The threat of a major rail strike is affecting travel plans for people across the country, including Galesburg.
Amtrak is preemptively suspending routes between Chicago and San Francisco, Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest. Starting Tuesday, Amtrak suspended runs of the California Zephyr and Southwest Chief, both of which have service through Galesburg.
So far, the Carl Sandburg and Illinois Zephyr routes — which go from Quincy to Chicago with stops in Galesburg — are not impacted by the disruptions.
According to a statement from spokesman Marc Magliari, Amtrak is closely monitoring the ongoing freight rail labor contract negotiations. The negotiations do not involve Amtrak or the Amtrak workforce.
Magliari said, “While we are hopeful that parties will reach a resolution, Amtrak has now begun phased adjustments to our service in preparation for a possible freight rail service interruption later this week. These adjustments are necessary to ensure trains can reach their terminals before freight railroad service interruption if a resolution in negotiations is not reached.”
Amtrak will only operate trains this week it can ensure will have enough time to reach their final destinations by 12:01 a.m. on Friday.
Amtrak will reach out to impacted and potentially impacted customers, informing them of the potential situation, offering to change their reservation to another travel date, waiving any difference in fare for departures through Oct. 31, or receiving a full refund without cancelation fees.
