HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Amtrak will restore full time service to the Southwest Chief by the end of May. The restoration is part of an effort to restore daily service to 12 long distance routes. The Chief schedule was reduced to three times per week in October as the pandemic shut down most travel.
Due to COVID relief funding, Amtrak will sustain and restore operations and recall the more than 1,200 furloughed employees through the remainder of FY21 and into FY22.
Amtrak also plans to use more funding to replace and refurbish a number of cars and locomotives on the long distance routes. Those plans were already in place before the pandemic. If all goes as planned, the Chief will return to its daily schedule May 31.
Ridership for the passenger rail carrier fell nearly 48% to just 16.8 million passengers. That compares with a record 32 million in 2019. Long distance ridership fell by 39% and commuter ridership fell by 50%.
The Southwest Chief, which serves Kansas and Hutchinson had total ridership in 2020 of 186,470, a drop of 43%. It was the largest decline in the long distance network. The Chief saw 327,276 passengers in 2019.
CLICK HERE to download the HutchPost mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily HutchPost email news update