Which routes are going back to full service May 31?

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Not all LDs are getting fully restored by May 31st. The Atlantic Coast Route gets restored to full service over the weekend of June 5-6.

The State funded routes - well - depend on the funding state's desires even though they get funding to cover some gaps from the feds.
 
The surprise will be that all routes have a full startup then. There is too much of a chance that one or more crew districts will not have enough personnel to operate 7 full days, Retirements , personnel not returning requiring new training, sick, etc will all fall into the ability to get continuous service. I expect we will see a few persons get their travel day(s) changed ?
 
Some changes coming in the next month and a half or so:
-Downeasters restored to original full service five round trips.
-Hiawathas increase from 3 round trips to 7
-Northeast Regional:
148 operates on an earlier schedule starting 5/24
140 is suspended on Saturdays
136 is resuming on Fridays
181/198 are discontinued with the resumption of daily 89/90
-Vermont service resumes 7/19*
*Most of these changes are already reflected when searching for tickets except VT service at time of writing. State of VT has publicly announced this restart date.
 
They have six to eight weeks to remedy such outages in a job market that is wide open with supply as the unemployment data suggests.

That might be a difficult lift for conductors and engineers, especially if they aren't qualified on that territory. OBS could likely be brought up and trained in that timeframe and pull from a wider candidate pool, but skilled conductors and engineers are likely a smaller pool of candidates and may not be as wide open for supply as the job market as a whole.
 
That might be a difficult lift for conductors and engineers, especially if they aren't qualified on that territory. OBS could likely be brought up and trained in that timeframe and pull from a wider candidate pool, but skilled conductors and engineers are likely a smaller pool of candidates and may not be as wide open for supply as the job market as a whole.
Are you suggesting that Amtrak has actually laid off Conductors and Engineers? That is certainly news to me. Or is it that furloughed folks are choosing in droves not to return?

I did not realize that to go back to daily they have to hire and train folks off the street to rebuild their T&E pool.
 
Six to eight weeks, in that time period you’d be lucky to put out a job posting, assemble an applicant pool, administer applicant testing(some online, some in person depending on the craft), interview candidates, make selection justifications, send out offers, receive accepted offers, do background checks and on boarding paperwork, complete drug tests, complete physicals, and have a first day on the job. Then OJT can be weeks, months, or years depending on the craft. Starting from zero and getting someone marked up and on their own in six weeks is near impossible.

As for T&E, there has been essentially ZERO hiring for a year. A significant amount of people have retired, or in the case of facing furloughs relocated to different crew bases. It shall be interesting.
 
In view of the above explanation, sounds like an opportunity for some overtime for a while, for T&E crews...:)

At least until they run out of hours...
 
Are you suggesting that Amtrak has actually laid off Conductors and Engineers? That is certainly news to me. Or is it that furloughed folks are choosing in droves not to return?

I did not realize that to go back to daily they have to hire and train folks off the street to rebuild their T&E pool.

More the latter, and more noting that six to eight weeks may not be enough to fill T&E vacancies if they exist, as west point was asserting - the market for employees that can quickly be brought on board to do T&E work is much smaller than the job market as a whole. As furlough grows longer, not all will stay on board: some people will change careers, some will try to find a similar job with another company, some will retire early, etc.
 
How hard can they be to operate - just set the control to "auto" and sit back and let the programable schedule take over ....

🤔 🤭 😮 🥴

Ooops! That should be "train" not "trane" .... guess they are not so easy to operate after all
 
Are you suggesting that Amtrak has actually laid off Conductors and Engineers? That is certainly news to me. Or is it that furloughed folks are choosing in droves not to return?

I did not realize that to go back to daily they have to hire and train folks off the street to rebuild their T&E pool.
On my trip to/from Dallas on the Texas Eagle last Month, the OBS Crew Members were all Very Senior Employees based in Chicago who normally worked other LD Routes, such as the Zephyr,Empire Builder and the Lake Shore and Cap.

They said that lots of the extra board folks in Chicago that were furloughed probably wouldn't be coming back since it had been so long since they'd worked.

All of them said they couldn't wait to get back to their regular Routes.

As for the T&E Crews, I didn't get to talk with any Engineers, who are based in San Antonio and Fort Worth for this portion of the Eagles route, but the Conductors I talked with( all of whom I know and are based in San Antonio and Marshall)said that several Oldtimers had Retired, and that some of the "Newbies" were furloughed since they went to the 3 days a Week Schedule.

A few of the San Antonio Conductors and Engineers are qualified on the Sunset Ltd route, and have been working those Trains, but there just hasnt been enough work for everybody.

Be interesting to see what happens on the various routes.

Perhaps there will be a hiring spree and Amteak can get some badly needed "Fresh blood" onto the Trains!
 
More the latter, and more noting that six to eight weeks may not be enough to fill T&E vacancies if they exist, as west point was asserting - the market for employees that can quickly be brought on board to do T&E work is much smaller than the job market as a whole. As furlough grows longer, not all will stay on board: some people will change careers, some will try to find a similar job with another company, some will retire early, etc.
I know the theory of what could happen. I am wondering what the actual facts and numbers are at this time.
 
Not clear to me how smooth the transition from freight to passenger service is -- but there a substantial number of people who have been laid off from freight service in the past year who wish they weren't.
 
On my trip to/from Dallas on the Texas Eagle last Month, the OBS Crew Members were all Very Senior Employees based in Chicago who normally worked other LD Routes, such as the Zephyr,Empire Builder and the Lake Shore and Cap.

They said that lots of the extra board folks in Chicago that were furloughed probably wouldn't be coming back since it had been so long since they'd worked.

All of them said they couldn't wait to get back to their regular Routes.

As for the T&E Crews, I didn't get to talk with any Engineers, who are based in San Antonio and Fort Worth for this portion of the Eagles route, but the Conductors I talked with( all of whom I know and are based in San Antonio and Marshall)said that several Oldtimers had Retired, and that some of the "Newbies" were furloughed since they went to the 3 days a Week Schedule.

A few of the San Antonio Conductors and Engineers are qualified on the Sunset Ltd route, and have been working those Trains, but there just hasnt been enough work for everybody.

Be interesting to see what happens on the various routes.

Perhaps there will be a hiring spree and Amteak can get some badly needed "Fresh blood" onto the Trains!

Interesting, I knew Marshall was crew change stop but I thought those crews were based out FTW and LIT.
 
Playing around with the Amtrak app, Wolverine service still seems limited to one train a day for the summer. I have not looked farther ahead. Some of the Amtrak fare bundles are kind of interesting. In addition to the 1:25pm Wolverine departure out of Chicago, the eastbound journey shows a weird connection to Michigan cities using the LSL and connecting in Toledo. They list coach, BC and sleeper fares. I cannot fathom anyone paying $200 for a Roomette or 6 hours, to arrive in TOL at 3 am, and hang around until 6:30 am for the bus to Michigan stations. I can't even understand why anyone would do this in coach when it's more expensive and incredibly inconvenient.
 
Has there been any word on when the Cascades will go back to a more normal schedule? Looking at a trip in July, but only one train per day right now and I can’t find anything on the website about when service might return.
 
Has there been any word on when the Cascades will go back to a more normal schedule? Looking at a trip in July, but only one train per day right now and I can’t find anything on the website about when service might return.
I was checking that, according to arrow it’ll be 2022 I believe
 
Has there been any word on when the Cascades will go back to a more normal schedule? Looking at a trip in July, but only one train per day right now and I can’t find anything on the website about when service might return.
I received an email from Washington DOT on Wednesday and they are adding 2 more trains effective May 24th. One Seattle-Portland-Eugene and one Seattle-Portland.

So Seattle-Portland will have 3 daily Cascades frequencies and 2 continue to Eugene. It also said that limited food and beverage service would resume.

It also pretty much said Cascades rail service north of Seattle will not resume until the Canadian border opens.

Arrow should now have the service increase loaded.
 
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