EB #8 lateness today (3/7)

Anyone know why the EB #8 is so late today.

It's always this late . Well maybe not always, but certainly not unusual.

Freight train hit a truck just in front of 8 in Minnesota, incurred a major delay due to that... according to FB.

I know it's always late, but 12 hours late getting into Wisconsin Dells. Sure am glad I'm not taking it today.

Really late in Minot, even later in Fargo. Maybe that freight vs truck mishap was in western ND

I saw on that transistdoc site that the EB was help up for 7 hours in ND.

maxbuskirk said:

It's always this late . Well maybe not always, but certainly not unusual.

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Now 8 (6) is running into serious lateness....it was only 58 minutes late leaving Wolf Point, MT, then it departed from its next stop, Williston, ND 3 hours 10 minutes late...and it was then 7 hours 38 minutes late leaving the stop after that, Stanley, ND. At last report, 8(6) left Minot, ND at 5:20 am, some 7 hours 33 minutes behind schedule.

I take it there's a combination weather/equipment issue here?

Edit: Saw in the Minot daily paper's website that they've been hit with blizzard conditions, though they did not mention anything about the EB.

My Fargo sister said last night that there was a blizzard in northwest ND

so the previous post says the EB Eastbound is stuck in snow today. So if I'm taking the Eastbound EB, but I'm just going a short way from Dells to Chicago (4 hours) , what happens then if the train doesn't come. Do I take it the next day, or will they bus you? I'm not taking it till April, but just curious.

Maybe this?

http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/4231373-amtrak-train-freed-after-being-stuck-almost-13-hours-25-foot-nd-snowbank

#8 (8) is 7 hrs late, as was #8 (7). #7 (7) is currently in Spokane WA, 17 hrs late. I'm amazed that they didn't turn it around in Spokane. #8 (9), if it ever leaves, might be tomorrow morning . . .

Both Empire Builder departures for at least today, and possibly further, have already been canceled.

why did they cancel the Empire Builder? Also, how do you people find out all this information.

blackpup said:

why did they cancel the Empire Builder? Also, how do you people find out all this information.

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Cancelled because of the very late trains - they have to turn around for the next day and they can't do that when they're running as late as they ran the past few days. So they canceled one day's trains and I heard they closed sales on the following day's train so that they could rebook as many of the cancelled pax's as possible on it.

There are a lot of FB groups and other train forums where this info can be found.

ok thanks, as long as their running good again on April 10th. Starting to make me a bit nervous as it's only 4 weeks away and some change.

The necessity of cancelling these trains needs a two fold way to mitigate.

1. Since most winter consists are reduced there needs to be some cars and locos to be part of a surge fleet. Of course that requires more equipment. Congress do you hear ?

2. Must sufficient crews available at crew change locations to cover both late trains and replacement trains.

For clarification, I believe 7(9) and 8(9) were the only trains canceled. Unless something changes, 7(10) and 8(10) should operate.

So I see the EB #7 and #8 (15 and 16 ) have a service disruption again. I assume because of land slides. So I was thinking hmmm, just in the slight chance this happens to me when I catch it on April 10th, I better have a plan B. So, plan B is to drive to Milwaukee Airport and catch the Hiawatha to Chicago. Much longer drive to train station, but at least I'll still get to Chicago.

So nice to see the #8 in green on the asm.transitdocs site. Even today in the Dells was only 36 minutes late. Keep it up. Only two more weeks to go before I'm on it.