Oklahoma City’s Heartland Flyer continues its daily runs to Dallas and back, but some cities are losing some of their Amtrak service, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The last daily Texas Eagle train from San Antonio to Chicago left the station Sunday morning, its best days trailing far behind it.
The train had only four passenger cars reported the Laredo Morning Times.
The chef, a waiter and another food service worker had been furloughed recently, leaving only the cafe attendant to prepare and serve food to sleeping car passengers in the dining car. With a chef no longer on duty to cook scrambled eggs and bacon, a microwaved Jimmy Dean breakfast was the main hot breakfast choice on Sunday’s train.
The observation car, popular with passengers, also was missing. Amtrak reduced the number of Texas Eagle train cars from seven to four several weeks ago.
The slimmed-down Texas Eagle now will depart only three days a week. It will run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays for the 1,305-mile, 30-hour-and-52-minute journey to the Windy City.
Versions of the Texas Eagle have operated out of San Antonio since 1948. Amtrak, the federally charted railroad corporation, took over the service in 1971.
Amtrak officials are reducing long-distance service because ridership has plunged amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They say long-distance train travel is down 80 percent from the same period last year.
In addition to the Texas Eagle, Amtrak has cut departures for 12 other long-distance trains from seven days a week to three.
Officials say they hope to restore service by June at the latest — assuming passenger demand rebounds and COVID-19 infection rates are down in communities along the train routes.
Source: Laredo Morning Times
