NEW YORK — The 6:25 a.m. 246 train from Schenectady to New York City will be no more when Amtrak’s new schedule takes effect on Oct. 28, the New York Business Review reported.
The first train leaving Schenectady for New York City will now leave the station at 9:25 a.m. and arrive in New York City at 12:25 p.m. Instead of originating at Schenectady, that train will be passing through on its way from Niagara Falls.
The 246’s morning trip to Penn Station will now originate from Rensselaer at 6:55 a.m. and arrive at 9:15 a.m.
Amtrak is making the change because it simply can’t afford to run a train from Schenectady to Albany that is nearly empty, said Amtrak spokesman Dan Stessel.
Average ridership on the 246 for the 18 miles from Schenectady to Albany was 10 people, he said. Meanwhile it cost Amtrak more than $100,000 a year to put the train together at the Rensselaer station, crew it, run it empty to Schenectady, and then run it back to Albany for ten people, Stessel said.
“Over the course of a year these costs add up,” Stessel said.
Passengers that used to pick up the 246 in Schenectady can easily drive to the new Rensselaer station, he said.
Dumping the 246 train’s Schenectady departure is one of a number of cost saving changes Amtrak is making to schedules across the northeast, Stessel said.
The Lakeshore Limited, the 283 train, which runs along the Empire Service corridor to Niagara Falls, will now leave Penn Station two hours earlier, Stessel said.
The 289 train, which currently leaves Penn Station at 4:25 p.m. on Fridays and runs to Syracuse will now end its run in Albany, N.Y., he said.