North Coast Hiawatha

North Coast Hiawatha

The North Coast Hiawatha at Missoula, Montana, in 1974
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Western United States
Predecessor	North Coast Limited/Mainstreeter
First service	June 5, 1971
Last service	October 6, 1979
Successor	None
Former operator(s)	Amtrak
Route
Termini	Chicago, Illinois Seattle, Washington
Stops	37
Distance travelled	2,228 miles (3,586 km)
Average journey time	46 hours, 40 minutes
Service frequency	Tri-weekly
Train number(s)	17/18
On-board services
Sleeping arrangements	Sleeping cars
Catering facilities	Full dining car On-board lounge
Observation facilities	Dome lounge
Baggage facilities	Baggage car
Route map Legend Dist. Station 0 mi Chicago 17 mi 27 km Glenview IL WI 85 mi 137 km Milwaukee 150 mi 241 km Columbus 178 mi 286 km Portage 195 mi 314 km Wisconsin Dells 245 mi 394 km Tomah 281 mi 452 km La Crosse WI MN 307 mi 494 km Winona 371 mi 597 km Red Wing 421 mi 678 km Saint Paul–Midway Empire Builder 486 mi 782 km St. Cloud 551 mi 887 km Staples 613 mi 987 km Detroit Lakes MN ND Empire Builder 663 mi 1067 km Fargo Empire Builder 720 mi 1159 km Valley City 754 mi 1213 km Jamestown 856 mi 1378 km Bismarck 862 mi 1387 km Mandan 962 mi 1548 km Dickinson ND MT 1067 mi 1717 km Glendive 1146 mi 1844 km Miles City 1191 mi 1917 km Forsyth 1292 mi 2079 km Billings 1408 mi 2266 km Livingston 1433 mi 2306 km Bozeman 1528 mi 2459 km Butte 1568 mi 2523 km Deer Lodge 1647 mi 2651 km Missoula 1718 mi 2765 km Paradise MT ID Empire Builder 1838 mi 2958 km Sandpoint ID WA 1902 mi 3061 km Spokane Pre-1973 route 2022 mi 3254 km Ephrata 2074 mi 3338 km Wenatchee 2195 mi 3533 km Everett 2211 mi 3558 km Edmonds 2048 mi 3296 km Pasco 2138 mi 3441 km Yakima 2175 mi 3500 km Ellensburg 2275 mi 3661 km East Auburn 2228 mi 3586 km Seattle This diagram: view talk edit

The North Coast Hiawatha was a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington.

The train was a successor to the Northern Pacific Railway's North Coast Limited and Mainstreeter. Its name is a combination of North Coast Limited and Hiawatha, a Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) train whose route it followed east of Minneapolis–St. Paul.

Created at the behest of Congress in 1971, the North Coast Hiawatha had an uncertain existence before being discontinued in 1979 amid a wave of Amtrak cuts. This left the Empire Builder as the lone train through Montana and North Dakota and severed some of these states' most populous cities from the rail network, including Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, Billings, and Bismarck.

Rail advocates have called for the return of the North Coast Hiawatha ever since its discontinuation. Efforts have accelerated in the 2020s with the formation of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority and the inclusion of the route in two Federal Railroad Administration route development programs.