By Railfan & Railroad Staff

WASHINGTON — Amtrak has temporarily suspended a vaccination mandate for employees that was expected to go into effect in January. 

Last week, Amtrak President Stephen Gardner told congressional leaders that the railroad would be announcing service reductions to start in January due to unvaccinated employees, particularly on the long-distance routes, that would be unable to work beginning January 4, the date the federal government was mandating that contractors’ employees get immunized. But that mandate has since gotten tangled up in a legal battle and it will not be going into effect that day. 

While the railroad reports that 97.3 percent of employees have gotten at least one shot, rates are lower in smaller crew terminals, particularly along the long-distance routes. If those unvaccinated employees couldn’t work, it was likely Amtrak would not have enough people to run some services. Currently, fewer than 500 active Amtrak employees are not in compliance with the company mandate. 

On Tuesday, CEO President Bill Flynn sent a letter to employees announcing that following the legal challenge to the mandate, Amtrak will not be terminating unvaccinated employees next month. However, it will require all unvaccinated employees to submit a negative COVID-19 test weekly in order to work. The testing requirement is in line with a previous mandate announced last summer.