More people rode the Amtrak train in 2016 than the year before. Ridership on the Empire Builder which runs through St. Cloud was up 5.8%. A total of 146,689 passengers rode that route.
An increase in rail shipments of oil crude from the northern Plains is being partly blamed for disruptions to an Amtrak route linking Chicago and the West Coast.
Heavy freight traffic is hampering Amtrak passenger trains between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest - on the line that travels through, and stops, here in St. Cloud.
Flooding in Plains states is disrupting two Amtrak routes. Service on Amtrak's Empire Builder route between St. Paul, Minn., and Havre, Mont., -- including here in St. Cloud -- was suspended since June 21 because of flooding along the Souris River in North Dakota.
Amtrak says a backlog of freight caused by flooding along rail lines in Montana and North Dakota is disrupting passenger rail service from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest.