NEW ORLEANS — Amtrak will finally restore daily service to and from New Orleans on the Crescent and City of New Orleans, among the last of the routes that have only offered five-day-a-week operations since service cuts in January.
Saturday and Sunday service on both the Chicago-New Orleans City route and the New York-New Orleans Crescent route returns this weekend. Seven-day-a-week operation had ended in January with operations were trimmed to five days a week on nine long-distance routes and a 10th, the New York-Miami Silver Meteor, was suspended entirely [see “Amtrak to decrease service …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 14, 2022]. The return of the Crescent, City of New Orleans and Silver Meteor, was originally scheduled for September but was pushed back in July [see “Silver Meteor return …,” News Wire, July 18, 2022].
The Meteor was to have resumed operation earlier this week, but that has been pushed back because of damage along its route caused by Hurricane Ivan.
Amtrak notes in its media advisory about the return of the Crescent and City that “the constraint has not been travel demand, which has been recovering all year, but rebuilding the employee headcounts at major terminals such as New Orleans and along many of the routes.”
The company also continues to seek employees, noting in the advisory its August announcement of the need to fill 4,000 positions including onboard service jobs with a starting pay of $21 per hour and mechanical positions including journeyman position jobs starting at $34.07 [see “Amtrak plans hiring events …,” News Wire, Aug. 17, 2022].
— Updated at 9:15 p.m. on Oct. 8 to correct references to long-distance train that is still suspended. It is the Silver Meteor.
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