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WENDOVER — Train tracks have run through the middle of West Wendover, Nevada, for as long as anyone here can remember.
However, you would have to find some old-timers to remember when passenger trains actually stopped in town.
"We haven't had a stop since, I believe, the '40s. It’s been awhile,” said Emily Carter.
Carter certainly isn't an old-timer, but she is the mayor of West Wendover, so she knows all about the Amtrak train that zips on by twice a day.
She also knows how hard the city has been trying to get that train to stop.
"We originally started working on it back in 2000 and were turned down. Then we were turned down another time,” said Carter.
The city kept trying, though.
Three years ago, city leaders approached Amtrak with another proposal.
It took Amtrak three more years, but, finally, it said yes.
They don't add stops very often. This will be something new for them, and given this is a main line, the stop will only be for a few minutes. It will be just enough time for passengers to get off and on the train and that's pretty much it.
–Chris Melville, West Wendover city manager
“The previous failures were really more of a result of the market and Amtrak looking at the market and not being sure what the market was going to be like here,” said West Wendover city manager Chris Melville. "By 2011, demographics had changed, tourism had increased, we had a flight program now operating, and they saw all those numbers and said this is a good thing for us to be looking at."
The Amtrak California Zephyr line runs from Chicago to San Francisco.
Currently, the next stop west of Salt Lake City is Elko, Nevada.
However, if all goes according to plan, West Wendover will be added to the line in the next year to year and a half.
“They don’t add stops very often. This will be something new for them, and given this is a main line, the stop will only be for a few minutes. It will be just enough time for passengers to get off and on the train and that’s pretty much it,” said Melville.
Two weeks ago, West Wendover city council members voted unanimously to build a train station in an empty lot next to train tracks that are less than a quarter-mile from a main downtown intersection.
The project will cost city taxpayers close to a million dollars.
"That shows how important it is to us in getting access to the national transportation system,” said Melville.
Currently, the train coming from Salt Lake City passes through Wendover at 1 a.m.
The eastbound train gets in at about 7:30 p.m.
According to a report on the project put together by West Wendover, Amtrak is expecting roughly 10,000 passengers a year using the new stop.
It's also an opportunity for visitors to get to Wendover without taking a car or bus.
"I think everyone has on their bucket list, or they should have on their bucket list, to ride a train, at least once,” said Carter. “This is a wonderful opportunity for our residents.”
