It’s July 2000 at Washington Union Station and Amtrak’s westbound Capitol Limited is boarding.
I have sleeping car accommodations and am one of the first to board.
I have enough time to walk the platform and make a few images of the train.
Today’s No. 29 will be pulled by the standard two P42DC units, but note the inter-generational liveries.
Lead unit No. 52 is wearing the Phase IV livery while the trailing locomotive sports Phase III colors.
VIA Rail Canada said that beginning March 31 it will further cut service on most routes.
The new schedule calls for only one train per day on all routes in the Quebec City-Windsor, Ontario, corridor.
All trains will stop at every station on all routes.
Montreal-Jonquiere, Quebec; Montreal-Senneterre, Que; and Sudbury-White River, Ontario, routes will operate with one round trip per week.
The Winnipeg-Churchill, Manitoba, train is no longer offering Sleeper Plus service.
Other operations, including the Canadian and Ocean, have been suspended through May 1.
VIA said carry-on baggage assistance offered by employees is temporarily suspended on all trains across the network.
However, it said it will continue to offer the same level of assistance to passengers with disabilities and/or limited mobility.
Checked baggage service has been temporarily suspended on all routes except Sudbury-White River and Winnipeg-Churchill.
In the United States, Amtrak and CTrail Hartford Line trains have begun operating on an even more reduced schedule with a combined 11 round trips (six CTrail, five Amtrak) on weekdays and revised weekend schedules on Amtrak’s Hartford line between New Haven, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts.
The first service reduction that is related to the COVID-19 pandemic has hit Amtrak’s long-distance network although it was an unintended consequence.
Amtrak said on Sunday it would truncate the route of the California Zephyr to Chicago-Denver because an Amtrak worker assigned to the train has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
An email sent to Amtrak employees said workers exposed to that employee have gone into a 14-day self-quarantine.
That has resulted in Amtrak being short on crew members to staff the train.
On its Twitter feed Amtrak said eastbound No. 6 is to originate in Denver on March 30.
The westbound Zephyr that departed Chicago on Sunday would terminate in Denver.
No. 6 that departed Emeryville on Sunday was to turn at Reno, Nevada, with passengers continuing eastward by bus.
An online report indicated the consist of the Zephyr in recent days has been two P42DC locomotives, two sleepers, two coaches, a dining car and a Sightseer lounge.
Baggage generally cars have been removed from Amtrak trains that had them before the pandemic broke out.
In other related developments, the suspension of the Pennsylvanian, which normally operates between New York and Pittsburgh, and Keystone Service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been extended to April 5.
Amtrak also has announced that the Auto Train will not originate on either March 30 or 31. No explanation was given, but this train derailed last week in Florida and the cancellations may are likely related to that in some manner.
In a related announcement, Amtrak said the Silver Meteor and Silver Star will originate in Miami on Monday as scheduled.
They had been originating in Jacksonville, Florida, as a byproduct of the Auto Train derailment.
North of the border, Canada has restricted domestic travel by those showing such symptoms of the coronaviras as fever, coughing, or difficulty breathing.
Transport Canada that VIA Rail Canada, intercity rail operators, and airlines screen passengers for symptoms by asking health questions and looking for visible signs of illness.
Would-be passengers showing symptoms will be prohibited from travel for 14 days or until they can present a medical certificate confirming the symptoms are not related to COVID-19.
The order does not affect commuter rail and bus travel.
A crowd waits on the platform in Joliet, Illinois, as Amtrak’s Texas Chief arrives at its first stop en route to Houston after leaving Chicago Union Station on Aug. 17, 1973.
The SDP40F locomotives pulling the train have been in service for just about two months.
The train is on the tracks of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and is about to cross the tracks of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific.
Next spring the Santa Fe’s dissatisfaction with the quality of Amtrak service will result in the Texas Chief being renamed the Lone Star.
Several Amtrak stations across the system are also seeing reduced hours or being closed for some or all train arrivals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Service advisories posted on the Amtrak website said the changes are until further notice.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, station will see its hours reduced to 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily.
The waiting rooms of the stations in Washington State at Bingen-White Salmon and Wishram station waiting rooms are closed but trains will continue to stop at both stations and passengers will have access to platforms.
The Metropolitan Lounge at Chicago Union Station is no longer being staffed.
Passengers may still use the lounge but will not receive coffee, hot water or fountain beverages. Amtrak said regular and diet soda will be available by request at the front desk.
However, given that the station is not being staff it is unclear who will be providing those beverages to passengers.
Other stations at which the waiting room is now closed but access to the boarding platforms is being maintained include Detroit Lakes, Minnesota; Kirkwood, Missouri; Lawrence, Kansas; Dodge City, Kansas; Lincoln, Nebraska; Burlington, Iowa; Kalamazoo, Michigan; East Lansing, Michigan; Princeton, Illinois; and Plano, Illinois;
The station hours at Grand Junction, Colorado, have been reduced to two hours before the arrival of the California Zephyr.
Ticketed passengers and those wishing to purchase cashless tickets will have access to the inside of the station but friends and family picking up arriving passengers are not permitted in the station and are being asked to wait in their vehicles.
A similar practice has been instituted for Southwest Chief passengers using the station in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Amtrak Cascades Service has been further trimmed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nos. 517 and 518 have been canceled until further notice.
A notice on the Cascades Service website said all food and beverage service aboard trains that continue to operate has been suspended.
Passengers are allowed to bring their own food and non-alcoholic beverages onboard.
All stations between Seattle and Eugene remain open except the volunteer-staffed Olympia/Lacey and Kelso stations.
Cascades trains will continue to stop at those stations but no services are available.
No passengers were hurt but an Amtrak crew member suffered a foot injury in the Thursday derailment of the northbound Auto Train.
The derailment occurred less than 20 miles north of the DeLand, Florida, station at about 4:15 p.m.
Nine auto rack cars derailed but all of the passenger cars remained on the tracks.
News reports indicated that an unspecified track problem caused the derailment.
The passenger cars were able to continue their journey after an inspection.
The train was carrying 294 passengers and 23 crew members.
Amtrak canceled the Auto Train in both directions on Friday and the Silver Meteor and Silver Star originated in Jacksonville, Florida, rather than Miami.
Amtrak said this morning in a Twitter service alert that both Silver Service trains of March 28 would continue to originate in Jacksonville and that no alternative transportation is being provided for the missed stations.
The carrier will provide alternative transportation on Saturday south of Jacksonville only to discharge passengers.
The House of Representatives approved on Friday the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill that contains emergency aid for Amtrak and public transit agencies hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill, which was supported by President Donald Trump and received broad bi-partisan support, contains $25 billion for public transportation agencies, including commuter-rail operators.
That funding will be allocated through formula operating and capital grants.
The stimulus package also contains $1 billion for Amtrak, which has seen steep ridership declines and canceled scores of trains in an effort to stem financial losses.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Amtrak ridership is down 92 percent.
In a unrelated development the Federal Transit Administration said it will extend by 30 days the deadlines for applying for competitive grant program funding.
The extension applies to grant programs now administered by the FTA with active notices of funding opportunities.
FTA also said it is offering flexibility to agencies using existing federal formula funds for emergency-related capital and operating expenses at an increased 80-percent federal share.
Agencies can request relief from federal requirements as needed by making a request through FTA’s emergency relief docket.
The agency cited the pandemic in extending the grant application deadlines.
The Kansas legislature has approved a resolution expressing support for extending Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer into Kansas.
The resolution urges the Kansas congressional delegation to support federal funding that would make the extension possible.
That is a reference to an Amtrak proposal for a dedicated federal appropriation to help states pay for new Amtrak corridor service.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has proposed setting aside state funding for preliminary work to develop passenger rail services.
The Kansas Department of Transportation’s FORWARD Kansas transportation plan recommends developing the Heartland Flyer extension from Oklahoma City to Newton, Kansas, where it could connect with the Chicago-Los Angeles Southwest Chief.
The resolution adopted by Kansas lawmakers said “numerous studies conducted by universities in Texas and Kansas have determined the economic benefit of Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer passenger rail service and its extension to be at least three to one for every dollar spent.”
The Heartland Flyer, which is funded by the states of Oklahoma and Texas, currently operates once a day between Oklahoma City an Fort Worth, Texas.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had many effects, some of which have received little attention.
Among those has been Amtrak’s acceptance of a suggestion by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to business to limit the handling of cash, which it said can carry the virus.
The CDC has recommended that business promote tap and pay to limit the handling of cash.
The Rail Passengers Association said it has learned this week that Amtrak has begun refusing to take cash which the advocacy group said could leave those without credit cards with no options for paying for Amtrak services.
The RPA said it won’t fault Amtrak for adopting the policy, but said a workaround needs to be found.
“We at Rail Passengers right now don’t have an answer,” RPA CEO Jim Mathews wrote on its website on Friday. “I’m raising the question as a challenge, however, that maybe all of us can come up with a solution.”
Amtrak in the Heartland 