#21 (8/18) Texas Eagle hit car

The 8:28am departure was already seriously late to Longview, TX(LVW) (close to 5 hours) from waiting for a suspicious package to be cleared from tracks and freight delays. Word given us at the station that package was somewhere around Springfield, IL.

Then about 1:30 we were told just prior to LVW arrival train hit a car so another several hour delay.

It's still sitting in Longview at 5:00pm. Could be it needs the spare engine from Ft Worth.

And watch Amtrak hold #1 at San Antonio for who knows how long to switch cars from 21. I don't know why they just don't bus them from FTW to El Paso . There used to be two protect Superliners at San Antonio for just this type of situation.

You worry about lack of dining car options running people away from LD trains, no its severely late trains like this that make Spirit Airlines in comparison to Amtrak look like Cunard Cruises.

frequentflyer said:

You worry about lack of dining car options running people away from LD trains, no its severely late trains like this that make Spirit Airlines in comparison to Amtrak look like Cunard Cruises.

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Nope. Here's the thing: Amtrak takes a while. Everyone knows this. The people who are able to fly but choose to take the train do so because it's a vastly better and more comfortable experience. Of course poor timekeeping doesn't help, but that's basically always been the case, and Amtrak is still here today despite that. It's with the recent round of significant cuts (food, checked baggage, etc) that some people get fed up and stop riding. Maybe if Amtrak started charging for checked bags, for carry on bags, took out all the outlets, narrowed the seats, halved legroom, etc, then Spirit would get somewhat comparable to Amtrak.

So IMHO, no, poor on time performance is not even close to being the main reason that people go with the airlines–any airline–instead of Amtrak.

Story on the crash near Longview, TX is at https://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/news/amtrak-train-car-catch-fire-near-hallsville/article_0d75d7d4-a320-11e8-be52-ef5e1db873cc.html . Unoccupied auto and front of the P42 are toast. Probably will be towed to FTW.

BTW, last time I was in SAS the spare Superliner sleeper and coach were there, keeping powered up with 'shore power'. I'll admit, it's been a few years.

Edit: The 'track-a-train' maps still show 21 in Longview, but that may be just the bad engine. It's possible the coded number for that GPS wasn't changed to the replacement. We may never know.

Damn, the P42s are dropping like flies. Is it just that I'm noticing it more or has Amtrak had an unusually high number of grade crossing incidents this year?

In actuality, the Eagle hit an abandoned pickup truck that was under tow that came separated from tow and left on the track. The single Amtrak Engine was badly burned from the truck which apparently burst into flames after being hit. San Antonio passengers were being bused and should be noted those buses can bypass Dallas and FTW by taking highway directly to Austin TX and then the Interstate south to San Antonio.

frequentflyer said:

And watch Amtrak hold #1 at San Antonio for who knows how long to switch cars from 21. I don't know why they just don't bus them from FTW to El Paso . There used to be two protect Superliners at San Antonio for just this type of situation.

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The protect cars are still stationed here, just as they were before, and are only missing when already in use on a previous misconnect.

frequentflyer said:

You worry about lack of dining car options running people away from LD trains, no its severely late trains like this that make Spirit Airlines in comparison to Amtrak look like Cunard Cruises.

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Late trains make Spirit Airlines look like Cunard Cruises? Much of the hate passengers express for Spirit revolves around their self-inflicted MX delays, unwillingness to update passengers, and inability to recover from irregular operations in a timely and efficient manner.