The Rocky Mountaineer is days away from what will be the first full season for the luxury train company since 2019.

The 2020 season was repeatedly delayed following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic before it was eventually cancelled while the 2021 season was delayed until July, with about 11,000 passengers eventually stepping onto the trains.

“It’s something we just can’t put in words. The feeling of being able to get moving again, getting our teams back together, getting those trains moving across the mountains and out into the prairies, it’s just an incredible rush and we are just so excited to be getting back to Kamloops,” President and CEO, Dave McKenna, said when asked how it feels to see the train relaunch at full capacity.

Two of the Rocky Mountaineer routes pass through Kamloops – the First Passage to the West between Vancouver and Banff, which gets underway on Monday, April 25, and the Journey Through the Clouds between Vancouver and Jasper, which gets underway on Tuesday, April 26.

In Canada, the Rocky Mountaineer relies heavily on international tourists with an estimated economic spin-off of nearly $50 million in Kamloops in a normal year with train guests spending a night in the Tournament Capital.

“The teams that have been there all winter, making sure all of our equipment is ready to go are just so excited to welcome,” McKenna added. “We’re think that we’re going to have almost 80,000 visitors come through the Loops this year and we couldn’t be more pleased.”

The 2022 season will also be the first full one for the Rockies to the Red Rocks route between Denver, Colorado and Moab, Utah, which launched in 2021.