PSA: Portal Bridge phase 2 is upcoming. Amtrak is cancelling/rebooking NEC trips for Oct-Nov. Go check your reservations.
TL;DR: Amtrak's second Portal Bridge cutover single-tracks the NEC from about Oct 9 to Nov 16, and they've already started cancelling and rebooking trips in that window as of today. Check every reservation you have booked in those dates, because some get auto-rebooked and others just get cancelled with no replacement. Rebooking should be free, do it ASAP before the reduced-capacity trains fill up.
What's going on
Amtrak is replacing the old Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River in NJ (the Newark-to-Secaucus stretch) with a new one. The new bridge has two tracks, and they're moving trains onto it one track at a time. To connect this second and final track, they have to take the neighboring track out of service, which drops that whole stretch to a single track. One track doing the work of two means a big temporary service cut on the NEC.
This is phase 2 of 2. Phase 1 (the first track) was Feb-March. This is the last one. Phase 1 went smoothly and was completed on time, so hopefully the same will happen for Phase 2.
Window is about Oct 9 - Nov 16. Also a separate outage south of DC Oct 16-26 if you go that way.
What emails you might get
- Some trains: cancelled and automatically rebooked onto another train, no action needed
- Others: cancelled with no replacement, you rebook yourself
Sometimes, you'll get an email telling you to rebook yourself, but Amtrak will follow up with an updated eTicket.
What to do
- Open the actual reservation and check the new train, date, and time. some of the auto-rebook notices have wrong info in them, so confirm it in the app rather than trusting the email
- Self-modify your trips via the link in emails provided if you can: Usually no fee for a similar train. or cancel there for a full refund
- If these links don't work, or if it's requiring you to pay extra, CONTACT SUPPORT. You should not have to pay ANY additional fees to make changes on these.
- Do it ASAP. everyone with a dead trip is going to fight over the same seats and limited capacity.
- You can text Amtrak customer support instead of waiting on hold. put your name, email, and reservation number(s) in the message. Include what train numbers you'd like to switch to
- Send it once and wait, don't fire off a bunch of texts in a row or they won't see it. Their support can ONLY see one message at a time, so if you send follow-ups they won't see it.
- Keep an eye on your inbox. Mine changed more than once in the same day
If you've got trips in that window, don't wait. Tickets will be in higher demand and sell out much sooner. Last phase, I saw an increase in prices on the trains that were still running.
Commuters who haven't booked Oct / Nov yet
Don't wait!! Book further ahead as soon as possible. There will be way less availability, and prices will creep up WAY faster. If you're used to only booking 1 month ahead, that may not cut it.
Hopefully this helps! I have been commuting for over a year and went through Phase 1 of this, once you are all booked up it should be pretty smooth!. Shameless plug, if you are an Amtrak commuter, check out my site railcommute.io to catch price drops and organize your commute!