April 08, 2022
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Beginning April 25, Amtrak will offer 24 weekday Keystone Service trains connecting Philadelphia and Harrisburg, and 20 trains connecting Philly and New York.
Amtrak is scheduling more trains on its Keystone Service line that connects Harrisburg, Philadelphia and New York City in anticipation of increased demand.
Starting Monday, April 25, Amtrak will add two new weekday trains between Harrisburg and New York, with each stopping at 30th Street Station in Philly. Additionally, all pre-pandemic weekend service between Harrisburg and Philly will be restored.
Currently, there are 18 weekday trains between Harrisburg and Philly, as well as 14 weekday trains between Philly and New York.
Once the additional service is restored, there will be 24 weekday trains between Harrisburg and Philly, 14 on Saturdays and 16 on Sundays. There will be 20 weekday trains between Philly and New York. There will be 12 trains on Saturdays and 11 trains on Sundays.
PennDOT is helping to coordinate the added service.
"After a long period of reduced schedules, PennDOT is pleased that Amtrak has been able to restore more daily trains and is proud to invest in rail service," said Jennie Louwerse, PennDOT's deputy secretary for multimodal transportation.
Amtrak suspended all Keystone Service in March 2020 due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It restored some service between Philly and Harrisburg in June 2020 and along the full route that September.
But in January 2021, Amtrak trimmed its service between Philly and Harrisburg again due to low demand. At the time, ridership was only about 20% of what it was before the pandemic.
