Five Finalists Selected in Name the Train Contest

JEFFERSON CITY and ST. LOUIS - One of five finalist names will soon provide the moniker for Amtrak®'s passenger rail service between St. Louis and Kansas City. Those names are Missouri Rail Blazer, Missouri River Runner, River Cities Corridor, ShowMeMO and Truman Service. Online voting begins today and goes through Jan. 23, 2009.

Contest judges selected five finalist names from a pool of more than 8,300 name submissions. In cases where duplicate names were submitted, a random drawing was held to choose a finalist. The finalists are:

· Missouri Rail Blazer - Betty Crancer of Sunset Hills
· Missouri River Runner - Keith Kohler of Glendale
· River Cities Corridor - Richard A. Chenault of Webster Groves
· ShowMeMO - Kerry Simmons of Independence
· Truman Service - John Fernandez of St. Louis

Each of these individuals will receive two round-trip coach tickets to any Amtrak destination in Missouri and a gift basket from one of five participating cities located on the passenger rail line.

The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, the Washington Chamber of Commerce, the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce and the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association are providing the gift baskets.

You can cast your vote online at http://www.morail.org/ or mail your favorite finalist name, along with your name and address to MoDOT, Name the Train Contest, P.O. Box 270, Jefferson City, MO 65102. Only one vote per person will be accepted. To be counted, a vote must be received online or in the mail by 4 p.m. Jan. 23. The new name will be announced by Jan. 30, 2009.

"I am amazed and owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the people of Missouri and others all over the country who submitted names for the contest," said Rod Massman, MoDOT's administrator of railroads. "The sheer amount of name submissions went far beyond our expectations. Furthermore, the breadth of names related to Missouri - from Lewis and Clark to Harry Truman to Laura Ingalls Wilder and beyond - showed a great amount of interest in the train service and its future."

The Missouri Department of Transportation and Amtrak are sponsoring the "Name the Train" contest in celebration of 30 years of state-supported passenger rail across Missouri, as well as major service improvements in the works.