WASHINGTON — Amtrak will close seating in its café cars, making food service carryout only, and has extended its waivers on change and cancellation fees until Aug. 31, as part of its ongoing program to address COVID-19 concerns as it begins to ramp up for increased operations and ridership. The passenger carrier is has also enhanced cleaning and disinfecting at stations, and has introduced signage to indicate safe distancing, along with clear protective barriers at customer counters at its busiest stations. These join prior moves such as limiting ticket sales to 50% of each train’s seating capacity and requiring customers as well as employees to wear face coverings. More information on coronavirus safety efforts is available at Amtrak’s website.
Amtrak is also modifying service on its trains using CSX’s A-Line south of Richmond, Va., because of daytime trackwork and low ridership. A rundown of the scheduling changes through June 2:
Silver Star: Southbound, departs New York Friday through Sunday only (in Florida Saturday through Monday); Northbound, departs Miami Thursday through Saturday only (in Virginia, North Carolina Friday through Sunday).
Silver Meteor: Southbound, departs New York Monday through Thursday only (in Florida Tuesday through Friday); Northbound, departs Miami Sunday through Wednesday only (in Virginia and NEC Monday through Thursday)
Palmetto: Cancelled Monday-Thursday through May 21 south of Washington D.C. to Savannah, Ga.
Carolinian: Cancelled New York-Charlotte through May 17; resumes Charlotte-Raleigh only May 18-31.
Piedmont: The single remaining round trip (trains 75-76) that has been providing Charlotte-Raleigh service will be discontinued effective May 18.
Some cities, including Columbia, S.C., and Tampa, Fla., on the Star’s route, will lose all service on on days when trains are cancelled. There is a Thruway bus connection to and from Tampa when only the Meteor runs. Either the Meteor or Palmetto will serve all stations on their North and South Carolina route, depending on the day of the week.
— Correspondent Bob Johnston contributed to this report. Corrected on May 15 to note Thruway bus connection to Tampa.
JEFFREY – Anti-social distancing will occur throughout society, not just on trains. I’ve had a lot of awesome conversations with total strangers on trains, buses, airplanes or wherever else. It’s called being human. Now it’s practically illegal. PARAGRAPH – Normally I’m one to respect the rules and respect expertise. It takes a whole lot for me to say that someone’s expertise is nonsense. I follow the rules and expect others to do so, but I also can spot total idiocy. The “six-foot” rule maybe started off as a suggestion or a guess but proceeded to take on a life of its own that we might never get rid of. It makes no sense to me. If I can catch (or if I can spread) COVID by shopping at Krogers or going to church or mailing a package at Fedex or riding a train, it doesn’t matter six feet or or six inches. If someone is vulnerable to COVID, most of the vulnerable people have already contracted it and the remainder can live in a bubble only for so long.
I have had many pleasant conversations in diners. And, I had a five hour long conversation that began in a dome, moved to the diner, and back to the dome.
Let me try to figure that out again? What is running what /where? Dhhhhh
“…will lose all serve on on days when trains…..”
Totally understood, but one reason to take the train is social. Last time I took the Meteor from Hollywood to NYP I remarked on the book a guy was reading in the cafe car (even though I was eating in the diner as a sleeper passenger). It turning into a several hour fascinating conversation. The pleasures of train travel. Sigh!