Amtrak’s daily Borealis service between St. Paul and Chicago has been indefinitely suspended, with buses replacing trains. The cause of the cancellation is corrosion of passenger railcars used on the route.

Amtrak made the announcement Wednesday morning and said the cancellation also affected its Downeaster, Hiawatha and Cascades service.

The national passenger rail operator said the corrosion was discovered in several of its aging Horizon cars, which date to the late 1980s. Amtrak said that, in consultation with the manufacturer, it decided to removed the equipment from service “after learning of additional areas of concern from intensive inspection of multiple cars.”

Amtrak added that some trains will operate with fewer cars, “while other services will be provided substitute transportation until a long-term plan is developed.”  According to Trains.com, the corroded railcars number 70 — 61 coaches and nine food-service cars — manufactured by Bombardier, now part of Alstom.

Wednesday’s Borealis service was canceled between St. Paul’s Union Depot and Chicago’s Union Station and replaced with buses.

Amtrak’s daily Empire Builder service connecting Chicago, St. Paul and Seattle-Portland, Ore., isn’t affected by the equipment problem.

The Borealis route launched last May following decades of advocacy by Twin Cities rail fans eager to see a second daily train to Chicago. The Twin Cities-Milwaukee-Chicago corridor has proven popular, with preliminary figures showing more than 18,500 riders hopping aboard the Borealis in the first month alone.

Amtrak says updates about the service disruptions will be announced on Amtrak.com, its free mobile app or by text or phone at 877-231-9448.

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