An Article on Amtrak service in Missouri

[como]

The St. Louis Post Dispatch ran a front page article on improvement in Amtrak service in Missouri. The article is online at

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stor...09?OpenDocument

The article describes efforts by Amtrak, Union Pacific and Missouri Department of Transportation to improve service between St. Louis and Kansas City.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

A very good article. Despite some little hiccups, it was extremely well researched and one of the better pieces out there.

This quote, I think, shows that the writer was very intuitive and did her homework:

Amtrak uses a double track between St. Louis and Jefferson City. But west of the capital, there is only a single track, and Amtrak must share it with 50 to 60 freight trains daily. Freight train interference causes most of Amtrak's delays. Union Pacific dispatchers direct Amtrak trains to pull over onto sidings whenever a freight train needs to pass. Those sidings aren't long enough to hold a mile-long freight train, which is why passenger trains must always yield.

 

[RailFanLNK]

That was a good article. What was even better was some of the "comments" after the article. Of course the usual "socialism" rant by the folks who when hearing a fire truck siren run down to thier homemade bunker and pull out the Geiger counter! :lol:

 

[dart330]

I had just told a friend of mine who lives in Kansas City about this so he decided to take the train to STL yesterday to visit some friends (a 4 hour drive).

Train 314 ended up 2.5 hours late into STL from KCY, only a 283 mile route, supposed to take 6 hours and it took 8 and half. I doubt he will ever try it again after that. They really need to double track the whole route from KCY to JEF.

 

[stlouielady]

I had just told a friend of mine who lives in Kansas City about this so he decided to take the train to STL yesterday to visit some friends (a 4 hour drive).
Train 314 ended up 2.5 hours late into STL from KCY, only a 283 mile route, supposed to take 6 hours and it took 8 and half. I doubt he will ever try it again after that. They really need to double track the whole route from KCY to JEF.

I noticed the lateness yesterday. Fortunately, that amount of delay hasn't been the norm lately; unfortunately, your friend apparently hit a bad day to travel. Tell him not to give up on the route yet; sometimes you just get 'unlucky'.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I hope one day that UP will be found to intentionally make those trains too long to put in sidings and thus force Amtrak to give way. We know they are doing it, but some proof would be awesome.

 

[John Bredin]

I hope one day that UP will be found to intentionally make those trains too long to put in sidings and thus force Amtrak to give way. We know they are doing it, but some proof would be awesome.

With all due respect, that's more than a little absurd. For the last several decades, if not for the history of the American railroads, the trend has been for longer and longer freight trains carrying more and more freight (double-stacks, for instance) with smaller crews. Mile-long trains with two-man crews are done to reduce costs of labor and fuel, not to screw Amtrak. They are also done by railroads other than UP, including BNSF which does not have UP's reputation of being anti-Amtrak.

I certainly can understand skepticism of UP's motives given that well-deserved reputation. If you had said the sidings were too short because UP was trying to force Amtrak into the sidings, then I would agree. But to say UP is running mile-long trains to force Amtrak into the sidings is not the same thing. Environmentally and economically, mile-long trains are definitely positive.

 

[dart330]

I spoke to my friend about the delay on train 314. He said they stopped somewhere between KC and Sedalia to wait for a freight, just sat there for 2.5 hours. That sounds like bad timing on UP's part since the Amtrak train left on time at 7:30 AM.

I told him he was pretty unlucky since that was really the only late train (more than 20 min) all month long. Sounds like he will give it another go, waiting for his summer promo points to post.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I hope one day that UP will be found to intentionally make those trains too long to put in sidings and thus force Amtrak to give way. We know they are doing it, but some proof would be awesome.

With all due respect, that's more than a little absurd. For the last several decades, if not for the history of the American railroads, the trend has been for longer and longer freight trains carrying more and more freight (double-stacks, for instance) with smaller crews. Mile-long trains with two-man crews are done to reduce costs of labor and fuel, not to screw Amtrak. They are also done by railroads other than UP, including BNSF which does not have UP's reputation of being anti-Amtrak.

I certainly can understand skepticism of UP's motives given that well-deserved reputation. If you had said the sidings were too short because UP was trying to force Amtrak into the sidings, then I would agree. But to say UP is running mile-long trains to force Amtrak into the sidings is not the same thing. Environmentally and economically, mile-long trains are definitely positive.

BNSF doesn't incompetently schedule such freights on a line that does not have sufficient sidings such that they know they are going to meet up with scheduled Amtrak trains that will thus have to yield to the freight. UP know's what they are doing. There is three tons of padding on that line already. They are intentionally doing this.

If they tell Amtrak the schedule can be what it is- and they do- then there is no reason, no excuse, no plausible explanation, for why an on-time train becomes delayed due to a normally scheduled, properly operated freight. Yes, unusual circumstances happen. There is an excuse when an Amtrak train pops onto the line 2 hours late. There is no excuse for what is going on now. UP runs their own system with mild competence. They very intentionally set up their schedule to conflict with Amtrak's. They don't have to. These long-ass slugs can be scheduled at other times.

 

[DaveKCMO]

I spoke to my friend about the delay on train 314. He said they stopped somewhere between KC and Sedalia to wait for a freight, just sat there for 2.5 hours. That sounds like bad timing on UP's part since the Amtrak train left on time at 7:30 AM.
I told him he was pretty unlucky since that was really the only late train (more than 20 min) all month long. Sounds like he will give it another go, waiting for his summer promo points to post.

i believe that choke point is scheduled to have a siding added soon. for those that don't follow the KCY-STL drama that closely, most of the route between KCY and JEF is single-track.

 

[mucomix]

Next week the wife and I will be taking the MO river runner from KC to St Louis, just to go somewhere for a few days. I will let you know what I see. This will also be my first trip with a scanner so I will get to find out if the radio is interesting or not.