AMTRAK ANNULS JOE BIDEN'S ORDERS.

Last week, Amtrak warned passengers that some trains might be annulled if employees did not comply with the latest vaccination dictates.  "The three trains so named are among the more popular on the long distance routes. Make of that what you will."

That's the usual trick of bureaucrats, you threaten to close the Washington Monument in order that the voters will put pressure on their representatives to approve the latest continuing resolution.

The voters might see those vaccination dictates as an infringement on individual rights, and this week, Amtrak plans to keep the daily trains running.  "Amtrak CEO William Flynn advised employees on Tuesday that the company will refrain from enforcing a company decree that workers who were not fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus by early January would be terminated."

Neither Amtrak nor the contracting carriers, which also operate freight trains, are enforcing the ukases.

Last week Amtrak President Stephen Gardner said in a congressional hearing that service reductions were likely on long-distance trains because some crew bases serving those trains had a relatively high rate of noncompliance with the vaccination mandate.

However, the passenger carrier is now pointing to court action staying enforcement of an executive order issued by President Joseph Biden ordering federal contractors to require that their employees be fully vaccinated.

In the wake of those court orders, the three Class 1 railroads that had ordered their workers to be vaccinated – Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and BNSF – have rescinded enforcement of those rules, at least temporarily.

Press coverage of the change in corporate attitude notes that relatively few railroaders affected by the executive order have not been vaccinated. But if there are division points where relatively few railroaders have been vaccinated, enforcement of the original requirement might produce a local shutdown of the railroad.

While the railroad reports that 97.3 percent of employees have gotten at least one shot, rates are lower in smaller crew terminals, particularly along the long-distance routes. If those unvaccinated employees couldn’t work, it was likely Amtrak would not have enough people to run some services. Currently, fewer than 500 active Amtrak employees are not in compliance with the company mandate.

Whether the powers that be will attempt to reintroduce the requirement after the year-end travel peak abates remains to be seen.