Limited Amtrak Service Resumes Between New York And Boston
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Trains are once again rolling between New York and Boston after service was shut down Friday morning due to the manhunt for the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.
Limited service was restored shortly after 8 p.m.
Amtrak said its Downeaster will begin normal service to or from Boston. The company anticipated a full restoration of service Saturday.
Passengers are urged to call 1-800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for schedules.
Passengers who have paid but choose not to travel due to this service disruption can receive a refund or a voucher for future travel. Some reservations booked online can be modified or canceled.
To be notified of major service disruptions resulting in delays of 60 minutes or more to multiple trains on the Northeast Corridor, follow @AmtrakNEC on Twitter.
Bombing suspect Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, was believed to be surrounded in a back yard in Watertown, Mass. and is considered armed and dangerous. His brother Tamerlan was shot dead in a wild gunfight earlier.
Authorities in Boston had suspended all mass transit, telling commuters via Twitter this morning: "Go/stay home.'' Businesses were asked not to open.
Amtrak Suspends Boston Service; Flights Continue At Logan Airport
Amtrak Suspends Service Between NYC and Boston
Service is operating normally between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York.
Amtrak police were swabbing bags and checking passengers boarding at Penn Station as service along the rest of the Northeast Corridor faced delays and disruptions.
"I think everyone is being very civil and understanding that this is out of their control and there's nothing we can do," one Boston-bound rider told 1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg.
Megabus canceled at least 22 buses between Boston and New York, New Haven, Conn., Hartford, Conn., Burlington, Vt. and Philadelphia. More than 1,000 passengers were affected, according to spokesman Mike Alvich. They received emails offering a refund or the option to rebook for free.
Bolt Bus, Greyhound and Peter Pan Bus Lines also suspended service. Passengers booked on canceled Bolt trips received refunds to their credit cards, according to Timothy Stokes, spokesman for Greyhound and Bolt Bus.
Logan airport remained open, although getting there was a challenge for many passengers. On a typical day, the airport has about 1,000 flights. Fewer than 10 flights had been canceled by 10 a.m., mostly because of weather delays in New York, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
The airport had been operating at a heightened level of security since Monday's attack, according to Matthew Brelis, director of media relations for MassPort, the public agency that runs Logan.
The Massachusetts State Police set up a roadblock Friday morning and were searching some of the vehicles entering the airport.
While no mass transit was reaching Logan, private cars, taxis and the Logan Express -- a bus service to suburban park-and-ride facilities -- were still able to enter the airport.
The biggest hassle for travelers were taxi lines, which Brelis described as "exceedingly long'' during the late morning. Officials were asking people to share cabs to nearby location. By noon the backlog had cleared.
JetBlue, the largest airline in Boston, with about 120 daily flights, was allowing anybody scheduled to fly to or from Boston to change their ticket for free. Passengers could also opt to fly to Hartford, Providence or any of the New York area airports JetBlue serves.
Delta Air Lines -- which has about 70 daily Boston departures -- also hadn't canceled any flights. Spokesman Morgan Durrant said the airline expected on-time departures and was considering extending a travel waiver issued earlier in the week.
US Airways was running its 70 daily flights with minimal delays. The airline is letting passengers change tickets to any other flight through Monday.
American Airlines hadn't canceled any of its 31 daily flights in Boston. The airline was allowing passengers scheduled to fly today to rebook onto flights Saturday or Sunday without penalty, according to spokeswoman Andrea Huguely.
United Airlines has about 100 daily flights in Boston and allowed anybody flying Friday to rebook for anytime within a year of the day their ticket was purchased.
Southwest Airlines allowed passengers flying Friday to change their tickets to flights within the next two weeks. It's AirTran subsidiary is allowing changes to flights through Monday.
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed an air traffic restriction on the Boston area "to provide a safe environment for law enforcement activities.'' It barred flights below 3,000 feet in a radius of 3.5 miles around the manhunt area. The restrictions had minimal impact on commercial flights in the area.
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