A group of enthusiasts hoping to return passenger rail service to Baker City and other parts of the Northwest will meet in Baker City on Saturday, July 22 to discuss their proposal.

All Aboard Northwest is inviting the public to attend the event starting at 4 p.m. at Crossroads Carnegie Art Center, 2020 Auburn Ave. The meeting will be in lower level of the building on the west side facing Second Street.

Amtrak ended its Pioneer route, which stopped at a depot near Broadway Street in Baker City, in 1997 due to budget cuts and insufficient revenue from the route. The Pioneer started in Seattle and continued to Boise, Salt Lake City, Denver and Chicago.

Since Amtrak canceled the Pioneer route 26 years ago, passenger rail advocates have voiced support for its return.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has supported the effort, but it hasn’t progressed much beyond the conversation stage.

But All Aboard Northwest believes the campaign has gained momentum due to the passage of the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill in 2021.

“There are unprecedented funds available for transportation improvements under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” according to a press release announcing All Aboard Northwest’s July 22 event in Baker City. “All Aboard Northwest is working to spread the word, because a safe, robust, seamless transportation system will bring significant economic, environmental and equity benefits to communities of all sizes. Since passenger rail service through Eastern Oregon was discontinued in 1997, several studies have confirmed that there is a significant need for, and interest in, trains that would offer local and regional connections.”

Charles Hamilton, communications manager for All Aboard Northwest, said the infrastructure bill, which includes $66 billion for a repair backlog for Amtrak’s existing routes, creates an opportunity for rail advocates.

“There is money available from the federal government to do rail, specifically to bring back rail services that hasn’t been for a long time, there’s a lot of interest in bringing that back,” Hamilton said.

“We’re a nonprofit organization — we’re trying to provide information for what rail opportunities are available, and get feedback.

“We feel there are lots of reasons why communities would be interested in passenger rail, we call it the three Es — economy, environment and equity,” Hamilton said. “No matter who you are on the political spectrum, you can always find a way to agree on one or two of those points. We can agree on trains if we can’t agree on anything else. We’re not about getting rid of people’s cars, we are about providing opportunities for people who can’t drive, something like 30% of the population does not drive, either too old, too young, too poor, disabled. For us it’s a matter of providing service to that 30%.”

Resuming rail service could give travelers an alternative when winter storms close Interstate 84. A revived Pioneer line could also be a driver for tourism.

Several hurdles stand in the way, including the potential for low ridership, which contributed to the Pioneer’s demise, and expanded air travel.

In 1999 Amtrak officials considered restoring the Pioneer, but they said Amtrak needed to raise $6 million to run one train per day between Portland and Boise. Amtrak tried to raise $2 million from cities and counties along the route, and $2 million from the state of Oregon.

Baker City’s proposed share of the subsidy was $7,600.

In December 1999 the Baker City Council discussed spending that money. But although councilors said they wanted Amtrak to restart the Pioneer, and even sent a letter to Amtrak, councilors declined to commit the $7,600 until the state agreed to pay its $2 million share.

The state never did so.

Another effort in 2008, which included a letter from Wyden and other members of Congress to the Amtrak president, also failed to yield results.

The lawmakers’ advocacy resulted in a financial study that projected annual operating losses ranging from $25 million for a Seattle to Salt Lake City route, to $35.3 million for a Portland to Denver Pioneer. Amtrak officials also said they would need $400 million for locomotives, sleeping and food service cars and other start-up costs.

Local support

All Aboard Northwest will be joined by Baker County residents, including Rick Meis of Halfway, who is a member of the Panhandle for Passenger Rail group.

“One of the funnest things about train travel is how laid back everyone is who travels by rail,” Meis said. “It is just plain a very comfortable way to go. You meet people, especially on a train like the Empire Builder that boasts a very good dining car.”

The Empire Builder is an existing Amtrak route with daily trains connecting Portland and Seattle with Chicago.

“That many of the major train stations are in the center of cities around the country is another great advantage,” Meis said. “Wouldn’t it be fun to get on the train in Baker and go see my little sister in Spokane instead of having to drive?”

A revived Pioneer route could potentially give passengers a connection to the Empire Builder, which runs from Portland through the Columbia River Gorge, the Tri Cities in Washington and north to Spokane, where it joins the route that leads east from Seattle.

Judith Fisher, co-coordinator for Panhandle for Passenger Rail, said she’s excited about “the possibility of being able to get on the Pioneer in Baker again and go visit my family as I used to do before service was discontinued.”

“One of the funnest things about train travel is how laid back everyone is who travels by rail. It is just plain a very comfortable way to go.”

— Rick Meis, Halfway resident and proponent of restoring Amtrak passenger rail service to Eastern Oregon

Prior to the 4 p.m. meeting of the All Aboard Northwest group on Saturday, July 22, Panhandle for Passenger Rail will have a public tour of the restored Sumpter Valley Railroad depot and Railroad Square, starting at 2:30 p.m. The depot is on the north side of Broadway Street, just east of the railroad tracks near the Wagon Wheel car wash.

The depot was built in 1906 for the Sumpter Valley Railroad, the narrow-gauge line that ran between Baker City and Prairie City, hauling ponderosa pine logs from the Blue Mountains as well as passengers. The railroad ended passenger service in 1937, and closed altogether a decade later.

In 1991, Jim Eccles of Baker City, whose relatives built the depot, proposed to renovate the structure, which Ellingson Lumber Co. used as an office. Baker County received a federal grant for $380,000 for the project.

Five years later, in August 1996, workers moved the depot, which had been on the south side of Broadway and on the west side of the tracks. Sid Johnson and Co. of Baker City restored the building. It was dedicated in March 1997.

Although the plan was to have the depot replace the former small building that served as a station for Amtrak, that didn’t happen because Amtrak canceled its Pioneer route just two months later, in May 1997.

Baker County owns the depot. It has been used as an office for various county departments. Union Pacific Railroad also uses part of the building.

— Jayson Jacoby