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WINTER PARK, Colo. — The Amtrak Ski Train took off Saturday morning from Union Station for the first time in five years.

The service shutdown in 2009 after more than 70 years in operation.

Today’s ride is just one of two this weekend celebrating Winter Park Resort’s 75th anniversary. Tickets sold out in hours.

The excursions revive hopes the train service could permanently return.

Four-hundred-fifty people shelled out between $37.50 (kids) and $75 (adults) each to ride these rails.

It’s 450 people who avoided a crowded I-70 and are all smiles because of it.

The seven-car train departed before daybreak outside Union Station in downtown toward a destination it hadn’t made in five years.

“The girls and I have just started taking lessons, snowboarding lessons,” said mom, Jenny Broomhall.

These rail riders are travelling 65-miles to Winter Park Resort.

“I love passenger rail. There’s something invigorating about it,” said passenger Jack Wheeler.

They’ll travel through 29 tunnels, and a beautiful climb in elevation of 4,000 feet.

It’s a ride that came to reality after train enthusiasts trying to revive the service took Amtrak leaders on a bus ride from Winter Park to Denver last December.

“We got to I-70 and the highway was jammed. We were stuck on I-70 for about two hours. It became crystal clear this train could really be popular,” says Jim Souby, President of Colorado Rail Passenger Assocation.

“Interstate 70 at this very moment is stop and go from Genesee to beyond the Hwy 40 exit,” said the announcer aboard the train.

It’s a reason many onboard today said they took the train trip.

“Once you are in ski traffic and it is stopped. There are no exits and you are on I-70 in your vehicle and there’s nothing you can do about it,” said Wheeler.

But the train likely won’t do much to alleviate ski traffic on the whole since average traffic counts through the Eisenhower Tunnel are more than 30,000 vehicles a day during the winter.

For these passengers, avoiding traffic is just one plus.

“If you like to see scenery, you’ll never see from the highway or 35,000 feet above, this is the way to go,” said Ira Schreiber with Colorado Rail Passenger Association.

They also like the safety.

“We’re hoping they make the ski train a regular thing and we can do it once or twice a month,” said Broomhall.

Two hours later, they’re at the base of Winter Park’s wondrous snow-capped mountains.

Amtrak says it’s considering running the train more often next season. But it still has to work out an arrangement with Union Pacific, with owns the tracks.