Alaska Railroad steps up number of trains scheduled for 2021

The Alaska Railroad is planning to run more passenger trains this summer than in 2020, but still fewer than it has in recent pre-pandemic years.

The railroad announced the new schedule on Thursday.  Tim Sullivan, Director of External Affairs for the Alaska Railroad, says the new plan will mean twice as many Denali Star trains, which go all the way to Fairbanks, running as last summer.

“As opposed to four trains a week, we’re going to be moving eight trains a week, which means we’ll be going one direction–either northbound or southbound between Anchorage and Fairbanks–every day, and we’ll be moving two trains on Sundays, one northbound and one southbound.”

Sullivan says the railroad built the schedule while being conscientious of the needs of communities like Talkeetna that rely in part on train passengers for seasonal tourism.

In addition to helping drive the economic engine for the larger communities, the Alaska Railroad still provides the easiest means of resupply for many area residents up the tracks via the Hurricane Turn flagstop service.  Sullivan says that service will still be tied to the Denali Star again this year.

“Just like we did last year, the Hurricane Turn [Train] will be run in conjunction with the Denali Star, so we’ll have one direction service six days a week, and on Sunday it’ll go both directions.”

While there will be two-way service for the Hurricane Turn train on Sundays, Sullivan clarifies that it is not technically round-trip service, since the train will go all the way to Fairbanks, then another train will come south.

Sullivan says the Alaska Railroad continues to monitor conditions with the pandemic as well as anticipated travel demand this summer, and that the current schedule could change if needed.