Southwest Chief
The Southwest Chief (formerly the Southwest Limited and Super Chief) is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route through the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. It runs between Chicago and Los Angeles, passing through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Amtrak bills the route as one of its most scenic, with views of the Painted Desert and the Red Cliffs of Sedona, as well as the plains of Iowa, Kansas and Colorado. During fiscal year 2019, the "Southwest Chief" carried 338,180 passengers, an increase of 2.1% from FY 2018. The route grossed  in revenue during FY 2018, a 3.8% decrease from FY 2017. History. The "Southwest Chief" is the successor to the "Super Chief", which was inaugurated in 1936 as the flagship train of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. For most of its existence, it was "all-Pullman", carrying sleeping cars only. The Santa Fe merged the "Super Chief" with its all-coach counterpart, the "El Capitan", in 1958. The merged train was known as the "Super Chief/El Capitan", but retained the train numbers used by the "Super Chief", 17 westbound and 18 eastbound. Amtrak retained the "Super Chief /El Capitan" after taking over passenger rail service on May 1, 1971. During summer 1972, it was complimented by the "Chief", reviving the name of another notable Chicago–Los Angeles sleeper train operated by the Santa Fe. Amtrak truncated the name to just "Super Chief" in 1973 and, on March 7, 1974, renamed it "Southwest Limited" after Santa Fe forced Amtrak to discontinue using the "Chief" brand on its former trains because of a perceived decline in quality after the Amtrak takeover. After subsequent improvements, the Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to change the name to "Southwest Chief" on October 28 , 1984. Section::::"National Chief". Amtrak operated the "Southwest Chief" in conjunction with the "Capitol Limited", a daily Washington–Chicago train, in 1997 and 1998. The two trains used the same Superliner equipment sets, and passengers traveling on both trains could remain aboard during the layover in Chicago. Originally announced in 1996, Amtrak planned to call this through service "National Chief" and give it its own numbers (15/16), but the name and numbers were never used. Amtrak dropped the practice with the May 1998 timetable. Operations. Unique among all long-distance Superliner trains, the "Southwest Chief" is permitted to run up to  a maximum of along significant portions of the route because of automatic train stop installed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Given Amtrak's projected 41-hour travel time, the average speed is in excess of , including stops. During the spring and summer, Volunteer Rangers with the Trails and Rails program from the National Park Service travel on board and provide a narrative between La Junta, Colorado, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Starting in May 2013, Volunteer Rangers with Trails and Rails will also be on board, providing a narrative between Chicago and La Plata, Missouri. From June through  August, the "Southwest Chief" is used by Boy Scouts traveling to and from Philmont Scout Ranch via the Raton station. During those months, Raton station is staffed by Amtrak employees and handles checked baggage. This route was one of five studied for possible performance improvements by Amtrak in FY 2012. Kansas downgrade. No BNSF freight service is offered between La Junta, Colorado and Lamy, New Mexico, and the railroad informed Amtrak that all maintenance costs are to be paid by the passenger carrier if it wished to continue to use the route. BNSF also declared it will maintain trackage between  Hutchinson, Kansas, and La Junta, at a Class III (60 mph passenger train maximum) speed instead of Class IV (79 mph passenger train maximum). BNSF offered to host the "Southwest Chief" over its Southern Transcon via Wichita and Wellington, Kansas, Amarillo, Texas, and Clovis, New Mexico, once used by the "San Francisco Chief". Amtrak sought help from the states involved to retain existing service on the train's historic route. The states of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico have since contributed money toward rebuilding the tracks and keeping the "Chief" on its current routing. Much of the funding for the  rehabilitation projects has come from federal transportation grants. In 2018, the "Southwest Chief" became the focal point of a struggle to determine whether to continue Amtrak as a national network or to operate regional stand-alone networks. The issue was provoked by Amtrak introducing new requirements for the third renewal grant and raising previously undiscussed technical issues regarding the midsection of the route. A letter dated May 31, 2018, co-signed by 11 Senators condemned the action and urged providing the match. Former Amtrak President and CEO Joseph H. Boardman in an open letter stated, "The "Southwest Chief" issue is  the battleground whose outcome will determine the fate of American’s national interconnected rail passenger network." In June, Amtrak announced that it was considering the replacement of rail service along the Kansas portion of the "Southwest Chief" with Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach buses between Albuquerque and Dodge City, where train service east to Chicago would resume. Senators in the affected area succeeded in offering an amendment to a funding bill. Per a press release from the office of co-sponsor Senator Jerry Moran, "This amendment would provide resources for maintenance and safety improvements along the Southwest Chief route and would compel  Amtrak to fulfill its promise of matching funding for the successful TIGER IX discretionary grant ... In addition, this amendment would effectively reverse Amtrak’s decision to substitute rail service with bus service over large segments of the route through FY2019." Composition. A fourth Superliner coach may be added during peak travel periods. Usually a fourth coach is added and then removed in Kansas City, MO due to extra demand. The high speeds along the BNSF Marceline Subdivision allow for considerable travel times from Kansas City to Chicago. Sometimes, private cars or deadhead cars can be seen riding along, also. Route  changes. In 1979, the "Southwest Chief's" route between Kansas City and Emporia was shifted in order to maintain service to Topeka and Lawrence, which would otherwise have lost service when the "Texas Chief" was discontinued. Prior to 1996, the "Southwest Chief" operated between Chicago and , Illinois, via , , and Chillicothe on the ATSF's Chillicothe Subdivision. Following the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe in 1996, BNSF constructed a connector track at Cameron, Illinois, which allowed freight and passenger trains to transfer between the BN Mendota Subdivision and the Chillicothe Subdivision. The "Chief" was rerouted on the  old Burlington Northern through , , and to Galesburg, a route shared with the "California Zephyr", "Illinois Zephyr", and "Carl Sandburg". In January 1994, the "Southwest Chief" was rerouted between San Bernardino and Los Angeles onto the Santa Fe Third District via Fullerton and Riverside. Previously, it served Pasadena and Pomona via the Santa Fe Pasadena Subdivision, which was closed to all through traffic following damage to a bridge over the eastbound lanes of Interstate 210 in Arcadia during the Northridge Earthquake. There were plans to add service to Pueblo and connecting with the proposed Front Range regional rail service between Denver  and Pueblo. It would have also run along former Colorado & Southern tracks through Walsenburg, reconnecting with its current alignment at Trinidad. A more recent plan is to run a section of the train to Colorado Springs, Colorado via Pueblo.