Empire Builder-Spring 2015

[mwmnp]

Well, next year, the double tracking is going to be done between West Williston and West Snowden, so hang onto your hat. That, plus traffic levels, which we can't predict right now. Further east, delays will become less possible between Detroit Lakes and St. Paul due to double-tracking and putting in a lot of CTC which is beginning this year, AFAIK.

Hadn't heard about double-track or siding projects between DLK and MSP. Good news, I guess.

I've almost always been asleep on that part of the EB route (maybe one very late Eastbound exception)

This year in Minnesota, BNSF plans to reinstall the second main track between Big Lake and Becker that was taken out as part of a unwise cost-cutting move in the 80s. A little Farther north, they plan to, in effect, extend sidings between Little Falls and Lincoln to create a mostly double track line along what has always been a single track segment. Though there will still be roughly 10 miles, I think, of single track remaining, including the crossing of the Mississippi River in Little Falls. From what I've heard construction won't truly begin until late summer or early fall, which means if winter comes early this year, some of the work might have to be pushed into next year.

 

[Palmetto]

To put it simply, by the end of the construction season of 2017--and if all goes according to plan--the BNSF is going to have a two main track, CTC railroad from Chicago to West Snowden, MT. No single track, and no more track warrants. It's not known as the Northern Transcon for nothing, I guess.

 

[Gemuser]

>the BNSF is going to have a two main track, CTC railroad from Chicago to West Snowden, MT.

According to Google maps there is no such place as West Snowden MT! Can you tell me where its near?

Thanks

 

[Palmetto]

>the BNSF is going to have a two main track, CTC railroad from Chicago to West Snowden, MT.

According to Google maps there is no such place as West Snowden MT! Can you tell me where its near?

Thanks

That's interesting. I found "Snowden" on Bing Maps, though. Snowden is about 25 west of Williston, ND. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[Gemuser]

Thanks

 

[benale]

Being persistent pays off. I wrote earlier that I could not get AGR to extend my two zone reward to South Bend from Chicago using 28. After many attempts I finally got an agent who said she would speak to a supervisor about adding that extra leg to the trip. It's not a published route, but you can transfer from 28 to 48 leaving Portland,but not from any point on 14. After numerous tries with AGR, I finally got what I wanted. It's only a short run,but we wanted to end our trip nicely,and the $31 I paid for the tickets can now be used for "point runs" during the remaining month of double points.

 

[montana mike]

We are on our delayed journey on the Empire Builder today. So far so good. The Builder arrived in WFH ten minutes early this morning!! We still expect the slowdowns in ND, but keeping our fingers crossed for a reasonably decent arrival into CHI tomorrow.

 

[willem]

Being persistent pays off. I wrote earlier that I could not get AGR to extend my two zone reward to South Bend from Chicago using 28. After many attempts I finally got an agent who said she would speak to a supervisor about adding that extra leg to the trip. It's not a published route, but you can transfer from 28 to 48 leaving Portland,but not from any point on 14. After numerous tries with AGR, I finally got what I wanted. It's only a short run,but we wanted to end our trip nicely,and the $31 I paid for the tickets can now be used for "point runs" during the remaining month of double points.

Congratulations! I'm glad it worked out for you, and I'm glad that someone at AGR showed enough flexibility to take the reasonable action. May the pattern continue.

Earlier this year, someone noted that CHI-PDX-LAX-NOL-WAS is a published route. The AGR phone watch told me it could not be redeemed as a two-zone award. Alright, that made some sense. It could also not be redeemed as a three-zone award. Well, that might make sense, too. But then, I was told that it could only be redeemed as a two-zone award plus a three-zone award, with a break at LAX. I asked about a two-zone award CHI-ELP and a two-zone award ELP-WAS and was told that one of the legs was not a published route. (I forget which, but I checked at the time, and the information was correct.) This led to the situation where an AGR member could not redeem a published route because of the circle trip prohibition, but also could not redeem the published route in a reasonable, economical (my opinion) way.

 

[willem]

The Builder arrived in WFH ten minutes early this morning!! We still expect the slowdowns in ND, but keeping our fingers crossed for a reasonably decent arrival into CHI tomorrow.

I see you are now due in Saint Paul in under 30 minutes, and you will probably leave less than 2 hours late and maybe only 1.5 hours down. (I hope I haven't jinxed you.) Best of luck!

 

[montana mike]

I am on the Builder that is still in MT. We arrive in MSP tomorrow AM. I am hoping that the slight decrease in construction efforts over the weekend will help speed us thru the trouble spots.

 

[montana mike]

Trip Update: Arrived wolf Point about 35 minutes behind, BUT just as we left Wolf Point the conductor said major BNSF "freight issues" up ahead. We have been sitting just east of Wolf point for about 30 minutes with no further updates. Rats

 

[acelafan]

Trip Update: Arrived wolf Point about 35 minutes behind, BUT just as we left Wolf Point the conductor said major BNSF "freight issues" up ahead. We have been sitting just east of Wolf point for about 30 minutes with no further updates. Rats

Maybe you'll get lucky but #8's timekeeping east of WPT has been losing time over the past 30 days. Average DP delay of WPT is 47 minutes late, and average AR delay into CHI is 1 hr, 47 minutes late. But it did get in 14 minutes early March 14th.

Hope you get through OK...enjoy the ride!

 

[montana mike]

Thanks for the info! We just left Williston, now running about 1 hour and 10 minutes behind. Interesting observation as to why we are losing time today. Since it is a weekend the construction efforts are much curtailed--that's the good news, the bad news is BNSF is pushing more freights thru over the weekends because of the lower construction activities. ALL of our delays today have been to wait for westbound energy trains and two intermodals going west. One train was so slow it took almost 20 minutes to pass. I could have walked faster!!!

Oh, well. I am hoping that we can pick up a little time in MOT and then again some time in MSP tomorrow AM. Yes, you are spot on with the fact that we will indeed likely lose another hour plus in that wonderful Rugby to Fargo corridor overnight. I was wondering why the west bound EBs were losing only a small amount of time, yet the eastbound EBs were taking big hits. The conductor said that since there was no additional train set in SEA and PDX anymore it was imperative that BNSF get the westbound EBs thru faster than the eastbound trains. Interesting.



(hopefully I am still smiling tomorrow morning)

 

[Palmetto]

2H25Min down at Staples, I see. I hope you do better on the CP, but I wouldn't hold my breath there, either

 

[acelafan]

I was just looking, too. Your delay leaving DLK and SPL is about par for the course over the last 30 days. Hopefully it won't get much worse.

 

[willem]

2H25Min down at Staples, I see. I hope you do better on the CP, but I wouldn't hold my breath there, either

I'm confused, but that's becoming a common condition. The Amtrak app tells me that train 8 left Staples today 3 hours 7 minutes late, after arriving 3 hours 6 minutes late. (Dixieland says it has fallen off the face of the earth after leaving Detroit Lakes, but I suspect that Amtrak's scheduled Sunday morning computer maintenance caused that.)

Perhaps the Sunday traffic will allow the train to make up some time and not get trapped behind Metra into Chicago. Best of luck!

 

[George K]

Here's something I don't understand:



As you say, it left SPL about 3 hours late. But the list to the left says it'll only be about 1 hour 10 min late arriving in Chicago. Do they realistically think they can make up that much time?

Also, Metra traffic in Chicago on a Sunday should not be an issue. In late morning, early afternoons, the trains only run every hour or so.

 

[Train2104]

As you say, it left SPL about 3 hours late. But the list to the left says it'll only be about 1 hour 10 min late arriving in Chicago. Do they realistically think they can make up that much time?

Also, Metra traffic in Chicago on a Sunday should not be an issue. In late morning, early afternoons, the trains only run every hour or so.

As far as I tell, the estimates are extreme best case predictions using the "pure running time" schedule and some form of accelerated layover (at MSP). For someone boarding at a downline station, you'd rather have them show up and wait than miss the train.

 

[willem]

Here's something I don't understand:

As you say, it left SPL about 3 hours late. But the list to the left says it'll only be about 1 hour 10 min late arriving in Chicago. Do they realistically think they can make up that much time?

Also, Metra traffic in Chicago on a Sunday should not be an issue. In late morning, early afternoons, the trains only run every hour or so.

You can see that it makes up over an hour by the time it gets to Saint Paul, and then it makes up not quite an hour all the way to Chicago. I assume it's a demonstration of where the padding has been inserted.

 

[montana mike]

Now about 2 hours and 45 minutes late--rats. Almost all of the delays due to freight traffic too. It is going to be a nail biter to see if we make the CL this evening. Well, I will set up Plan C (driving all the way to DC) during my travels on the EB today. The EB just stopped east of St. Cloud, waiting for more freight traffic again!!!!! Arrrrgh.

 

[neroden]

There's big schedule padding at MSP eastbound. It's a good place to put it; recovers some of the valuable MSP-CHI traffic.

 

[montana mike]

Not looking good. Sitting in MSP, now over 10 minutes and they don't look like they are going anywhere soon. Still about 2 1/2 hours late. I would say my chances of making the CL connection are lowering by the minute now. I have taken this route many times and you need to allow for 8 hours between MSP and CHI. This is assuming all goes well. The conductor was saying that a lot of freight interference can be expected between MSP and MKE today--same story on CPR as bNSF, they push more frights on weekends since there is les construction going on.

C'est La Vie'. I have already looked into renting a car for what will be a long drive from CHI to VA, with an overnight somewhere in Indiana tonight likely. Darn

Finally left after spending around 20 minutes in MSP.....

 

[jebr]

Where in VA do you have to be? Might be worth seeing if a rebook on the LSL to a NER is possible.

 

[willem]

In a perfect world, you probably would have left only 10 minutes earlier. In this world, that doesn't help as you sit looking at the platform and wait for movement.

The ever-optimistic Julie expects you to arrive in Chicago less than 2 hours late, which would even give you time to swing through the Metropolitan Lounge. It is not much cushion, though.

Once upon a time, we were bustituted from MSP to CHI and the bus arrived at Union Station five minutes before the scheduled departure of the Capitol Limited. As it turned out, they apparently held the train, because it left about 20 minutes late. In retrospect, I wished I had helped more fellow passengers transfer rather than being on board by the scheduled departure, but I didn't know if the train would leave on time regardless or not.

 

[oregon pioneer]

Not looking good. Sitting in MSP, now over 10 minutes and they don't look like they are going anywhere soon. Still about 2 1/2 hours late. I would say my chances of making the CL connection are lowering by the minute now. I have taken this route many times and you need to allow for 8 hours between MSP and CHI. This is assuming all goes well. The conductor was saying that a lot of freight interference can be expected between MSP and MKE today--same story on CPR as bNSF, they push more frights on weekends since there is les construction going on.

C'est La Vie'. I have already looked into renting a car for what will be a long drive from CHI to VA, with an overnight somewhere in Indiana tonight likely. Darn

Finally left after spending around 20 minutes in MSP.....

Mike, it looks like you squeaked by. Inquiring minds want to know how it all turned out for you. And what you see down the road ahead, for performance on the Hi-line.