The next round of frequency reductions of Amtrak long-distance trains will be implemented on Oct. 12 when the Lake Shore Limited, Texas Eagle, Coast Starlight and Southwest Chief begin tri-weekly operation.
That will mean that there will be no scheduled Amtrak service in northeast Ohio on Wednesdays.
On Oct. 5 the Capitol Limited, California Zephyr, City of New Orleans and Crescent shifted to operating tri-weekly operation.
The Lake Shore and Capitol Limited will depart New York/Boston and Washington respectively on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, putting them through Cleveland on Thursday, Saturday and Monday.
That is the same schedule the westbound Cardinal follows at Cincinnati.
Nos. 30 and 48/448 will depart Chicago on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, putting them into Cleveland on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
However, the eastbound Cardinal departs Chicago on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and reaches Cincinnati on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The Empire Builder and Palmetto will change to tri-weekly operation on Oct. 19.
Once those changes are made only the Auto Train will operate daily among Amtrak’s long-distance trains.
The Silver Meteor began quad-weekly operation in early July. At the same time the Silver Star shifted to tri-weekly operation.
The New York-Miami trains are scheduled to operate on separate days so as to preserve daily service on some portions of their routes.
Although some congressional leaders and President Trump continue to issue public statements expressing support for another round of COVID-19 pandemic emergency aid, differences in opinion among the parties as to the size of the aid and what would be covered have prevented any deals from being reached.
Rail passengers advocates have sought to lobby to include emergency aid for Amtrak in the next round of pandemic aid and Amtrak is seeking additional funding in federal fiscal year 2021.
The fate of those funding requests remains unclear and Amtrak president William Flynn has warned that further employee furloughs and train service cuts are likely if Amtrak doesn’t get additional funding for FY 2021.
The passenger carrier like other federally-funded programs is operating with funding authorized by a continuing resolution that freezes funding levels at FY 2020 levels through Dec. 11.
Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak in Cincinnati, Amtrak in Cleveland, Amtrak service cuts, Amtrak's Capitol Limited, Amtrak's Cardinal, Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited
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