Amtrak works to get new high-speed Northeast Corridor trains operating Massachusetts day camps, day cares to reopen Monday
Manufacturing and testing of Amtrak’s new high-speed Acela trains, expected to debut next year in the Northeast, is on track despite interruptions to production and training during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
Testing of the first two Avelia Liberty high-speed train sets from French manufacturer Alstom, is underway in the Northeast Corridor and at a federal facility in Pueblo, Colo., and Amtrak said railroad crews have started training on the new technology in anticipation of a launch next spring.
The Acela prototype arrived at the Colorado Federal Railroad Administration site for nine months of testing in February. Officials said it recently exceeded performance expectations, traveling at 165 mph, above the 160 mph limit the trains would be allowed to travel once in service between Washington and Boston. The current Acela trains travel 150 mph.
“We are laser-focused on delivering this new fleet of trains,” said Caroline Decker, Amtrak’s vice president for the Northeast Corridor. “Looking at where we are in terms of the production, we have a high degree of confidence that a 2021 launch is very doable, and certainly we’re eager to introduce the new fleet to the Northeast Corridor as soon as possible.”
The $2.5 billion project, which also includes major infrastructure improvements to accommodate the new trains, is moving forward at a time when Amtrak is preparing to reduce staff by up to 20 percent and is requesting nearly $1.5 billion more in federal aid to keep afloat amid the unprecedented financial hardship from the pandemic. The health crisis that shut down much of the country in March devastated the passenger railroad’s ridership and revenue.
The investment in the Acela
was originally aimed to grow one of Amtrak’s strongest lines. Post-pandemic, the investment offers hope for the future as the company tries to recoup from massive losses suffered when ridership plummeted with the health crisis. Railroad officials say they are determined to keep the project on track, saying it could stimulate economic recovery.
The contract for the 28 trains was awarded in 2016 and supports about 1,300 jobs across the country, officials said, including 400 at Alstom’s facilities in areas of support such as train control, rail signaling, engineering and maintenance. The new trains will replace the existing fleet of 20 sets starting next year.
“It’s a silver lining at a time of a lot of dark clouds,” Decker said. “We’re very mindful that we are in very tumultuous times, but I will say this keeps us very motivated, very focused on what is going to be a real game-changer for train travel.”
The entire new fleet should be in operation in 2022, when Amtrak hopes demand for train travel will have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. Acela, Amtrak’s premier service, was performing at an all-time high before the crisis. Ridership on the Acela grew by 4.3 percent in fiscal year 2019, compared with the previous year, and at a higher pace than the growth on the Northeast Regional and the company’s state-funded routes. Acela’s revenue also grew by about 5.4 percent, according to Amtrak.
That success led Amtrak to pursue expansion of the service, adding nonstop trips between Washington and New York last fall and an additional Washington to New York to Boston round trip on Saturdays.
The new trips showed promise, officials said, until the coronavirus hit and the Acela, popular for business travel, was among the first services to be cut as the virus began to spread and demand for travel sank. Some Acela trips resumed Monday, but officials said the railroad doesn’t expect it or its entire network of intercity passenger trains to return to normal anytime soon. It is even less clear when, or if, the new Acela nonstop will return.
In late May, Amtrak chief executive William J. Flynn said the company was projecting a 50 percent reduction in systemwide revenue in fiscal 2021, saying demand remains about 5 percent of normal. The company estimates ridership in the next fiscal year may reach 16 million, or roughly 50 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.
The new trains are being built with several touchless and self-serve features that Amtrak says should make train travel more appealing in the post-coronavirus era with Americans still fearful of infection spreading through communal surfaces and human contact.
The lavatories are more spacious, accessibility compliant and have touchless and contactless door and faucets. The cafe car will have self-select and self-serve options.
A look at coronavirus-related developments around New England other than Connecticut on Saturday.
Massachusetts
Diners will be able to eat outside in Massachusetts, and retail stores, day camps and day care centers will be allowed to resume operations Monday during the next phase of loosening restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Charlie Baker announced.
“Thanks to your hard work and your sacrifices, we’re bringing the fight to the virus, we’re moving forward and Massachusetts is continuing to reopen,” Baker said Saturday at the Statehouse.
There will be strict requirements for masks and social distancing for businesses that reopen Monday.
Indoor dining will be remain off limits, Baker said. Day camps and child care facilities can open, but not overnight camps, Baker said. And hotels and motels will be allowed to accept all guests, not just essential workers, he said.
Baker said he’s comfortable with moving forward with reopening the economy because the state has recorded a fall in the number of new cases and hospitalizations.
The Department of Public Health moved the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations into “positive trend” status for the first time on Friday. The state already reported that testing capacity and the rate of tests that come back positive were on a positive trajectory.
Rhode Island
A 100-year-old Rhode Island woman whose life was claimed by COVID-19 has been laid to rest next to her husband, who died from the disease several weeks earlier, also at age 100.
Because of the pandemic, only 10 loved ones were on hand to say goodbye when Jill Caldarone was buried Tuesday next to her husband,
Bill, who was the state’s oldest Marine when he died, the Providence Journal reported.
At age 92, Jill Caldarone chronicled their lives in a book, “Bill and Jill from Federal Hill.” She was a master gardener and real estate agent. Her husband served in World War II and Korea.
Their youngest son, Ron, 72, told the Providence Journal that the statistics from the pandemic don’t tell the full story.
“My father and mother weren’t just numbers,” he said.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and lead to death.
Maine
Ridership for the Maine State Ferry Service has dropped more than 50% since the state confirmed its first case of the virus in March.
Ferry service officials also expect ridership to be down for much of the summer, typically the busiest time of the year. On Memorial Day weekend, passenger traffic was down 57% and vehicle traffic was down 33%.
“It is what it is. We’re in the middle of a pandemic,” Maine State Ferry Service Manager Mark Higgins, told the Bangor Daily News.
The decline in revenue will be offset by $2 million in federal funding that the service recently received through the CARES Act, officials said.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is expanding curbside pickup at state liquor stores during the pandemic.
The curbside and in-store pickup program started last month at the Hampton store on Interstate 95 North and the Interstate 93 North store in Hooksett last month. It was expanded to the southbound stores in those towns this week, and will be offered in Pembroke, Manchester and Londonderry starting Thursday.