Hilltopper (train)
The Hilltopper was a passenger train operated by Amtrak in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It ran daily from South Station in Boston, Massachusetts to Catlettsburg, Kentucky. The run made 34 stops in 11 states and the District of Columbia. History. The Chicago-Norfolk "Mountaineer", introduced in 1975, suffered from low ridership and high costs. Despite its failings, West Virginia senator Robert Byrd demanded that Amtrak replace it with another train on the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) to serve his rural constituents - and that the new train would use new Amfleet equipment and serve  Washington, D.C. The Washington-Catlettsburg "Hilltopper" replaced the "Mountaineer" on June 1, 1977. The Hilltopper retained all "Mountaineer" stops between Catlettsburg and Petersburg, Virginia, while the "James Whitcomb Riley" (which had run combined with the "Mountaineer" west of Catlettsburg) continued to provide a Chicago connection. Only Norfolk and Suffolk, Virginia lost train service; a bus connection to Petersburg was provided. The "Hilltopper" had warm supporters in Byrd and West Virginian congressman Harley Staggers but it was "cited by critics as an example of everything that was wrong with Amtrak". Beginning on January 8, 1978, the "Hilltopper" was combined with the  Night Owl, creating through service from Boston to Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Even with this effort to improve its farebox recovery ratio, the train averaged 33 passengers per trip in 1978, dropping to between 2 and 15 per trip in 1979. Its average speed of was the lowest on the long-distance system. Farebox recovery was a dismal 25%, with the train losing $200,000 per year. The "Hilltopper" was one of five routes cut on October 1, 1979 as part of a reorganization by the Carter Administration, and the only of the five where no federal injunctions were obtained to keep  service running. Many of the train's riders were former N&W employees with lifetime passes. The "Night Owl" continued to be run after the cut. The end of the "Hilltopper" spelled the end of intercity rail service along much of its route in Southwest Virginia and West Virginia. However, one daily "Northeast Regional" round trip was extended from Lynchburg to Roanoke on October 31, 2017. Proposed restored service. As recently as October 2019, passenger rail advocates are pushing for restoration of east-west service from Christiansburg and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Hampton Roads area, via Roanoke, Lynchburg, Charlottesville , and Richmond with a "Commonwealth Corridor." This would be the first cross-Virginia passenger train since the "Hilltopper."