Passenger rail service from New York City to The Berkshires via Albany has been disrupted by a six-foot deep sinkhole.
Amtrak, which owns the portion of the track affected by the sinkhole, said riders on the Berkshire Flyer will now be taken between Albany to Pittsfield by bus.
Eddie Sporn, a rail advocate and former Berkshire Flyer consultant, said he was relieved the service will continue.
“The fact that there are ongoing infrastructure issues between Albany and Pittsfield, now with the sinkhole and then also with having to share the tracks that are owned by (freight railroad) CSX, the fact that there's the bus running there now, opens up the prospect of having at least an interim solution,” he said.
Sporn said using the bus transfer on that portion of the Berkshire Flyer should also improve reliability and on-time performance, which has been an ongoing issue since the service was launched in 2022.
“There will be no delays on the bus between Albany and Pittsfield,” he said. “They're not subject to CSX, getting stuck behind freight trains. So, you eliminate that bottleneck. And the time of the total travel will be less,”.
Sporn said that is because of a long layover in Albany that further delays passengers getting to their destinations once they arrive in Pittsfield.
The current seasonal weekend service continues until Labor Day weekend. Sporn added, the goal is have the Berkshire Flyer operate on a daily basis.
The track disruption is also affecting the Lake Shore Limited, the passenger service connecting Boston and Chicago. Amtrak said bus service will be provided for all stops between Albany and Boston, except Framingham and Boston Back Bay, through at least the end of July.
The Lake Shore Limited makes stops in Springfield and Pittsfield and is the only east/west passenger rail service between western Massachusetts and Boston.