WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Railroad Administration has sent a report to Congress that calls for restoring a daily passenger train route from Portland to Denver, passing through Pendleton, La Grande and Baker City.

Amtrak operated the Pioneer Route from 1977 to 1997. Before Amtrak, which was founded in 1971, there was regular passenger rail service through Northeastern Oregon for many decades.

Since Amtrak canceled the Pioneer Route 28 years ago, there have been occasional efforts, including endorsements from Oregon’s senators, to revive the route.

Congress in 2021 directed the FRA to study potential new long-distance Amtrak routes.

The FRA released that report recently, and it includes the Pioneer Route among its proposed daily runs.

A Baker County group in early 2024 gathered 1,090 signatures from residents who want to resume the Pioneer Route, and sent the signatures to Amtrak, the FRA and Oregon legislators.

The report does not mean, however, that Amtrak trains will again stop at Baker City’s train station just north of Broadway Street.

The report notes it is the first of several steps, and “further analysis would be necessary to advance selected preferred route options through project planning, including time intensive detailed engineering work and cost estimates for capital and infrastructure projects needed for new passenger rail service. The selected preferred route options identified in this study are conceptual — they are not final recommendations for service, and would require additional review, resources, and stakeholder collaboration after this study is complete.”

The process could take many years.

Cost is a potentially imposing obstacle to restoring the Pioneer and other long-distance routes.

The report notes “the current operations of long-distance routes do not receive any state or local contributions for operations and require significant federal funding, and the federal government would need to commit to ongoing operations funds for new routes, on an annual basis.”

The FRA report arrives the same month as Greyhound ended its daily bus route between Portland and Boise.

Matt Krabacher of Baker City is an advocate for returning Amtrak to Eastern Oregon. He also is the Eastern Oregon vice president for The Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates — or AORTA — a nonprofit citizen advocacy group working to “educate the public about the need for safe, fiscally responsible, environmentally sound transportation.”

Krabacher said he believes the FRA report’s inclusion of a Pioneer Route is “hugely important.”

“Without the Pioneer being in that report it would be a much larger uphill battle to convince state legislators to take up its restoration as an issue,” he said. “But since the FRA has defined it, done a light assessment of it, and deemed it worthy to be one of the 15 best ways to expand our national passenger rail network, there is way less work needed to convince the people that matter that it is possible.”

He also said inclusion in the report makes it easier for the public to tell local legislators “this is not a pipe dream” and federal money is available to assist in its restoration.

“In fact, the federal government is poised to take up the vast majority of the costs of creating these rail networks,” Krabacher said.

Pat Beard, general manager of the Pendleton Convention Center, said he hopes Amtrak restores the Pioneer route.

“We’re a town that grew up on the railroad,” Beard said. “That’s one of the things that really help Pendleton grow and establish its prominence in the Northwest. I hope it comes to pass.”

Beard said Pendleton was a crucial stop on the Pioneer Route. If the route returned, Pendleton would be about the halfway point between Boise and Portland, giving passengers a place for weekend excursions, making it a novel experience and great opportunity for the town.