The chief operating officer at Rocky Mountaineer says Kamloops will play a big role as the company operates trains in the United States later this year.

Mark Southern says the trains that run between Denver, Colorado and Moab, Utah from August to November of this year will be controlled from Kamloops.

“You know when to stop, when to start and making sure we do all of the coordination for Rocky Mountaineer right out of Kamloops. So you have an international reach now for our team there,“ Southern says.

“So thankful [for] our great team in Kamloops. We recalled our trades guys and most of them came back because we have such an incredible team up there, but it was tough. We had to lay off so many employees and now we’re trying to get the trains up and running and get them back to work.”

Southern says the City of Kamloops has been a big supporter of the Rocky Mountaineer for the past three decades

Rocky Mountaineer’s new U.S. route will get going in mid-August, with the Vancouver-based company expecting its Canadian trains to get rolling starting in June.