Amtrak to Reinstate Suspended Service on Oct. 3

Amtrak will restore fully daily service on Oct. 3 to long distance trains that are now operating five days a week.

The Rail Passengers Association reported on its website that the change affects the New York-New Orleans Crescent and the City of New Orleans between Chicago and New Orleans.

Also on Oct. 3, RPA, said the now suspended Silver Meteor will resume operation between New York and Miami.

In recent months the only service between New York and Miami has been the Silver Star, which follows a different route from the Meteor in North Carolina and South Carolina.

RPA also said some improvements in food service aboard trains might be rolled out this fall but no details on what those changes might entail are yet available.

Amtrak cited staffing shortages for reducing the frequency of most long-distance trains in January to five days a week.

Most of those service cuts have since been reversed and train operations have reverted to seven days a week.

The RPA report said Amtrak is now confident that it will have the staff and equipment needed to bring the rest of the trains back on to pre-pandemic schedules.

However, the RPA report did not say whether the service restorations includes reinstating service now suspended in the Chicago-Carbondale, Illinois, corridor.

Since January the State of Illinois supported service on that route has been only the northbound Saluki in the morning and the southbound Illini in late afternoon and evening.

Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak long-distance trains