Amtrak cancels Acela Express trains in Northeast as coronavirus reduces demand
Amtrak has canceled its flagship Acela Express trains in the Northeast, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to reduce demand for intercity travel. The railroad will still operate its slower Northeast Regional trains from Boston to New York to Washington, though at only 40% of the regular weekday schedule. Amtrak had previously canceled only a handful of Acela trains that run without stops between New York and Washington. [usatoday.com]
FRA proposes on-time performance measure for Amtrak
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) late last week proposed a rule that would define Amtrak on-time train performance and would set a minimum performance standard of 80 percent. The proposed performance and service quality metrics would give Amtrak, its passengers, service providers, the FRA and others a common tool to help objectively gauge intercity passenger rail travel, FRA officials said in a press release. [progressiverailroading.com]
A strong case for faster trains serving ‘megaregions’
In his new book, Designing the Megaregion, urbanist Jonathan Barnett argues that optimized conventional rail like Amtrak’s Boston-Washington Acela and Florida’s expanding Virgin/Brightline is “fast enough” to be a gamechanger in connecting 11 emerging US megaregions including the Northeast, the Great Lakes, Piedmont Atlantic, the Florida peninsula, the Gulf Coast, the Texas Triangle, the Front Range of the Rockies, Arizona Sun corridor, Southern California, Northern California, and Cascadia (Pacific Northwest). [cnu.org]
Coronavirus: Indian Railways suspends all passenger trains month’s end
The Indian Ministry of Railways has made the unprecedented decision to suspend all Indian Railways service through March 31 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile Australian luxury passenger services have been canceled by private operator Journey Beyond and KiwiRail has cut its rail routes in New Zealand. [indiatoday.in | stuff.co.nz | railjournal.com]
