A roundup of Monday morning rail news:
— Amtrak has suspended all Acela Express service on the Northeast Corridor, reflecting a dramatic drop in usage for America’s only high speed rail service. In a “town hall” telephone meeting with employees on Friday, Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said that one day last week, Acela ridership was down 99% over the same day a year earlier. [See “Amtrak CEO tells employees of ridership drops, pay cuts, other plans,” Trains News Wire, March 23, 2020.] Amtrak is still operating about 40% of its Northeast Corridor schedule, but only with conventional Northeast Regional equipment. The current update on service changes is available here.
— In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, TEXRail and Trinity Railway Express will move to modified schedules effective today (March 23). Trinity Metro’s TEXRail, the service from Fort Worth to DFW Airport, will switch to hourly service, while Trinity Railway Express, the commuter service between jointly owned by Trinity Metro and Dallas Area Rapid Transit, will begin a modified Monday-through-Friday schedule, with Saturday service remaining unchanged. DART trains remain on their regular schedule.
— In Germany, a 51-year-old man was arrested on attempted murder charges Saturday after allegedly loosening bolts on a section of high speed rail track on Friday. The BBC reports that national rail operator Deutsche Bahn described the incident as “sabotage.” Prosecutors said the man is “strongly suspected of having removed bolts on 80 meters [260 feet] of the rail on a bridge between Cologne and Frankfurt.” German newspaper Der Spiegel said the rails were 5 centimeters (2 inches) farther apart than usual, which could have caused the trains to derail.
— Canadian Pacific Railway has told its workers who traveled internationally for personal trips to self-isolate, after a week of considering them exempt from a Canadian government advisory. The CBC reports that the railroad required workers who had traveled out of the country on vacation to report to work, despite a March 13 advisory requesting such travelers to self-isolate. But a Transport Canada statement said an exemption for workers essential to the movement of cargo and people referred to travel in the course of business, not holiday trips.
