With a 12:01 a.m. Friday deadline to resolve the labor dispute between rail workers and rail freight companies quickly approaching, Amtrak has canceled most of its long-distance routes starting Thursday, USA Today reports.
The routes along the popular Northeast corridor, including the Acela, will not be impacted. Although Amtrak is not a party to the labor dispute, it share rails with the freight trains that are, and the organization is planning for some tracks to be blocked by freight that cannot be unloaded.
At 12:01 a.m. Friday, a federally-mandated “cooling off” period ends, and 115,000 rail workers could choose to go on strike or the freight carriers might lock them out, essentially shutting down rail freight across the country. With the help of federal mediators, the coalition of six freight companies have reached agreements with eight of the 12 unions involved, but not the two largest that represent the conductors and engineers.