HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Forced to reduce operations on its long distance routes, ridership aboard Amtrak's Southwest Chief fell sharply in the month of January.
After averaging better than 18,000 riders each of the first three months of the fiscal year the number of passengers on the “Chief” fell to just 12,500. Winter is usually the slower time for Amtrak’s long distance trains, and hope is that the numbers will recover in the spring.
Amtrak reduced the days the “Chief” runs to five days per week in January after COVID vaccine mandates and the pandemic itself crippled its workforce.
Plans are to go back to full service by the end of March. To date 68,900 passengers have ridden the Chief in the 2022 fiscal year which started October 1.
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