Since no one with a better memory than mine has responded, I will take a stab at this. I think there was a daily Chicago run when the EB only ran 3 or 4 days a week. Since I live only blocks from the St. Paul depot I should know but I don't.There used to be a train called the North Star, a 403b financed by the state of Minnesota, that ran from MSP to Duluth in the evening and back in the early morning. I think this single level trainset ran to Chicago on the days the Empire Builder did not run and laid overnight in Duluth. This train was discontinued when MN cut off funds (I think it was only $100,000/year).
It was originally called the Arrowhead in the 70's when it ran to Duluth in the am and came back at night. At that time there was also a North Coast Hiawatha to Seattle that ran about 4 hours ahead of the EB westbound and 5 hours behind the EB eastbound and took a different route to Seattle. So at one time there was twice daily Amtrak service MSP-CHI.
The St.Paul station was built by Amtrak in the 70's and has several tracks, as if expanded service was envisioned. There is always talk of high speed corridor service over this route. One involves high speed rail re-routed thru Rochester, MN that would allow use of their underused airport as an alternative to a 2nd MSP airport.
I would guess daily service MSP to St. Paul would survive if the LD's were abandoned. But if any LD's were to survive, the Empire Builder would be one of the better financial performers.
I once read that the station with the highest average ticket price paid per passenger passing thru was Wolf Point, MT.
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