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The ''Pioneer'' was a passenger train run by Amtrak from Seattle, Washington to Chicago, Illinois via Portland, Oregon; Boise, Idaho; Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, Colorado; and other intermediate points. == History == In the 1960s two Union Pacific Railroad streamliners provided service to Portland, Oregon via Boise, Idaho: the ''City of Portland'' (from Chicago) and the ''Portland Rose'' (from Kansas City, Missouri). The ''City of Portland'' had an illustrious pedigree: the first streamlined train with sleeping cars and the first streamliner in service between Chicago and the West Coast. Amtrak did not retain either train in 1971, preferring the ''Empire Builder'' for Chicago-Pacific Northwest service. Train travel between the Pacific Northwest and Denver now required going either west to California or east to Chicago. Amtrak sought to fill this gap in 1977 with the introduction of the ''Pioneer'' between Seattle and Salt Lake City. The all-coach train operated on a daily 24-hour schedule with connections available in Ogden, Utah with the ''San Francisco Zephyr'' (Chicago–San Francisco). Meal service was provided in an on-board cafe, one of the then-new Amfleet "Am-dinettes." Coaches were all-reserved except between Portland and Seattle, where the ''Pioneer'' supplemented existing corridor service. In early 1977, Amtrak authorized approximately $500,000 to improve 13 stations along the route in Utah, Idaho and Oregon. Work included installation of passenger shelters, platforms and rehabilitation of existing stations. Regular service began on June 7.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19770622&item=0055 )〕 The ''Pioneer'' began exchanging a Seattle–Chicago through coach with the ''San Francisco Zephyr'' on April 26, 1981; this was supplemented by a through sleeping car on October 31, 1982. The decision in 1983 by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad to join Amtrak shifted the ''Zephyr'' south to the Moffat Tunnel Route. Amtrak renamed that train the ''California Zephyr''; the interchange point shifted to the ''Pioneers terminus in Salt Lake City. Also operating with the two trains was the ''Desert Wind'', which served Los Angeles.〔 On June 17, 1991, the ''Pioneer'' began splitting from the ''California Zephyr'' in Denver, Colorado and proceeding over the Union Pacific's Overland Route in Wyoming, which had last seen service in 1983. A bus at Ogden provided a connection to Salt Lake City. Two considerations prompted this change. The combined ''California Zephyr''/''Desert Wind''/''Pioneer'' consisted of 16 Superliner cars, the longest such train Amtrak had ever operated. It required no fewer than four EMD F40PH diesel locomotives to haul the combined train through the Rocky Mountains between Denver and Salt Lake City. Having the ''Pioneer'' separate earlier reduced the load. Further, the faster running time over the Overland Route allowed a more reasonable departure time from Seattle. The ''Pioneer'' began running thrice-weekly west of Denver on November 4, 1993.〔 In January 1997 Amtrak announced that the ''Pioneer'' would end May 10, 1997 when a Congressionally-funded mandate to keep it operating expired. States affected were given until March 15 to submit funding proposals to keep the train operating. While visiting Pendleton, Oregon on February 22 Amtrak President Thomas M. Downs said the ''Pioneer'' could be converted to a coach-only Chicago–Portland mail-and-express train operating on an all-Union Pacific routing through Iowa and Wyoming (but missing Ogden) if interested states could provide about $4.8 million to fund the existing operation through that October when the new train could start. By the March 15 deadline state funding had not been secured although the requested funding package had been reduced. Instead of seeking $4.8 million, Amtrak asked the Oregon legislature for $2.9 million in loan guarantees, which would have resulted in triweekly service between Portland and Salt Lake City through the October startup of a daily mixed train carrying express freight and passengers between Chicago and Portland via Omaha, Cheyenne, and Ogden. Oregon refused to provide the loan guarantees because it found Amtrak's collateral (ex-Santa Fe Hi-Level cars) unacceptable. On April 10 Union Pacific told Amtrak that the proposed express train would require $56 million in capital improvements. On May 10, 1997 the ''Pioneer'' made its last run. It was reported in the December 1998 issue of Trains that a Chicago-Portland replacement for the Pioneer via Omaha and Cheyenne had been postponed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pioneer (train)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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