Amtrak to tweet Northeast Corridor service disruptions

Written by jrood

Amtrak is responding to customer requests to be notified directly of major Northeast Corridor service disruptions using Twitter and a new @AmtrakNEC handle in a pilot program effective March 29. Twitter users who choose to follow @AmtrakNEC will be notified of major service disruptions resulting in extreme delays or stoppage of all rail traffic, whether the issue is the result of commuter, freight or Amtrak rail equipment, severe weather, police activity and track or other infrastructure matters. Followers of @AmtrakNEC on Twitter will then be notified when the corridor is significantly disrupted for Acela Express and Northeast Regional and other Amtrak trains between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Keystone Service trains between Harrisburg, Pa., and New York City, via Philadelphia and Shuttle trains between Springfield, Mass., and New Haven, Conn. Notifications of disruptions that affect a single Amtrak train will continue to be made aboard that train -- and at stations -- and will not result in a tweet. There will be a link to these tweets from Amtrak.com and they will be relayed to the news media along with the more detailed Amtrak Service Alerts already being produced and posted on Amtrak.com. Train status information will continue to be available through the tools on both the standard and mobile versions of Amtrak.com, calls to 800-USA-RAIL and on information display systems at stations. Amtrak will continue to engage its Twitter followers using the @Amtrak primary account, on Facebook and through other means. The @AmtrakNEC handle will be "push" only. Amtrak will review the number of followers and the re-tweets of these messages to determine if the pilot program should be modified, made permanent and/or expanded to additional corridors.

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