On Wednesday, commuters traveling through 30th Street Station in Philadelphia were greeted by rail workers warning of a possible Amtrak shutdown in their future.

Locomotive engineers and maintenance of way workers who are represented by the Teamsters Rail Conference, passed out leaflets to hundreds of commuters using Amtrak.

"Many of the commuters were surprised to hear that Amtrak service might stop," said Kevin Hussey, a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWED). "The Amtrak board won't negotiate with us so a service shutdown may be our only option."

"We want every rail commuter to call Congress and ask them to tell the Amtrak board of directors to bargain fairly with the rail unions," said Fred Simpson, president of the BMWED.

With thousands of commuters passing through the Newark station daily, rail workers passed out nearly all of their fliers and spoke to many commuters. "I bet the switchboard at the U.S. Capitol is going to be busy today," said, Mark Kenny, a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET). "But we have to use every available opportunity to get some movement on this issue."

This year the Amtrak board of directors continued its stall tactics on union bargaining. In addition, the Amtrak board announced its intention to cut apart Amtrak, leaving the eastern corridor intact, but requiring local governments to foot the bills for local service.