By Railfan & Railroad Staff

WASHINGTON — Amtrak is increasing service across its network, four months after it made a round of schedule cuts due to the pandemic. 

Effective immediately, Amtrak is increasing Northeast Regional service between Washington D.C. and Boston; Keystone Service between Harrisburg, Pa., and New York City; and Hartford line service between New Haven, Conn., and Springfield, Mass. Starting May 23, Amtrak will also increase Acela service, with 10 weekday roundtrips between Washington D.C. and New York City and nine between New York City and Boston. On that same day, Amtrak will increase the frequency of its long-distance trains as well, including the California Zephyr, Empire Builder, Lake Shore Limited and Southwest Chief (Other trains, including the Capitol Limited and Coast Starlight were already back on daily schedules). 

Amtrak officials said the increase in service was due in large part to a hiring campaign that has brought more than 1,500 people into the fold. 

“Thanks to our dedicated existing employees and newly-hired staff, we are thrilled to expand our scheduled service just in time to meet customers’ rising demand for travel this summer,” said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner. “We are recruiting and training additional employees nationwide to accelerate our recovery from the pandemic and to support service growth. There’s never been a better time to come work at Amtrak.”