Amtrak service cut draws criticism

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Amtrak is once again reducing services across the United States as the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States continues, and this reduction in services has drawn some criticism.

Amtrak announced that starting last week, Empire Builder trains will no longer depart from Chicago, Seattle and Portland on Thursdays and Fridays, meaning there will be no service in Montana on Fridays or Saturdays. , including to popular destinations like Big Mountain Ski Resort.

Calls to the Whitefish Mountain station had not been returned by the print deadline this morning.

The reduction in service at Empire Builder, which also affects Southwest Chief, California Zephyr, Coast Starlight, Crescent, Texas Eagle, Capitol Limited, Lake Shore Limited and City of New Orleans routes, is in effect until March 27.

Service cuts are also in place in other parts of the country.

Amtrak said the main reason for the reduction is due to staffing, which COVID-19 has taken its toll on, especially now that the workload in the United States is dominated by the omicron variant, which is much more contagious than the previous variants.

An Amtrak statement addressing the issue said the company had gone to great lengths to get its staff vaccinated and tested, but the impact of the virus on its employees was massive regardless.

“Despite Amtrak’s rigorous vaccination and testing program, several hundred of our onboard service personnel, conductors, engineers and mechanical crews continue to be impacted by COVID infections or exposures. , especially given the highly infectious nature of the new variant and the prevalence of breakthrough cases,” Amtrak said in the release.

This reduction in services is in addition to other reductions, including the 8% suspension of weekly departures from the North East region, the suspension of 6% of state-supported weekly departures and the suspension of daily service Silver Meteor to be compensated by a corresponding increase in capacity. , as requested, on Silver Star and Palmetto routes serving nearly all destinations served by the Silver Meteor.

This isn’t the first service cut Amtrak has had to make during the pandemic. Long-distance routes were cut early in the pandemic as National Passenger Rail Service cited a drop in passenger numbers due to COVID-19, but seven-day-a-week service resumed in May after Congress earmarked funds specifically to restore service and ordered Amtrak to return furloughed workers to their jobs.

The statement regarding the current service cuts says customers with existing reservations are being relocated and the service continues to monitor conditions to make any necessary adjustments, but the cut in services has still drawn criticism for its execution, even among those who agree that it may be necessary.

Mark Meyer, a former Cut Bank and Le Havre resident and longtime advocate for passenger rail service, said Amtrak appears to be taking a cookie-cutter approach to its cuts instead of dealing with issues route by route, which which is a problem.

“During the current COVID situation, a number of companies are reducing service, and Amtrak shouldn’t necessarily be an exception,” Meyer said. “However, Amtrak’s discounts appear to be uniform in nature rather than route-specific. With the exception of two routes already operating only three days a week and routes between the northeast and Florida, all Amtrak’s long-distance trains now only operate five consecutive trips days a week.”

He said having two consecutive days without service creates a serious problem by creating a 72-hour gap between trains, and the choice of days made could be very disruptive for the Empire Builder.

“Less-than-daily service also restricts connections to Chicago and Portland, as the Empire Builder often arrives in these cities on days that are one of two ‘days off’ for other long-distance services, reducing days when connections are possible like just three,” he said.

Meyer said this one-size-fits-all reduction in service does a disservice to many communities along train lines that rely on it as their only reasonable means of public transportation, describing it as an “insult to longtime customers who have made the Empire Builder (at least pre-COVID) Amtrak’s busiest long-distance train in the company’s 50-year history.”

He also criticized the cuts from the perspective of employees, especially those on board who could face serious challenges with this new model.

“With two consecutive days without service, flight and operating personnel are faced each week with a long layover in places away from home, or expensive “one-on-one travel” (moving employees to or from a service point when a daily crew rotation is no longer available) at the start or end of each five-day rotation,” Meyer said.

A response from an Amtrak union representative to whom Havre Daily was referred had not been received by the print deadline this morning.

He also said that implementing this plan and the complications it would cause would likely cost more than just sticking with daily service and result in lower revenue due to cut connections.

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