Amtrak and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) on Dec. 16 slashed service on the Philadelphia-Harrisburg Keystone Corridor nearly 50%. Thirteen weekday one-way runs were suspended, along with three on weekends. Despite the trains coming out of the system in December, no media advisory was issued until Jan. 4.
New York City’s Moynihan Train Hall will open for Amtrak and MTA Long Island Rail Road service Jan. 1. The $1.6 billion project, which renovated the 100-year-old James A. Farley Post Office Building at 8th Avenue across from Penn Station, wraps up Dec. 31.
Officials at New York MTA’s Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) announced Dec. 23 that implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) was complete, just ahead of the Dec. 31, 2020, federal deadline. They teamed with systems integrator Siemens Mobility and Bombardier Transportation on the project.
Congress passed the $2.3 trillion “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021” (H.R. 133), an omnibus spending bill that includes a $900 billion COVID-19 emergency relief package as well as government appropriations for fiscal year 2021, tax extenders and other provisions. While many in the rail industry expressed appreciation—stressing that additional transit aid, for instance, will be needed—outgoing President Donald Trump did not. He refused to approve the bill—calling for higher direct relief checks to Americans and other changes—but he finally signed it into law late Dec. 27, averting a government shutdown Dec. 29.
Congress reached an agreement Dec. 20 on a nearly $900 billion pandemic relief package, and approved a one-day stop-gap bill to avoid a government shutdown and allow time for a vote, expected Dec. 21. It’s anticipated that the package will be combined with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill that will fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. The bill includes $14 billion for transit and $1 billion for Amtrak.
The Amtrak Office of Inspector General (OIG) has recommended in a new report that Amtrak should “better measure” PTC (Positive Train Control) system reliability. It also noted that Amtrak faces two risks that may diminish the safety benefits of PTC.
New Jersey’s Newark Penn Station has been awarded $190 million in state funding for renovation work.
Riders can now use Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal when purchasing tickets and other items on Amtrak’s mobile app and website, in addition to traditional credit cards and debit cards.
Amtrak, the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) and the Delaware Transit Corp. (DTC) recently wrapped up a $71.2 million Northeast Corridor (NEC) capacity improvement project between Wilmington and Newark, Del. It included installation of a 1.5-mile main line third track between Ragan and Yard interlockings as well as bridge replacement and other work.
Since COVID-19 disrupted much of the world in March, Railway Age has followed developments, documenting transit’s decline in the spring and its slow recovery in October. Recent reports from Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., indicate that the slow recovery may soon wither and become a transit holocaust. What about intercity rail service?