{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://pallone.house.gov/media/press-releases/pallone-amtraks-holiday-service-failures-are-completely-unacceptable", "Pallone: Amtrak\u2019s Holiday Service Failures Are Completely Unacceptable", "2024-12-23", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "House", "NJ", "Frank Pallone, Jr.", "P000034", "pallone.house.gov", "pallone", "https://pallone.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Long Branch, NJ \u2013 Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ-06) today expressed outrage over severe disruptions in Amtrak\u2019s service along the Northeast Corridor during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. Pallone criticized Amtrak for canceling multiple trains and failing to provide sufficient resources for stranded commuters, many of whom are left unable to rebook online or reach live agents by phone.\n\n\u201cAmtrak\u2019s latest service meltdown during the holiday season is an unmitigated disaster,\u201d said Pallone. \u201cCommuters, and holiday travelers are being left in the lurch without basic support or answers. Cancelling trains with no viable solutions in place is completely unacceptable. Amtrak has received historic federal investments to improve service reliability, and yet these failures continue. It\u2019s clear more accountability and urgency are needed.\u201d\n\nThe cancellations, which include trains 112, 131, 181, 114, 2152, 2169, 2154, and 2173, come alongside significant delays in and out of New York Penn Station. Customers have reported being unable to rebook tickets online, while Amtrak\u2019s phone lines and live chat services remain overwhelmed, leaving travelers stranded without assistance.\n\nPallone emphasized that Amtrak has a responsibility to use federal funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to modernize critical infrastructure and prevent service disruptions. He has previously pressed Amtrak leadership to prioritize urgent repairs to the Northeast Corridor\u2019s century-old overhead wire system and signal infrastructure, which are frequent sources of delays.\n\n\u201cCommuters deserve better than this chaos\u2014especially during the holidays. It\u2019s unacceptable that after months of pushing for greater transparency and repairs, Amtrak has yet to address these recurring issues in a meaningful way,\u201d Pallone added. \u201cI\u2019ll continue to demand answers from Amtrak and work with federal and state partners to ensure these failures don\u2019t continue into 2025. My constituents deserve reliable public transportation they can count on, period.\u201d\n\nPallone is calling on Amtrak to provide immediate updates on the root cause of the current disruptions, detailed plans for compensating impacted travelers, and timelines for resolving the underlying infrastructure issues. He also urged Amtrak to bolster its customer support systems to handle the surge in traveler inquiries during peak seasons.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://pallone.house.gov/media/press-releases/pallone-amtraks-holiday-service-failures-are-completely-unacceptable"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9687370620667934, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}