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Apparently there is some buzz among the Amtrak folks that I know, that there could be service cuts coming to some of the Western Long Distance trains starting January 4, 2022 due to COVID vaccine resistance among employees. It was supposed to happen in December, but was extended due to them not wanting to impact holiday travel.
We regularly take the Empire Builder from Tomah to Glenview to visit my parents. We need daily service to make this work to head down on Wednesday and back on Thursday.
Ugh!
Ocala Mike Member # 4657
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Vaccine resistance a symptom of the politicization of this pandemic. Can you imagine if there had been widespread draft resistance 80 years ago? This is a war, same as that was.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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All I can add to this is how the consists of 3,4,5,&6, which I often observe taking my three mile daily walk, are as good as minimum. #3-4, the "combined Super Chief/El Capitan, City of LA, and Golden State" (aka Southwest Chief, or in "fanese" SWC) has of late been SIX cars - 2 Sleeper, 2 Coach, Diner, Lounge.
#5-6 is holding at eight cars; Bagg, Dorm, 2 Slprs, 2 Coach, Diner, Lounge.
Were it not for COVID, the Lounge would likely have been withdrawn.
But all told, and I know this is my opinion that runs contrary to that of the advocacy community, it's time to start with what was unwritten, but the intent. I was employed within the industry on A-Day. The washroom walls heard "five years, and they're done". That would have been '76, well '76 became '79 and the Carter Cuts were to have been the first step to discontinue the LD's in an orderly manner.
So if initiating tri-weekly frequencies is to be the first step in resuming the Carter Cut's intent, let it move forth before some decision to replace the existing Superliners and A-II's is made. An orderly discontinuance, after picking the "low hanging fruit" known as the "Sunset" and "Cardinal", could take ten years. If the existing LD fleet "can't make it that long", then the replacement equipment should be such that is readily convertible to short distance (Corridor) service.
Finally, those same washroom walls heard during '74 when Amtrak placed the order for Superliners, "grief, we're going to be stuck with those trains for the next thirty years!!!!".
Well, thirty is now almost fifty.
yukon11 Member # 2997
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Admin5:
"We regularly take the Empire Builder from Tomah to Glenview to visit my parents. We need daily service to make this work to head down on Wednesday and back on Thursday".
************************************************* I'm concerned as well. I'll be on the Empire Builder next July (Vancouver, WA to Whitefish, MT). I hope the Builder doesn't cut back to 3X/week. It would create havoc with my planned itinerary.
Here is more on possible Amtrak service cuts in Jan:
Will the Amtrak employees proof of vax be ok for the Delta variant, or will they also need to have a proof of vax for the Omicron variant? Is the Post article correct when it says Amtrak ridership is down 97% Stephen Gardner says Covid has caused a ridership drop down to 65% to 70% of previous ridership volume since the beginning of the pandemic. Will 6% of Amtrak employees really be fired if they don't get the vax? To me, 94% of Amtrak employees vaccinated seems pretty good.
Well, in lieu of proof of vax cards, maybe Amtrak could pass out anti-virus bubble gum before you board their trains:
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After the initial euphoria - especially when on my road the Treasurer was jumping for joy when that wire transfer received Monday May 3, 1971, representing an ADVANCE on May operations, the reality of that the roads signed a "Faustian pact with the Devil" set in.
So while Amtrak's "cash up front" was a godsend to the struggling industry during the '70's Dark Ages (on another road, I learned that the Advance was once needed to meet a payroll the following Friday), the industry is viable, thanks so much to Dereg, that Amtrak's greatly reduced (by grace that Amtrak today only buys access to the tracks and signals, as well as some supervision and emergency services, rather than the "turnkey" Purchase of Service they bought on A-Day) cash advances represent some meaningless token.
While "I'm no longer there" (left Dec '81), I doubt if there is any manager on a road today (I'll except ward of the State Penn Central) that hasn't wished his predecessor simply said "thanks but no thanks".
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Richard, here's a "knothole" for the paywalled Washington Post material you linked:
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