One of five names selected as finalists will soon provide the moniker for Amtrak's passenger rail service between St. Louis and Kansas City. Contest judges selected them from a pool of more than 8,300 name submissions. In cases where duplicate names were submitted, a random drawing was held to choose a finalist. The finalists and their submissions are:

• Missouri Rail Blazer by Betty Crancer of Sunset Hills

• Missouri River Runner by Keith Kohler of Glendale

• River Cities Corridor by Richard A. Chenault of Webster Groves

• ShowMeMO by Kerry Simmons of Independence

• Truman Service by John Fernandez of St. Louis

Each of these individuals will receive two round-trip coach tickets to any Amtrak destination in Missouri and a gift basket from one of five participating cities located on the passenger rail line. The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, the Washington Chamber of Commerce, the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce and the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association are providing the gift baskets.

You may cast your vote online here Only one vote per person will be accepted. To be counted, a vote must be received online by 4 p.m. on January 23, 2009. The new name will be announced by January 30.

"I am amazed and owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the people of Missouri and others all over the country who submitted names for the contest," said Rod Massman, MoDOT's administrator of railroads. "The sheer amount of name submissions went far beyond our expectations. Furthermore, the breadth of names related to Missouri-- from Lewis and Clark to Harry Truman to Laura Ingalls Wilder and beyond--showed a great amount of interest in the train service and its future."

The Missouri Department of Transportation and Amtrak are sponsoring the Name the Train contest in celebration of 30 years of state-supported passenger rail across Missouri, as well as in anticipation of major service improvements.

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