New services and favorable snow conditions combine for success
WINTER PARK, Colo. – The Amtrak Winter Park Express trains set records
for the service, including the most riders ever, in the 2019 season. Amtrak and
Winter Park Resort leaders thank customers for choosing Amtrak to avoid traffic
and to enjoy new features both aboard the train and at the resort named last
year “Best in North America”.
More than 19,200
tickets were purchased for 32 round-trips for the season that ended last month,
an increase of about 7% from the 2018 season and 8% from the inaugural season
in 2017. More than 52,000 guests have taken the service in the partnership
between Amtrak and the resort.
For the first time,
Winter Park Express customers had
snack and beverage service using a Superliner® Sightseer
Lounge Car with windows that start at the floor level and wrap into the
ceiling of the railcar. Once they arrived, customers enjoyed more than $30
million in capital investments at the resort that included a new 10-person
gondola, upgraded snowmaking and a new base-area plaza. Another new lift is
coming next season.
“We were blessed with great ski conditions as we looked out
from the train to growing delays for drivers on I-70 and US-40,” said Amtrak
Senior Director Rob Eaton. “We’ve made it even easier and even more fun to do a
day, a weekend or more in Winter Park.”
“With the train’s continual growth in ridership, it’s been
gratifying to see the incredible popularity of this Colorado institution for
visitors on the Front Range, throughout the country, and beyond,” said C.A.
Lane, Winter Park Vice President of Operations/Assistant General Manager. “Nowhere else in North America can you take a
train from a major metropolitan city to the slopes of a world-class ski resort
and we look forward to working with our good friends at Amtrak and the other
railroads to continue to evolve this service for the future.”