Originally Posted by AlanB

The conductor is confusing two things. The 16th is when Amtrak will stop running selected California services if the State and it's organizations don't reach agreements with Amtrak to fund the State sponsored services. As of October 1st, every State with an Amtrak train that runs fewer than 750 miles must fully fund the service; not the Fed. Last I had heard, only 1 of CA's services had reached an agreement with Amtrak. The other two are still haggling.

Those services will be shut down on the 16th, without regard to what happens with the Fed, if CA & agencies don't reach an agreement with Amtrak.

But the 16th has absolutely nothing to do with Amtrak shutting down because of the Federal shutdown. My guess, and I stress that, is that Amtrak could probably make it to the end of the year before a continued impasse in Congress would force Amtrak to start curtailing service. Somehow I don't think, and I certainly hope, that the current Federal impasse will be solved long before the end of the year.