Not good. The Amtrak CEO just stepped down. Many fear the replacement will not be someone with railroad knowledge but instead a Trump puppet who will gut the railroad from the inside out.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-passenger-railroad-amtrak-ceo-abruptly-steps-down-2025-03-19/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/03/19/amtrak-ceo-resigns-trump-cuts/
So sad what they’re doing to our country. 
And to think there are some urban enthusiasts (even on this platform) sympathetic to this tyrant that is actively trying to ruin everything urban-oriented that we hold dear.
Make it make sense
It makes perfect sense. Just look at his history of lies, grifting, phony real estate university, phony charity foundation, and on and on and on…and a lot of low information voters and a corrupt right wing media system that exists to turn this country into another authoritarian oligarchy. George Orwell’s 1984 here we come! If NYC voted for him he would love NYC.
Wells, Maine
Construction began this week at the Wells Amtrak station, which will mean more convenient travel schedules for southern Maine workers come fall.
Natalie Bogart, deputy director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority told Mainebiz that passenger platform reconstruction will allow for additional Downeaster train service between Brunswick and Wells.
For now, trains from Wells head to Boston and Brunswick five times daily, but the first train headed north in the morning doesn’t get into Portland until 11:25 a.m. and to Brunswick at 12:10 p.m.
The schedule won’t be adjusted until construction of a second passenger platform has been completed, which will allow trains arriving from opposing directions to board and disburse passengers simultaneously. A temporary boarding platform will provide passenger access to trains and no interruption of service is anticipated.
Amtrak’s Horizon Fleet (long-distance Comet commuter cars) are falling apart, literally. The entire fleet was pulled for inspection and repair and several trains were cancelled.
I don’t consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but I find the timing of this announcement to be suspicious.
Now it becomes even more convenient for Amtrak’s newly appointed muskrat-approved leadership to permanently cancel regional rail routes.
“Sorry. Our fleet is busted, and we can’t in good conscience spend the taxpayers’ money to remedy the situation. They can take the bus.”
While coincidental, they were able to source cars from elsewhere, restarting limited service on a popular route.
The Airo cars are desperately needed so these aging cars can be retired.
Remember the vaporware “Lunatrain”, well their competitor’s in the spotlight today. Fitting that it’s April 1st. However, they plan to a more realistic approach and plan to retrofit old bi-level railcars instead of buying new equipment for now.
I’ll believe it when I see it though. The day I see a physical railcar then I might be convinced it is not vaporware. Trains plans to write about the state of Lunatrain very soon so we’ll see what they’re cooking up, if anything at all.
The Dreamstar Lines proposal makes me laugh. Their graphics are obviously AI generated, making them pretty hard to trust.
Amtrak just dropped a page announcing that the new Acela trains come this spring. It’s spring now so they should make their debut very soon. There’s rumors that in the first week of May the trains will be officially entering service.
Well, that took a while. Good thing they were already paid for or we would be waiting another 4 years
Dear god, that took a long time. Alstom should be excluded from all contracts for a long time
NJ Transit should take notes as well. Us NJT riders are still waiting for our new cars from Alstom. There were images circulating that a couple power cars were built but there is nothing stopping them from delivering the unpowered ones.
We’ll see. Amtrak and NJT announce that they fixed the biggest sources of delays into NY.
Right. A major heat wave will be the test.
The Amtrak train between New Orleans and Mobile will be called “Mardi Gras Service”, a very stupid name that will confuse riders as it sounds like the train is a special service just for Fat Tuesday.
There are so many better options - “Gulf Coast Explorer”, “The Big Easy”, etc.
And still no opening date!
We can’t have nice things. Duffy axed some of the cosmetic and structural upgrades as a part of the rehabilitation of the Dock Bridge. This move also will defer some steel work on components that still have “useful life”. Right, so now a comprehensive renovation is turning into a patch job that addresses only the bare minimum so the bridge doesn’t fall apart to “save money.”
An NJ congressman is demanding answers as to why this is happening since the project was already funded by the Biden administration and work was starting to get under way.
They don’t want anything to work.
