Pennsylvanian, Keystones to be Restored June 1

Amtrak announced this week that the New York-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian will resume service on June 1.

On the same day Amtrak will begin restoring Keystone Service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Keystone service will initially be nine weekday roundtrips with six roundtrips operated on weekends.

There will be no Keystone Service between Philadelphia and New York for now as there was before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Amtrak said all trains will operate at less than full capacity to allow for social distancing.

Other service restorations set for June 1 include restoration of Acela service with three weekday roundtrips.

Northeast Regional service will increase from eight to 10 roundtrips in the Northeast Corridor.

In a unrelated development, VIA Rail Canada said that effective June 3 it will restore to service the following trains: 62 and 669 (Toronto-Kingston-Montréal)  and 52, 48, 59 (Toronto-Kingston-Ottawa).

Amtrak to Reinstate Some Trains June 1

Amtrak corridor services in Michigan and Pennsylvania that have been suspended during the COVID-19 are set to return to operation on June 1.

This includes the Chicago-Grand Rapids, Michigan, Pere Marquette, the New York-Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian, and New York-Philadelphia-Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Keystone Service.

Also planned to be reinstated on that date is some modified Acela Express service in the Northeast Corridor and the New York-Charlotte Carolinian.

Although Amtrak has not announced the return of the state corridor services, tickets are now for sale on its website for June 1 and beyond.

Keystone Service starting June 1 will only operate between Philadelphia and Harrisburg after being suspended on March 18. There will be nine roundtrips.

The Pere Marquette and Pennsylvanian have been suspended since March 19 while the Carolinian has been idle since April 6.

In the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak said it will operate three Acela roundtrips and increase the number of Northeast Regional roundtrips from eight to 10.

Amtrak Still Operating Most Trains

Amtrak said this week that it will continue operating the bulk of its trains but is taking precautions to guard against coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

The carrier said that includes increasing the cleaning of trains and stations, and stocking up on additional quantities of sanitizers and disinfectant wipes to be made available for passengers and employees.

Amtrak said it has waived change fees travel on bookings made through April 30.

Thus far the only trains that Amtrak has suspended are three Acela Express trains between New York and Washington.

In a notice posted on its website and sent out via an email blast, Amtrak said it continues to monitor the virus and is taking the advice of health experts.

Tracking the New Acela Trainset in Perry

Amtrak’s Acela Express will never operate in Northeast Ohio in revenue service, but one of the next generation Acela trains sets passed through last Monday afternoon en route to a testing facility in Colorado.

The ferry move of Amtrak equipment used the route of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited between Buffalo, New York, and Chicago.

The Acela equipment that is being tested has yet to receive its interior appointments.

Instead, concrete blocks were installed in place of seats to simulate load factors.

The equipment was placed on display for a news media event in Chicago on Track 2 at Chicago Union Station on Tuesday.

The Acela trainset runs on electricity so it was pulled from the Alstom assembly plant in Hornell, New York, by Amtrak P42DC diesel locomotives.

Viewliner baggage and dining cars served as buffer cars an Heritage fleet sleeper Pacific Bend provided accommodations for workers accompanying the ferry move.

Alstom is building 28 Acela trainsets for Amtrak with the first one expected to begin revenue service in the Northeast Corridor in 2021.

Photographs by Todd Dillon

New Amtrak Acela Train Passes Through NE Ohio

The new trainset built by Alstom for Amtrak’s Acela Express service in the Northeast Corridor passed through Northeast Ohio late Monday afternoon.

The train was en route from Hornell, New York, where it was built, to a testing center near Pueblo, Colorado.

It departed Hornell early Monday morning and reached Lake County east of Cleveland by mid to late afternoon.

A railfan chat list posting said it passed through Berea on the NS Chicago line at 5:40 p.m. and was in Elkhart, Indiana, at 11:30 p.m.

The ferry move used the Southern Tier line of Norfolk Southern to Buffalo, New York, where it picked up the route of Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited to Chicago.

On Tuesday afternoon the train left Chicago on the route of the Southwest Chief bound for La Junta, Colorado.

The consist of the special as it passed through Northeast Ohio included P42DC Nos. 135 and 196, heritage fleet sleeper Pacific Bend, a Viewliner baggage car, the Acela trainset, a Viewliner dining car and P42DC No. 144.

The train set is expected to undergo testing for several weeks in Colorado before returning to New York for the installation of its interior appointments.

Foggy Day at Princeton Junction

The day was nice here in the suburbs of New Jersey. I was in the mood to go see some big time passenger train action so I headed 40 miles west to where the wide open spaces of central New Jersey yield some nice places to photograph the Northeast Corridor.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other ideas and I ended up in a fog bank at Princeton Junction, 47 miles southwest of New York City and 10 miles from the New Jersey capital of Trenton.

The NEC hosts an interesting variety of equipment, including old and new technologies working together to move tens of thousands of people a day from home to work and back again or countless other destinations.

One minute, you see a New Jersey Transit local made up of New Jersey Arrow MUs, originally built in the late ‘70s and rebuilt in the ‘90s. The next minute, an Acela streaks by at 125 m.p.h.

The fast, quiet electric trains running at more than 100 m.p.h. on 140-pound welded rail are hard enough to photograph on a good day.

I picked Princeton Junction due to dead-straight lines of sight for several miles in either direction.

The fog erased the advantage, but also made for an interesting time because you never knew what was going to pop out of the fog.

I had old NJT MUs as well as their modern ALP46 electrics. Amtrak produced modern ACS-64s as well as a pair of cab cars that were at one time the pride of the Penn Central Metroliner fleet, the future of high speed rail back in the late ‘60s.

I didn’t spend much time there today, but if I had waited long enough maybe the ghost of a Pennsylvania Railroad GG-1 would have emerged from the fog. Only the out-of-service Nassau Tower knows the answer.

Article and Photographs by Jack Norris