Amtrak expanding services post-pandemic in Northeast Corridor

Amtrak is expanding its services in the Northeast Corridor for the time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a statement on Monday, Amtrak announced the new summer schedule for its Northeast Regional and Acela lines will expand its service between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Mass., along with cities in Pennsylvania and destinations as far south as New Orleans.

The service said it will run 13 weekly round trips between D.C. and New York City and 23 more on the weekend. Eight weekly roundtrips will run between Boston and New York City, and 17 weekend trips will run between the two cities.

Starting on May 23, the service will also expand services on its Acela train lines, adding 36 daily roundtrips through D.C., New York City and Boston.

President Biden often speaks of his thousands of trips between Washington, D.C., and his home in Wilmington, Del., on Amtrak. Last year, he appeared in Philadelphia to plug the billions of investments in passenger and freight rail in his infrastructure plan.

“Amtrak became my family,” he said. “You get to know everybody, you get to know the folks. … They work like the devil. They really, really do.”

Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn said last year the $66 billion for the passenger rail system in the infrastructure bill would spur the largest expansion in the railroad’s history.

Amtrak said the expansion has led to the hiring of 1,500 new employees in 2022, adding it aims to provide career growth and opportunities for the new employees, such as hiring bonuses and relocation packages. 

“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,” Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said in a statement. 

The U.S is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases in some areas in the northeast and mid-Atlantic; however, hospitalizations remain far lower than previous highs during the winter omicron surge.