Please Don’t Stike, Amtrak Employees

Remember your commute during that snowstorm last month? It was so bad that schools scrambled to be the first to close before yesterday’s somewhat disappointing nor’easter. We mention it because you’ll recall that mid-December day fondly if Amtrak workers go on strike.

The news broke about a week ago, but the story is making its way around the wires again this afternoon. It paints a nightmarish picture of what life will be like without Amtrak employees, who’ve been working without a contract since 1999. After years of bickering, the Feds ruled a strike would be legal at the end of January.

What would happen? Well, we won’t be heading south anytime soon.

South Station, Boston’s largest train station and the main hub for commuters coming into Boston from suburbs south and west of Boston, would be shut down. There would be no service between Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, because that line, which carries about 17,000 riders a day, is dispatched by Amtrak employees. The MBTA says any contingency plan could accommodate only about 25 percent of the 47,000 passengers a day who use South Station.

We’ll keep you updated on developments. Until then, tune up your bikes and look for some superior walking sneakers. Just in case.