Tks to Jim Young for this info; the EPB travling from Chi to Mpls/StP as God intended it! ('today' is today - Dec 4)
CHICAGO – Amtrak's Empire Builder will take to its original route between the Twin Cities and Chicago today and several times in December. Union Pacific is replacing its crossing with Canadian Pacific's former Milwaukee Road main line at Watertown, Wis., necessitating the detours.
Both Nos. 7 and 8 will detour today between Chicago and St. Paul via BNSF Railway's former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy main line, with buses serving intermediate points. The Burlington was the original route of Great Northern's Empire Builder, and was used from the time the train was inaugurated in 1929 until the advent of Amtrak on May 1, 1971 when it switched to the Milwaukee Road route between Chicago and the Twin Cities.
Train No. 8 will detour again over the ex-CB&Q on December 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20. Train No. 7 will not detour on those days.