TRAVEL

Amtrak to reduce New York-Florida trains starting July 6, with more cuts coming Oct. 1

Curtis Tate
USA TODAY
Walton Sun

Starting Monday, Amtrak's Silver Star and Silver Meteor will run from New York to Miami three and four days a week, respectively, instead of every day.

According to Amtrak, the Silver Meteor will depart New York Penn Station on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The train will depart Miami on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Silver Star will depart New York on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The train will depart Miami on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The Silver Star is scheduled to take three hours longer between New York and Miami, with additional stops in North Carolina and South Carolina. It also stops in Tampa and Lakeland, Florida. As scheduled, the Silver Star takes 30 hours from New York to Miami, versus 27 hours for the Silver Meteor.

On the days the Silver Star does not run, Amtrak will offer a bus connection from Orlando to Tampa. Other daily train service will continue on parts of the route, including the Palmetto from New York to Savanah, Georgia; the Carolinian from New York to Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Auto Train from Lorton, Virginia, to Sanford, Florida.

More cuts are coming on Oct. 1. In a message shared with employees this month, Amtrak said its other long-distance routes would be cut back to three days a week.

Those include the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle and Portland, Oregon; the Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles; the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville, California; the City of New Orleans from Chicago to New Orleans; the Texas Eagle from Chicago to San Antonio, Texas; the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle; the Capitol Limited from Washington to Chicago; the Lake Shore Limited from New York and Boston to Chicago; and the Crescent from New York to New Orleans.

Two trains, the Cardinal from New York to Chicago and the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles, currently operate three days a week and will continue to do so. One route, the Auto Train, will continue to operate daily from northern Virginia to central Florida.

The bipartisan CARES Act, which Congress passed and the president signed in March, gave Amtrak $1 billion to keep its trains running and employees on the payroll through the end of September.

After achieving record ridership last year of 32.5 million passengers, Amtrak faces steep revenue losses in the coming year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The rail company projects only half the number of passengers will ride its trains in 2021 as did in 2019.

It plans to cut 20% of its workforce through voluntary buyouts, early retirements – and layoffs, if necessary – beginning Oct. 1. Still, it has asked Congress for nearly $1.5 billion in additional funding to maintain a minimum level of service across its 21,000-mile national network.

Congressional lawmakers who helped Amtrak get funding through the CARES Act are not happy about the cuts.

"We are deeply concerned by the downsizing plan outlined in your supplemental funding request and believe it to be contrary to public interest," wrote Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, and five other senators last week in a bipartisan letter to Amtrak President and CEO William Flynn. "These cuts would not only dramatically reduce the utility of the nation’s passenger rail network, but would also ignore Congressional intent to expedite economic recovery following the pandemic."

Daines' state, for example, is served daily by the Empire Builder, which stops in rural northern Montana communities located hundreds of miles from the nearest commercial airport. That's also true for other Amtrak routes through the west, including the Southwest Chief and the California Zephyr.

Sean Jeans-Gail, vice president of policy and government affairs for the Rail Passengers Association, said the cuts are no way to get people back on the trains.

"Imagine having to fly to O’Hare and go get a hotel for two days until you can make your connection," he said. "It just wouldn’t have any real utility."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amtrak to reduce New York-Florida trains starting July 6, with more cuts coming Oct. 1