Kansas City Zephyr
The Kansas City Zephyr was a streamliner passenger train service operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad between Chicago and Kansas City.
A few less successful streamliners were discontinued prior to 1956. But most of the trains were discontinued between 1956 and 1971. The formation of Amtrak in 1971, allowed many of the remaining trains to be discontinued, while retaining those trains with most promise. And now, Amtrak actually carries more passengers with fewer trains, than were carried by the individual railroads prior to 1971.
The Kansas City Zephyr was discontinued by the CB&Q in 1968. The CB&Q merger to create the Burlington Northern occurred in 1970. The American Royal Zephyr the last train to use the CB7q route from Chciago to Kansas City was discontinued in 1971. Amtrak selected Santa Fe's Southwest Chief route in 1971 for service between Chicago and Kansas City.
The state of Illinois intervened in 1971 at the request of residents of western Illinois, Quincy University, and Western Illinois University. It was a rare time in Illinois politics where Republicans, southern Illinois Democrats and Chicago Democrats united to resolve the loss of transportation. This initaitve in 1971 became part of the Amtrak "Illinois Service" and is partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation.
The Illinois Zephyr is a 258-mile (415 km) passenger train operated by Amtrak that runs between Chicago and Quincy, Illinois and is a descendent of the Kansas City Zephyr and American Royal Zephyr passenger train routes operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until 1968 and 1971. The name Zephyr is preserved in the current name of the line. Today the Illinois Zephyr enjoys strong support from the communities it passes through. They all promote the train line as a means of getting to Chicago, and train tickets are frequently sold out. As such, the route is part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, which calls for an upgrade of service from the current 1 daily round trip to 4 or more daily round trips. The average travel time from Chicago to Quincy via the Illinois Zephyr is 4 hours, 30 minutes.
References
- The Official Guide of the Railways, June 1964, Published by the National Railway Publication Co., New York, NY.
- From Zephyr To Amtrak, compiled by David Randall.