New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road have published their Amtrak strike contingency plans.
CALTRAIN has said "If there's a strike, then we're shut down."
Didn't Metrolink find a new vendor besides Amtrak to staff their trains?
It's gonna be gridlock in a fair number of cities. Are you ready to watch?
After all, the price of the PEB is only $150 million... that Amtrak doesn't have. Their options to get it are 1) Cut services, 2) Raise fares, 3) Ask Congress for a supplemental.
Posted by City of Miami (Member # 2922) on :
I say let them strike. We might shock ourselves into the 21st Century and get something that actually works OK.
On the other hand, I hope that the strike is not until 1/31 as I am planning to take #21 from DAL to AUS 1/30. Totally selfish as always - along with everyone else LOL!!
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
If Caltrain shuts down, it will be a mess here in the Bay Area, that's for sure.....
Re: Metrolink.....it's not Amtrak crews. I forget the name of the company that operates those trains though. I wanna say Herzog, but I don't think I'm correct.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
As likely one could have surmised the "eleventh hour" has come and a strike averted.
But any provision to blanketly afford Senior Citizens a free ride is absurd. I for one, at age 67 and able bodied, can quite afford to pay my freight; so can the vast majority. For those who cannot, free rides can be added to the array of benefits that an existing "litmus" (need) program named Circuit Breaker offers to Seniors whose need for such has been established.
But then, Seniors are a very reliable voting bloc; and there are no term limits attached to any Illinois public office coming to mind.
Posted by TNCMAXQ (Member # 4875) on :
I had forgotten this was an issue. I am going to DC Feb 7-10 and hope this is resolved. If not I might have to consider driving from New Haven, which I said I would never do again. Or fly. At this late stage the lower fares from Hartford probably are sold out. I haven't flown from NY in many years because of the hassle involved in getting there, but I might have to consider that. Then there is the hassle of getting from Reagan airport to my hotel in NW DC with my heavy suitcase. The scenarios just are not good. I just hope a strike can be averted.
Posted by CG96 (Member # 1408) on :
One result of all these threats is that if they ever came to pass, passengers are not going to discern between Amtrak management and Amtrak labor. The average man and woman on the street will tell their congress member to "get rid of Amtrak." Any strike of this magnitude will be enough to push those elected officials on the bench to the anti-Amtrak, and anti-passenger rail, side of railroad issues.
Get the issues settled, otherwise there may be no passenger trains outside of commuter rail.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
There seems to have been a tentative settlement this morning.
Posted by TNCMAXQ (Member # 4875) on :
I guess I can say "never mind" about my earlier post. In any case I am relieved. Any shutdown of Amtrak would create huge travel headaches for a lot of people. So this is good news. I hope the agreement stands.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
Thanks Henry for the good news, hope it holds. Just received tickets this am for SWC/LSL trip starting Jan. 30.
Posted by Ham Radio (Member # 6587) on :
Here's a link to the news article regarding the tentative settlement of the Amtrak labor talks: UTU: News
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I just hope a strike can be averted.