More COVID-19 related rail news for Friday:
— NJ Transit ridership is down 88%, leading the agency to ask for a $1.25 billion federal bailout, Politico reports. In a letter to the state’s congressional delegation, CEO Kevin Corbett said NJ Transit “is looking at efficiencies; however we cannot overcome the unprecedented financial burden this national emergency has created on our own.”
— Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is limiting travel on public transportation to essential personnel as part of anti-virus measures announced Thursday. “No one should get on a MARC train, Metro, Amtrak train, or bus, or any of our transportation assets unless you are emergency personnel, a frontline health-care provider, or your job is essential to the supply chain,” Baker said in an Annapolis, Md., press conference. Other moves include allowing trucks to exceed their weight limit to assist in delivering supplies, Herald-Mail Media reports.
— New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority says 23 workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, the New York Post reports. That includes 19 employees of New York City Transit, the subway and bus system, and four at the Long Island Rail Road. MTA chairman Patrick J. Foye says all 23 are in quarantine or receiving appropriate care, and efforts are in progress to identify other workers who may require self-quarantine, as well as “aggressively disinfect the workplace.”
— The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is closing all ticket windows and waiting rooms at its outlying Regional Rail stations as of today. SEPTA had previously reduced weekday service to an enhanced weekend schedule.
— The National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association has postponed its annual equipment auction, which had been scheduled for May 14, 2020, in Granite City, Ill. The organization says a new date will be determined once more information on the COVID-19 pandemic is available.
Alco is going to open back up and start by producting the PA-1
And Happy April first to T O”Toole. The ALCo site in Schenectady is now mostly covered by a casino and hotel complex. Doubt any more PA’s coming out. They did ride nice, though!
Muni has substituted buses for the cable cars and the E-Embarcadero and F-Market lines.
How about no traffic obstructions on California Street allows cable car line to run on time!
Mr. Figol: Bluntly put, for all practical purposes there ISN’T any–because of the Wuhan/COVID-19 virus.
Could we have some non Covid 19, even happy, news please!