COVID-19-related rail news for Thursday morning:
— Colorado’s Royal Gorge Route Railroad, closed since mid-March, is tentatively planning to resume operations May 23 with three daily round trips. The railroad said in a Facebook post earlier this week that state and local policies would allow it to reopen, and the Canon City Daily Record reports the railroad has room to accommodate 300 passengers even with social distancing on its 17-car trains. Owner Mark Greksa told the newspaper the railroad is coming off a record season, but expects to see ridership drop by half this year. More information is available at the Royal Gorge Route website.
— The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad has cancelled all operations through Sept. 30, 2020 “for the safety and health of passengers, staff, and volunteers,” the railroad announced in a press release, citing the knowledge that large gatherings are not likely to be safe for some time because of the COVID-19 virus.. Cuyahoga Valley President and CEO Joe Mazur said the railroad will continue to monitor the situation throughout the summer and determine if it is safe to run trains in the fall. Visit the railroad website for more information.
— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has asked the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to come up with plans to disinfect all subway trains on a daily basis, Cuomo said Wednesday during his daily coronavirus briefing. The MTA has until today to come up with a plan. CBS News reports Cuomo called it “a tremendous undertaking that has never been done before,” but also said, “we owe it to [essential workers] to be able to say the train you ride, the bus you ride has been disinfected and is clean.” While the MTA has been disinfecting equipment daily, it has been needing 72 hours to cover its entire fleet.
We have rafted the Arkansas River to and through the gorge when there were still trains running. It’s beautiful country and I would like the perspective of seeing it from the tracks. Trains are loud when you are on the water and one passes.PR
One weekend in 1974 (I can’t remember if it was a Saturday or Sunday) the D&RGW didn’t plan on running any trains through the canyon that day and gave a local hiking club permission to hike through the gorge. We started where US-50 crossed the tracks and hiked the tracks to Canyon City. I can’t remember exactly but I seem to recall that half the group hiked westbound and exchanged car keys when we passed each other. The hiking club was from Colorado Springs, so they may have chartered a bus to take us there and the bus just picked us up at Canyon City. It was an outstanding opportunity that I’ll never forget. I still hope to ride that train if I’m ever in the area again.
Agree: Royal Gorge RR is a prime example of how to drliver a consistently high quality customer experience. Have you ever driven on up US 50 to Salida? Beautiful and rugged Canyons Several shop owners volunteered their longing… “if only a train would come up to Salida.” Its an interesting challenge. Any thoughts?
Good news about the Royal Gorge re-opening. If you haven’t experienced the trip, it is nothing sort of outstanding!
I have been through the Royal Gorge one time, in early spring, in a side door Pullman. Let me tell you, it was wickedly cold. But it was also one of the most spectacular pieces of railroad I have ever seen.
I paid the extra $50 for the cab ride; well worth it!