The COVID-19 pandemic may force a reckoning for Amtrak’s long-distance routes, bringing about cuts that critics have long urged but that passenger rail advocates in and out of Congress say could undermine the service’s mission.
Pummeled by the pandemic, Amtrak earlier this month began running three times a week what were previously daily long-distance routes. The nation’s only passenger rail system also began cutting 2,050 jobs out of its workforce of 18,500 and has reduced service on other routes as well.
But in cutting long-distance routes, the company is toying with services prized by lawmakers who have vowed to protect them even though they lose money. Amtrak promised when it cut the long-distance service that it was committed “to restoring service levels when appropriate.”
Now, with Congress at an impasse over more COVID-19 relief and ridership still at about 25 percent of pre-pandemic levels, Amtrak has no clear path to restore service. Rail advocacy groups worry that long-distance passengers whom Amtrak loses now won’t come back, thus justifying permanent cuts.
“They are of the opinion that they can temporarily cut back to three times a week and start accepting reservations again in February for the summer, and it’ll be bad but it’ll be OK,” said Jim Mathews, CEO of the Rail Passengers Association. “And we’ve done a lot of math that says that well, no, it’s actually probably not going to be OK.”
"may" - Google News
October 19, 2020 at 07:30PM
https://ift.tt/3dH5Ul3
Hit by pandemic, Amtrak is making cuts that may endure - Roll Call
"may" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3foH8qu
https://ift.tt/2zNW3tO
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Hit by pandemic, Amtrak is making cuts that may endure - Roll Call"
Post a Comment