Amtrak has begun another round of service cuts as ridership declines continue because of the coronavirus. The latest changes, all effective Monday, April 6:
— The Downeaster will reduce operations to one round trip a day, in keeping with Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ executive order that no one will use public transportation except for an essential reason. Monday through Friday, southbound train No. 680 and northbound train No. 685 will operate; on Saturdays and Sundays, southbound train No. 692 and northbound No. 693 will operate. This schedule will be in effect until at least April 30.
— The New York-Charlotte Carolinian will be suspended in its entirety through at last May 3.
— Amtrak Cascades service between Seattle and Portland will be reduced to one daily round trip. Trains 501 and 504 will be cancelled; northbound train 500 and southbound No. 505 will continue to operate.
— New York’s Empire Service will be further reduced with the cancellation of trains 69, 231, 230, and 290.
Also, trains 89 and 90, the Palmetto, have been cancelled between Washington and Savannah through Sunday, April 5, because of a shortage of crews in Florence, S.C. And Northeast Regional trains 153 and 192 are cancelled today, April 4, to allow work in Baltimore’s B&P Tunnel.
Jeffrey:
“They build them big but they don’t build them smart on the farm planet.”
(Starship Troopers – the movie)
Anna, I suspect the engineer did realize that, but he believed in his cause. Passion can call forth the best or worse in us.
That guy that ran the locomotive off the end of the track at the Port of Los Angeles. What in Hades was he thinking? Didn’t he realize he was throwing his life away?
Thanks Ron I guess I missed it.
I know this is off topic but I was looking for the story of the guy that ran the Loco off the tracks trying to hit the US Navy ship Mercy docked in California. Only saw a little clip about it on the news the other night.
Based on what I have seen on the Texas Eagle at Temple, TX or Taylor, TX, the trains appear to be nearly empty.
Amtrak is slashing the corridor services but the long-distance trains have gone largely untouched. Politics?
These service reductions are reminiscent of the steady truncation and discontinuence of passenger train services through the 1950s and 60s. I hope none of the reductions are permanent this time.
Walt, go to the April 1st Newswire stories. It was the last story that was posted that day.