More riders can take the Amtrak across Missouri during the FIFA World Cup as the Kansas City area prepares for an influx of visitors this summer.
The Missouri Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that it's sponsoring additional rail cars to provide more capacity on the Missouri River Runner service. The rail cars will be transferred from Illinois and Michigan and added to daily round trips between St. Louis and Kansas City.
The department said the additional cars will add 25% capacity to each train.
“Missouri is proud to welcome visitors from around the world during these World Cup matches, and these additional train cars are key to providing them multimodal options around our state,” said Ed Hassinger, the department’s director, in a statement. “We’re thankful to our partners at Amtrak, Illinois and Michigan to help provide this convenient service to our residents and guests during such a monumental event.”
The additional capacity will begin June 15 until July 12, the day after the last local game and quarterfinal match in Kansas City.
The train began running an extra round trip daily in April to meet the increased need, but an Amtrak spokesperson said certain days are still likely to sell out and people should start booking their trip now.
Kansas City is also making plans for thousands of fans to get around locally. The ConnectKC26 program is providing a direct shuttle to the stadium for game ticket holders and free shuttles between the Kansas City International Airport and a downtown bus hub every 15 minutes.
The stadium shuttle will cost $15 for a round-trip ticket and the airport shuttle is free.
Riders can also take "region direct" bus service from the FIFA Fan Festival to more than a dozen sites around the metro. The bus lines will cost $5 for an unlimited day pass, $25 for a week and $50 for the whole tournament.
Local transportation options require booking in advance, which will open in early May. You can sign up for updates at the KC2026 website.
