It is unclear when train services will resume between New York and either Washington DC or Philadelphia following the derailment of a train travelling north from the capital on Tuesday evening.
Callers to Amtrak’s reservations line on Wednesday afternoon were able to get through to ticket agents, but were being told that there is not yet any schedule for the resumption of services between the three cities on the closed north-east rail corridor.
Members of the public are being told that there are no trains from New York to Philadelphia scheduled for the foreseeable future and the best hope for travel by train to DC was a “50-50” chance of limited services on Friday.
Greyhound put on 16 additional services to its bus routes between New York and Philadelphia and Washington on Wednesday in the immediate aftermath of the crash, and a spokeswoman reported there were no major traffic problems on the roads.
Bolt Bus, a discount line which is owned by Greyhound, had not added any additional services. Megabus did not respond to a request for comment. The three brands run popular bus links between the three cities.
Passengers booked on Amtrak services on the north-east corridor on Tuesday evening and Wednesday were turned away by the train company, with no information on when they might be able to resume travel.
A ticket agent reached on the Amtrak phone service on Wednesday afternoon told callers that reservations information was coming in to agents “by the minute” and calling after 6pm on Wednesday would get a better clue as to whether there was any prospect of any services running on Thursday, which appeared unlikely, or of booking a train from New York to DC, or vice versa, on Friday.
Amtrak has given no official estimate of when services might resume. A request for information has been submitted.
