Something mysterious now on Amtrak's site.. Looking at the announcement in Post #4 above, both the Cardinal 50/51 being cut back to Washington, DC and the suspension of two Regionals (152/153) were announced.
That announcement was quietly changed (but still effective March 25th like the one it replaced), to be just for the Cardinal, with no other separate announcement about 152 & 153:
Track Work Affects Cardinal Trains 50 and 51
Effective March 25, 2018
Due to track work at New York Penn Station, Cardinal service will be affected beginning March 25.
- Train 50 will operate from Chicago to Washington, DC beginning March 29 until further notice.
- Train 51 will operate from Washington, DC to Chicago beginning April 1 until further notice.
- Connections can be made from Trains 50 and 51 to other Amtrak trains for those traveling past Washington, DC.
So what happened to 152 & 153? Clearly in my actually travelling on the Northeast Corridor on a weekend morning, they are not in the schedule. With the announcement of their suspension gone from the website, would that cause one to deduce that they might have instead been permanently eliminated? The lack of both 152 and 153 leaves obvious 2-hour gaps between Northeast Regional trains although one might have an Acela Express running at a time near its slot.