Amtrak to Congress: Service cuts are coming over vaccine rules

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

An Amtrak executive told Congress on Thursday the railroad doesn’t expect to have enough people to operate all of its trains next month, when a federal coronavirus vaccination mandate takes effect.

Amtrak President Stephen Gardner said about 5 percent of its workforce has yet to get vaccinated less than four weeks before the Jan. 4 deadline.

“We anticipate proactively needing to temporarily reduce some train frequencies across our network in January to avoid staffing-related cancellations — with our plan to fully restore all frequencies by March, or as soon as we have qualified employees available,” Gardner said at a hearing of the House transportation subcommittee on railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials.

Amtrak last month warned it would send letters to uncompliant workers starting Dec. 8 in preparation for termination Jan. 4. The railroad is expected to publish a revised service schedule next week to reflect the cuts. Gardner said the carrier is still determining what trips will be removed, adding that the railroad wants to give passengers enough time to rebook trips.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/12/09/amtrak-vaccine-mandate-service-cuts/

[aggiesal]

1. I like Amtrak ...

but tough.

Hire new personel that are vaccinated.
I wouldn't ride an enclosed train with workers unvaccinated.

[vanlassie]

3. Amtrak is not doing a good job of enforcing masks.

It’s unconscionable. No excuse. I have traveled on Amtrak twice this year. The first time was good. The second time- Thanksgiving- no effort made to enforce masks. Conductors only covering mouths. Not again.

[cadoman]

8. exactly, why should it even be running right now?

It's mostly upscale commuters who could desk surf anyway. Give the employees paid leave and mothball it till we have sufficiently high vaccination numbers.

[Hiawatha Pete]

14. 1) Then no need for domestic flights to operate right now either. Or buses.

Both of which have far poorer opportunities to social distance than the train - which has greater space as well as separate bedroom/roomette options. And all the passengers I've seen were wearing masks.

2) Unlike flights, trains have the ability to serve multiple cities on one route.
A flight from Chicago to LA, for example only serves the two endpoint cities. Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, for example serves 31 intermediate stops, or 528 city pairs, on one route, vastly improving public mobility.
http://www.narprail.org/site/assets/files/1036/nationalnetwork.pdf

3) And no, it's not mostly "upscale commuters who could mostly desk surf".

It's people who live in online communities many of which have no reasonable public transportation alternative- much less an airport.

It's people with disabilities who, for medical reasons, are unable to fly or sit for days in a cramped bus seat.

It's people who simply prefer the train and want it as a mobility choice - regardless of the airline & highway lobbyists trying to shove those as the only two options down taxpayer's throats.
http://allaboardohio.org/2012/09/21/road-air-subsidies-huge-growing-safe-amtraks-are-small-shrinking-attacked/

Oh, and I know what'll fix climate change. More cars, more SUV's, & more airplanes.

[William Seger]

2. Well, if the decision is between cutting service and...

... exposing passengers to unvaccinated idiots, then that's an easy decision.

[brooklynite]

4. How about the decision between cutting service and hiring replacement workers who are vaccinated?

[William Seger]

5. The article says that's what they're going to do when the idiots are fired

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Seems like an opportunity to weed more anti-socialists out of our taxpayer funded

services. Police, fire-fighters, transit employees all should be vax'd. I an OK with creating new opportunities for people who understand public service and would appreciate these jobs. Let the unvax'd explain their rights to vax'd employees that handle unemployment claims.

[Sherman A1]

9. Agreed

Don’t want the vaccine, get off the train 🚂.

[cinematicdiversions]

7. Well If they believed in Science they wouldn't have to take the train.

(Okay yes, I am being silly)

[Maggiemayhem]

10. The way I see it the unvaccinated

are likely to be off sick or dead anyway. No valid excuse not to he vaccinated. It is a political statement to people at this point.

[George II]

11. Without those rules there will be many less passengers to ride Amtrak.

[SKKY]

12. At this point, I am so over all this unvaccinated BS, I want to kick a puppy in the face...

..."You don't want to get vaccinated? Fine. Take your chances and roll the dice. But when you infect someone else, you're now liable." F*ck these clowns.

[turbinetree]

13. Did these unvaccinated people not get vaccinated when younger, so that when they got older

they could have a job with Amtrak, or did they think being on a lung machine was the best way to live or being in braces, or just flat out dying......the logic of these people and others is just amazing.....