Coronavirus slices Amtrak ridership, forcing reduction of Central California schedule
Amtrak services across the country, including the Amtrak San Joaquin trains that flow through the central San Joaquin Valley, are being curtailed as the passenger rail system faces sharply reduced ridership because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Starting Thursday, Amtrak and the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority are suspending operations of three of the seven daily northbound Amtrak San Joaquin trains through the Valley, and three of seven southbound trains. The announcement did not include an anticipated date for restoring the services.
As a result, Amtrak stations in Fresno, Hanford, Merced, Modesto and Martinez will be closed, said David Lipari, a spokesman for the San Joaquin JPA, but trains will continue to stop at those stations to pick up and drop off passengers.
That means that people won’t be able to go into those stations to buy tickets. But Lipari said passengers can still buy tickets online at amtraksanjoaquins.com or on the Amtrak mobile app. People who don’t have credit cards and use cash to buy tickets can pay the conductor for their ticket. Lipari said Amtrak is waiving a surcharge that is usually charged for cash purchases.
The San Joaquin trains flow daily between Bakersfield and Stockton; from Stockton, trains continue on to either Oakland or Sacramento. The trains affected by the service suspension are those between Stockton and Sacramento. Amtrak Thruway buses will take the place of those train trips for passengers between Sacramento and Stockton.
Amtrak’s San Joaquin trains carried just under 1.1 million passengers in the 2019-2020 year, and outside of the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Boston was the fifth-busiest passenger train line in the U.S. But as of March 23, as the number of coronavirus cases grows in the state, ridership on the San Joaquin route from Bakersfield to Oakland and Sacramento was down about 70%.
“We’ve reduced trains with lowest ridership to mitigate the effects on riders still needing to utilize service for essential travel,” the Stockton-based San Joaquin JPA said in a written statement.
Cafe cars will be closed on the trains that keep running “to eliminate risks from food handling and to reduce unnecessary onboard passenger movement,” according to the notice. Passengers are encouraged to bring their own food and drinks for a trip, but emergency snacks and water will be available at no charge.
Connecting bus services to and from the suspended trains, like those taking passengers from Bakersfield to Los Angeles and others along the route, are also being cut off for the time being.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 12:20 PM.
