be a good name.
There have been articles in local papers in the last week saying that the train is supposed to start up by the end of 2023.
This is going to take the place of Hiawatha 333 and 340. Unfortunately for train 340, which currently departs Milwaukee at 5:45 PM every day, pretty much always on time since it is the origin, it will now be much more unpredictable since the train will have had 6 hours to find a way to become late on its way from St. Paul. Amtrak trains are more likely than not to find a way to be late.
I’ve heard from an acquaintance who attended a meeting that Amtrak expects the service to start mid to late summer, that’s where the confirmation of the Great River name comes from. I’ll try and track down confirmation but everything is still up in the air obviously. Although the train 340 issue might be worrisome remember that WisDOT plans to add the 8th Hiawatha in 2024. RT 9-10 will be delayed until a rework of the Muskego Yard bypass is designed.