By Justin Franz

WASHINGTON — Amtrak will likely have to reduce train service, particularly on long-distance routes, in January due to sluggish COVID-19 vaccination rates in smaller crew pools, particularly on long-distance routes. On Thursday, Amtrak President Stephen Gardner told congressional leaders that the railroad would announce next week what routes will be impacted. 

Amtrak must comply with a federal mandate effective January 4, 2022, that requires all employees of government contractors to be fully vaccinated. Gardner said that while 94 percent of employees are fully vaccinated and 96 percent have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, immunization rates are lower along its long-distance routes. Gardner said the issue was compounded by the fact that many employees retired during the pandemic and Amtrak slowed hiring down. Officials said the railroad will not have enough fully vaccinated employees in some places to support full service. 

Gardner said long-distance routes would most likely be impacted by the service reductions. Last year, train service was reduced to tri-weekly on most long-distance routes, including California Zephyr, Empire Builder and Coast Starlight. Daily service resumed earlier this year. Gardner noted that the service reductions would only be “temporary.” 

“We are currently determining what service reductions will be necessary and intend to communicate them publicly by next week in order to ensure that we can rebook customers to the remaining frequencies we feel confident we can fully staff,” Gardner said. “Our goal, of course, will be to have as few impacts to service as possible as we take these vital public health steps to help end the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce the spread of the new Omicron variant, and we will be prepared to reinstate frequencies as soon as the number of available employees permits.”