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Any reactions?Amtrak to drop Pennsylvanian west of Pittsburgh
Amtrak’s Philadelphia-Chicago Pennsylvanian will revert to a train operating no farther west than Pittsburgh in January as the railroad phases out the express business that was the train’s raison d’etre west of the Steel City. The train will, however, be extended east to New York City, offering single-train Pittsburgh-New York service like its Three Rivers counterpart (which will remain on its present Chicago-Akron-Pittsburgh-New York route).
The Pennsylvanian was extended west of Pittsburgh to Chicago, via Cleveland and Toledo, four years ago as part of Amtrak’s plan to tap the express market. But the railroad is phasing out express, and will truncate the train at Pittsburgh effective with the January 27, 2003, timetable change, Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel said on December 11.
The demise of the Pennsylvanian west of Pittsburgh—serving stations also covered by the Chicago-Albany-Boston/New York “Lake Shore Limited” and Chicago-Washington “Capitol Limited”—has been rumored for months.
“Most of the business west of Pittsburgh was based on the continuation of express service,” Stessel said. “Now that that’s being phased out, there’s no particular need for this train to operate west of Pittsburgh.”
Ridership on the westbound train has been low in Ohio, Indiana, and Chicago owing to its express-driven late afternoon and evening schedule and its 2:25 a.m. scheduled arrival time in Chicago, Stessel said. The eastbound, which leaves Chicago at 1 a.m. and used to do so at 6 a.m., offers a daylight service for passengers boarding at Toledo, Cleveland, and points east. The train is due into Philadelphia at 9:15 p.m. but used to be carded in around midnight.
Amtrak says it will save money by converting the train to a New York-Pittsburgh service. The railroad also plans to tweak the eastbound schedule so it arrives in Philadelphia about three hours earlier, around dinnertime, Stessel said.
Stessel was unable to say whether Amtrak is reviewing the status or planning to drop the Kentucky Cardinal, the nightly Chicago-Louisville, Ky., train whose fortunes are also linked with express business.
The only other confirmed major change coming with Amtrak’s January 27 timetable will be the addition of a 10th Acela Express trip linking New York and Boston in both directions: an 11:15 a.m. departure from Boston and a 12:03 p.m. departure from New York.