Amtrak cancels morning trains between Quincy and Chicago through Jan. 16

QUINCY (WGEM) - Amtrak has announced that the morning train service between the station in Quincy and Chicago is on hold.

The service suspension is planned through Jan. 16. Amtrak said cancelled trains will be replaced with Coach buses.

Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari said the cancellation is due to staffing issues. Magliari said the collective bargaining agreement between Amtrak and union employees allows employees to choose their work routes based on seniority. He said enough senior employees had chosen other routes that Amtrak had to make the decision to cancel scheduled trains.

Matt Gaudette from Downers Grove, Illinois got on a train to travel from Chicago to Quincy yesterday morning.

“It was gonna be a quick overnight two-day trip and our trip down, instead of being 3-and-a-half or 4 hours, it was like 6 hours,” Gaudette said.

His trip with his co-workers got delayed by Amtrak, as he said there were not enough engines that were operating. That impacted his work day in Quincy.

“We had to delay a few meetings, definitely a bummer to have a few co-workers waiting,” Gaudette said.

Quincy Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Holly Cain said the cancellations will have an impact on tourism and local businesses.

“It’s a detriment,” Cain said. “With fuel prices the way they are, the communities that we service are heavy college communities and so I know the train is very important and I hope people and students will still utilize the evening train into Quincy and keep our numbers up.”

Cain said the number of passengers who used the morning service was high.

“I know the train in the last several years before COVID serviced about 10,000 people, just over 10,000 people each year, into our community coming and going,” Cain said.

Cain hopes residents and tourists will take advantage of the evening service that is still in operation. As for Gaudete, he said he’s going to rethink traveling with Amtrak if he comes to Quincy again.

“I know that it’s gonna make me second guess my travel plans, you know, with my colleagues,” Gaudette said.

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