Amtrak has submitted a request to Congress for a supplementary appropriation of roughly $1.5 billion for the year 2021, bringing the 2-year total requested to $3.54 billion. This second request has long-time Amtrak observers scratching their heads. Why? Because while Amtrak says they need the additional money, at the same time they say they are…
Amtrak’s pressing need for new, better, and more equipment can be experienced first hand when you ride the thrice-weekly Cardinal between Chicago and Washington, as I did on this past Saturday and Sunday. There is one Viewliner sleeping car on the Cardinal—just one—and Amtrak can only sell eight of the 12 roomettes because four of…
I know it doesn’t seem like it, but little by little, we are making progress. One of these fine mornings, we could all wake up and find that several Amtrak routes have been expanded, that the Sunset Limited and the Cardinal are running every day, that service between New Orleans and Orlando has been restored,…
As noted in my post of two days ago, several different constituencies continue to press Amtrak to upgrade the Cardinal from a three-day-a-week schedule to daily service. And, indeed, an increase in frequency like that would be enthusiastically welcomed by people all along the Cardinal’s route, not to mention those of us who have tried…