WASHINGTON — Amtrak will revert to its original COVID-19 vaccination policy, which allows testing as an alternative to vaccination, in light of a court ruling halting a federal executive order blocking enforcement of a vaccination mandate. As a result, the passenger railroad does not anticipate that it will need to make any service reductions in […]
NEW YORK — Amtrak and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority have reached agreement on funding two projects to aid rail travel in the New York City area. The New York Times reports that, in a deal brokered by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Amtrak will use $500 million of the money it received from the recently […]
NEWARK, N.J. — A former Amtrak employee has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from fraudently obtaining dozens of chainsaw and hundreds of chainsaw parts over an eight-year period. A press release from Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General says Jose Rodriguez, 49, of Brick, N.J., obtained 114 chainsaws, 112 chainsaw replacement bars, and 222 replacement chains […]
FORT MADISON, Iowa — The City of Fort Madison celebrated completion of an almost 14-year effort to restore its downtown passenger station on Friday, Dec. 10, with Southwest Chief service to and from the station to begin this Wednesday, Dec. 15. Work at the downtown facility, built by Santa Fe in 1910, required raising the […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak’s Human Resources department does not have sufficient staff to handle the company’s plans to add up to 3,500 employees this fiscal year, the Amtrak Office of the Inspector General says in a report issued Thursday. In another report, the Office of Inspector General said Amtrak should become more involved in local efforts […]
WASHINGTON — Amtrak President Stephen Gardner’s presentation Thursday at a House committee hearing included justification for potential service cuts, related to the passenger railroad’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement, that may be announced next week. Gardner was taking part in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Rail Subcommittee hearing, “Leveraging Infrastructure and Jobs Act: Plans for Expanding […]
Shades of the AEM7: Amtrak’s newest heritage locomotive, ACS64 No. 662, made its debut on Thursday, handling Northeast Regional train No. 176 from Washington to Boston. The first trip came shortly after Amtrak released photos on Twitter of the Siemens locomotive wrapped in a recreation of the paint scheme worn by the earlier electric locomotives […]
Travel aboard a long-distance train for business? Before you set your time machine back to 1951, you might want to consider the perks of booking an overnight trip on a present-day Amtrak train! That’s precisely what Trains.com staffers did when they needed to get themselves, plus all their photography and video gear, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, […]
Travel aboard a long-distance train for business? Before you set your time machine back to 1951, you might want to consider the perks of booking an overnight trip on a present-day Amtrak train! That’s precisely what Trains.com staffers did when they needed to get themselves, plus all their photography and video gear, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, […]
The much-discussed project to build new Northeast Corridor tunnels between New York and New Jersey has received the permit allowing construction to begin once funding is secured. NJ.com reports the permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would allow construction of the Hudson River Tunnel to begin in summer 2023. Once the two new […]
WASHINGTON — Score one small win for Amtrak in its ongoing effort to launch service along the Gulf Coast. The Surface Transportation Board on Monday issued a decision honoring Amtrak’s request for an order allowing it access to CSX Transportation’s Choctaw Yard in Mobile, Ala., to conduct a survey to determine a possible site for […]
WASHINGTON — In a departure from the post-Thanksgiving “Track Friday” sale that Amtrak has staged since 2016, this year’s version is only available from Maine to Virginia in the Northeast instead of on most routes nationwide. Through today (Monday, Nov. 29) the company is offering “Buy One, Get One Free” companion fares between Jan. 4 […]
