Shore Line East monthly passes and multi-ride tickets will again be honored by Amtrak come September.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, wrote a letter to Stephen Gardner, the president of Amtrak, and William Flynn, CEO of Amtrak, in June urging that the company resume honoring Shore Line East monthly pass and multi-ride ticket holders on Amtrak, who "had been able to use their passes on certain Northeast Regional and Acela trains to fill in gaps in Shore Line East service and ensure that commuters can get to work on time," according to the letter.

"Unfortunately, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Amtrak stopped cross-honoring Shore Line East passes, and has made no information public to congressional offices nor the State Department of Transportation on when Amtrak will resume cross-honoring these passes," the letter reads. "In June of 2020, the Shore Line East website announced that Amtrak cross-honoring of Shore Line East multi-ride tickets would be suspended until further notice. I understand this partly stems from the lack of Amtrak trains currently running, which had previously been included in the cross-honoring program. I firmly believe that alternative cross-honoring arrangements could meet the needs of our current passengers until the full Amtrak schedule is restored."

Courtney went on to argue that given the federal COVID-19 relief funding given to Amtrak, the company should again honor Shore Line East tickets in certain cases.

In a July 16 letter, Gardner told Courtney that Amtrak was working with the state Department of Transportation "to find a solution to this issue" and said the company would be "reviewing options to ensure that train capacity limits are observed and cross-honor customers only board trains where there are open seats available."

"Assuming a favorable outcome of these discussions, our goal is to implement this revised arrangement no later than September," the letter reads.

Shore Line East, which is funded by the state Department of Transportation, runs on Amtrak-owned track.

Gardner mentioned that the state Department of Transportation is examining the possibility of Shore Line East rail options. Due to a bill that passed this past legislative session, the state DOT is set to study the feasibility of extending Shore Line East rail service to Westerly, a new rail route from New London to Norwich and new passenger stations in Stonington and Groton.

Multiple readers responded to inquiries about the expansion from The Day to say that they would like Amtrak to once again cross-honor Shoreline East passes. State Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, said last week that if a project were to come to fruition, the state would seek federal funding.

"We are dealing with Congressman Joe Courtney's office and our federal senators, making sure they're aware of what we're doing in the state so once we get the feasibility study, we can push toward the federal government refunding," she said.

Gardner wrote that expansion of Shore Line East would probably protect the practice of cross-honoring tickets on Amtrak trains.

"This expansion is expected to return SLE service to nearly pre-pandemic levels, resulting in more frequent peak-hour and off-peak service, which would address the primary complaints we have heard from SLE riders," the letter from Gardner reads.

s.spinella@theday.com