Amtrak Tracking for My Commute Between New York City and Philadelphia

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Feds to loan Amtrak millions for new locomotives

Blog item in the Washington Post about Amtrak getting new rolling stock:

The federal government plans to loan Amtrak about $563 million to buy 70 locomotives to run along the busy Northeast and Keystone corridors, allowing improvements in service between Washington and other cities, and in Pennsylvania.

Amtrak said the locomotives are expected to begin operating in 2013 and will replace models that have been in service for 20 to 30 years.

"Record numbers of passengers are riding Amtrak trains across our national network of intercity routes," Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman said in a statement. "To better serve our customers, we are implementing a fleet replacement and renewal plan to improve the reliability and performance of our equipment. "



Friday, June 24, 2011

Amtrak New York-Philadelphia Delays May Ease by End-September

Bloomberg story about the recent Amtrak delays:

"Amtrak riders who suffered three service delays between New York and Philadelphia this week may see hold-ups linger while the national passenger rail service finishes some power-system repairs over the next three months. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded this week because of computer and electrical-equipment failures in a power system that was mostly built during the Great Depression. Forty of 82 electrical substations between Washington and New York will be running on new equipment by the end of September, Cole said. The $25 million project is funded by grants from President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus package."

Such maintenance is critical but Amtrak needs to work to minimize delays.