Amtrak Stepping Up Service, Routes

Amtrak this week will announce a surprise 10% increase in long-distance passenger service and will unveil several new routes and restore service to Las Vegas from Los Angeles. The new routes stem from a market-based analysis that was expected to result in route abandonments. Amtrak President George Warrington said the analysis instead shows that Amtrak can increase its revenue by $65 million through the addition of routes and trains and using the new service to solicit mail and express freight delivery business. Amtrak hopes to be operationally self-sufficient by 2003.

The new long-distance routes and trains include New York-Washington-Dallas service via Atlanta. A planned second round of additions over the next two to three years includes Amtrak’s first luxury train service, a New York-to-Los Angeles train via Pittsburgh and Albuquerque that would make the run in less than 60 hours.

Amtrak officials said all the new trains and routes can be accomplished within the current budget without approval from Congress. But it will release a plan this summer to order new cars and locomotives, necessitating more capital funds.