Amtrak workers will continue to operate Virginia Railway Express trains until July 9 under a new agreement.
The new employees for Keolis Rail Services of America, a French Company, were supposed to take over VRE operations June 28. But training has taken longer than anticipated, and that has prompted VRE’s CEO Dale Zehner to ask Amtrak for the two-week extension.
“You should know this is not my first choice,” said Zehner in a letter to VRE riders. “Keolis is expected to be ready to operate much of, if not all of the VRE service by June 28, and VRE prefers what is known as a “soft start” or “staggered start” of service on June 28, with the Fredericksburg line operated by Keolis and the Manassas line operated by Amtrak.”
The extension is not expected to affect service on either the Manassas or Fredericksburg line.
VRE awarded at $85 million, 5-year-opearations contract to Keolis last fall. Amtrak lost the bid to the company, which has never operated in the U.S.
Amtrak has been contracted to operate and maintain VRE trains since the service began in 1992.
No comments:
Post a Comment