Passenger train meeting set for Dec. 5

Published 6:30 am Saturday, December 2, 2023

BAKER CITY — Jen Albright and Jo Marlette hope that, someday, they can board a train in Baker City.

They hope others are also interested in reinstating passenger rail service to Eastern Oregon and are inviting the community to an informational meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 1 p.m. in the meeting room of the Baker County Library, 2400 Resort St.

The two women have attended other meetings about this topic, and Marlette sent out a letter to her contacts that detailed the history of train service in Baker City.

She recounted how rail service came as early as 1884, and by the early 1900s Baker City had two rail depots. Amtrak Pioneer ran passenger trains between Salt Lake City and Portland from 1977 to 1997.

The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, passed in 2021, is designed to invest $66 billion for reopening closed corridors of rail service, but community input is needed so state and federal agencies know it is wanted and needed, Albright said.

“We have to try and get everyone on board to ask for money for these trains,” Albright said.

Albright and Marlette are working with a group from Halfway — the Panhandle for Passenger Rail — that started advocating for rail service in 2019 after attending a meeting with the Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates and All Aboard Northwest. The Halfway City Council passed a resolution of support in March 2020 for reinstating passenger rail service to Eastern Oregon.

“The more people we have interested in reinstating our rail service, the more likely we are of getting the job done,” Marlette said.