Loss of connections will make Amtrak restoration thresholds difficult to achieve
Posted: 21 Aug 2020, 18:06
Analysis: Loss of connections will make Amtrak restoration thresholds difficult to achieve
Two key documents released by Amtrak last week — the schedule for triweekly operation of long-distance trains to take effect in October, and the benchmarks for restoration of those trains to daily operation — can, taken together, show how difficult it will be for trains to achieve the measurements necessary to increase service.
Amtrak’s formulaic approach to restoration has several significant flaws: It fails to account for current booking trends during the COVID-19 pandemic, does not factor in business that will be lost because of connections that are no longer possible under the reduced schedule, and assumes passengers who happen to use trains that travel long distances are inherently different from passengers who ride shorter state-supported runs and trains on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor...