[category]
[title]
Nothing is ever easy, not even taking a non-stop train ride instead of driving.
Amtrak will temporarily suspend or reduce a whole lot of service south of Washington, D.C., for nine days in October while it takes on a major infrastructure project in the First Street Tunnel just south of Washington Union Station. The “Pause for Progress” project runs from after service on Friday, October 16, through Monday morning, October 26.
RECOMMENDED: These two iconic train escapes in the U.S. were just ranked the best in the world
This is all about A-Interlocking, a section of track responsible for routing Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express trains between Union Station and Virginia. Its switches and crossovers have aged to the point that trains now have to crawl through it at 10 mph. During the nine-day outage, crews will replace those components, rehabilitate the tunnel’s track base and install modern electric switch systems to hopefully prevent longer, more inconvenient closures in the future.
That sounds great, but it doesn't help travelers' frustration in the moment. Nor their abrupt switch from Amtrak comfort to a bus.
Northeast Regional trains will continue running between Washington, New York and Boston, so the New York-to-D.C. corridor isn't simply vanishing. But service south of Washington will be significantly altered. Amtrak Virginia will operate limited trains between Norfolk and Alexandria and Roanoke and Alexandria, with buses connecting Alexandria and Washington. There will also be express buses connecting D.C. with cities including Richmond, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Norfolk, Newport News, Williamsburg and Virginia Beach.
Other long-distance routes are also getting interrupted. The Carolinian will run by train between New York and Washington and between Alexandria and Charlotte, with a bus connection filling the gap between Alexandria and Union Station. The Cardinal will operate only between Chicago and Indianapolis, while the Floridian will be split into segments between Chicago and Pittsburgh and Jacksonville and Miami. The Silver Meteor, Palmetto and Crescent will also operate only on portions of their usual routes.
In other words: October may be a bad time for a last-minute getaway. Check your itinerary before you board, embrace the bus bridge if necessary, and remember that somewhere beneath D.C., a switch is getting the spa treatment. And if nothing else, at least you can have a chic cocktail at the new Union Station bar to soothe all your travel anger.