Amtrak ridership hammered over coronavirus concerns

Legislation to provide permanent funding for Amtrak has been introduced.

David C. Lester

Despite press releases explaining how thoroughly Amtrak is cleaning its trains, ranging from every day to every hour, USA Today reports that, according to Amtrak, cancellations are up 300% and bookings are down 50%.

Amtrak’s senior executive vice president and chief operating and commerce officer, Stephen Gardner, reports that “Our ridership and revenue have declined sharply over the past few weeks, both on the Northeast Corridor and the national network. These reductions have accelerated in recent days and will likely continue for some time.”

Amtrak reports that a passenger infected with the coronavirus was on a train from Chicago to St. Louis last week, and the train set was removed from service so it could be disinfected. Amtrak notified employees and passengers aboard the train of that a passenger had tested positive for coronavirus. Amtrak also said that it is disinfecting the St. Louis and Chicago stations.

Stephen Gardner also said “You should expect significant reductions in train service across portions of our network in response to the sharp drop in ridership. At this rate, we will likely suffer the loss of several hundred million dollars in revenue during this fiscal year, and we might lose more.”

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