Amtrak & Winter Park Resort Announce No Winter Park Express Train This Season
Who doesn't love a train ride? A better question, who doesn't like a train ride that takes a person and their skiing or snowboarding gear from the big city to the mountains and lets that person off right at the ski hill? Almost anybody could love that from the romance of riding the rails to the logistical practicality of using public transportation to get to the hill. The shame here is that for the 2020/2021 season, there will be no train from Denver, CO to Winter Park Resort.
Amtrak and the resort will use the 2020-21 season to look for ways to make the Winter Park Express even better when it relaunches. Amtrak has been reducing the number of seats sold on each train to enable distancing, a best-practice that will likely continue into the upcoming winter season. Amtrak and Winter Park Resort evaluated seating options on the Winter Park Express and agreed that, with social distancing requirements, it was not possible to operate the train successfully this season.
The above is from a joint statement from Amtrak and Winter Park Resort that was released earlier in the week. Though disappointing for many, this move is not totally unexpected. The travel industry, like the ski industry, is still working on being open while staying safe and following local, state, and federal travel restrictions, all while trying to remain profitable.
However, as we all try to look on the bright side of everything these days, it could be interesting to see what Amtrak has in store for the relaunch for the 2021/2022 season. With a whole year to work on it, they might come up with something pretty cool.
Photo: An Amtrak coming into Winter Park, 1994 - Credit: Rohan Travellin [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]
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