EB connections to be restored 1/23/15

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CHamilton

CHamilton

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Amtrak has announced that some connections from the Empire Builder will be restored effective 1/23:

  • In Chicago, 8 to 307 (the 7P train to St. Louis)
  • In Portland, 27 to 11
 
I thought that 14 to 28 has always been a valid connection, at least in the recent past. I could have sworn it was working a month ago.
 
As of right now, 14/28 is not part of a valid connection to destinations east of Chicago. I just tried LAX - NYP.
 
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Bruce-C said:
As of right now, 14/28 is not part of a valid connection to destinations east of Chicago. I just tried LAX - NYP.
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Oh. I wasn't headed as far as Chicago. LAX-WPT on 14/28 was working fine. I can see why Arrow wouldn't suggest sending you LAX-PDX-CHI-NYP when the direct train to CHI on the Chief would be faster.

Also, I was asking for trips in March. You will probably get odd results for Jan-Feb trips involving the CS due to the track work.
 
Bjartmarr said:
Bruce-C said:
As of right now, 14/28 is not part of a valid connection to destinations east of Chicago. I just tried LAX - NYP.
Click to expand...
Oh. I wasn't headed as far as Chicago. LAX-WPT on 14/28 was working fine. I can see why Arrow wouldn't suggest sending you LAX-PDX-CHI-NYP when the direct train to CHI on the Chief would be faster.
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No, you can book LAX-PDX-CHI, you just can't tag on NYP. Which does me no good at all.
Oh well, maybe in a couple months(I was looking at July), the #28 opt into CHI will allow a #48 connection.
 
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I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to do, so sorry if this is irrelevant.

I'm getting a valid 28/48 connection going from VAN or WPT to NYP.

(but not PDX to NYP, oddly enough -- it wants me to take the Cascades to SEA, or take the CS-CZ)

So the individual connections 14/28 and 28/48 can be made, it's just that Arrow is refusing to provide you with a long convoluted routing.

(as much as we all like long convoluted routings...)

You could book it as a multi-city.

If you're trying to do AGR, you could do a 1 zone plus a 2 zone for the same price as a 3-zone if you want a roomette, or a little more if you want coach, by going through WPT.
 
FWIW, I just booked ALY(Albany, OR)/PDX/CHI/NYP and the #28 to #48 connection went through just fine - dep. 2/18.

But booking this was anything but easy. If I tried to book ALY/NYP, the only valid routing was to leave ALY at 6:13 AM and connect to #8 in SEA! If I instead tried just ALY/CHI, it gave me 3 routings through PDX (connecting to #28) up to and including the 2:05 bus ALY/PDX. And when I called Amtrak, an agent at first refused to book me on anything except the 6:13 departure.

The #14 to #28 connection is still not guaranteed, probably a wise decision.

Moving right along, anybody explain how later, both a Julie agent and his supervisor were unable to find my reservation when Donna at Customer Relations was able to pull it up immediately? I didn't know my res number, if that explains anything.

Yes, yesterday I sent a long message to Amtrak CR. No reply yet.
 
There's some weird bug about two connections. I can do IRV-LAX-PDX and I can do LAX-PDX-PSC but I can't do IRV-LAX-PDX-PSC.
 
Ispolkom said:
WellTrained said:
The #14 to #28 connection is still not guaranteed, probably a wise decision.
Click to expand...
LAX-PDX-CHI is offered as a legal routing for a departure tomorrow, even with the bus from Eugene.

Perhaps only certain city pairs have been reestablished.
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That figures. Basically, none of this is logical. I think Julie is suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder. Maybe some meds and counseling would help? Oops, I forgot she's. "just" a computer..
 
Knowing Amtrak, they probably can't just tell the system that 14-28 is OK on all bookings. They probably have to validate it for every possible permutation of city pairs!
 
We have a trip planned for June. Toledo-San Luis Obispo via 27 and 11. Our return is 11-421. We would love to reverse this itinerary. Daylight from San Antonio westward and by taking the EB for the return we'd pass through Whitefish and Glacier during the day instead of going through in darkness. This is two zones each way and we are using AGR points. However, as another poster mentioned we cannot book 14-28 East of Chicago. Why the discrepancy?
 
benale said:
Why the discrepancy?
Click to expand...
SteveSTX probably has the answer:


SteveSTX said:
Knowing Amtrak, they probably can't just tell the system that 14-28 is OK on all bookings. They probably have to validate it for every possible permutation of city pairs!
Click to expand...

In general, though, I've never found it useful to try to understand why AGR does certain things. It's all I can do to figure out what they allow.
 
In discussions over on FlyerTalk, AGR Insider, who is an Amtrak representative, said awhile ago that all "published routes" are manually entered in the system, they aren't computer generated. So it is likely some haven't been re-entered.
 
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zephyr17 said:
In discussions over on FlyerTalk, AGR Insider, who is an Amtrak representative, said awhile ago that all "published routes" are manually entered in the system, they aren't computer generated. So it is likely some haven't been re-entered.
Click to expand...
Not only that, but I believe he also said that if you are looking at a reasonable routing that operations forgot to enter into the system, to escalate the request when trying to book. Failing that, he said to PM him.
 
I tried to book SAN to MSP in August and was told that LA Union station to MSP was ok (14 to 28) but they couldn't book the SAN to LA Union station part because there wasn't at least the 2 hour minimum between trains that is required? Train 763 to 14 is an hour and 20 minutes between yet 14 to 28 in PDX is an hour and 15 minutes. Thought I'd ask if anyone has heard about that 2 hour window requirement before I try calling them again
 
mikeC said:
I tried to book SAN to MSP in August and was told that LA Union station to MSP was ok (14 to 28) but they couldn't book the SAN to LA Union station part because there wasn't at least the 2 hour minimum between trains that is required? Train 763 to 14 is an hour and 20 minutes between yet 14 to 28 in PDX is an hour and 15 minutes. Thought I'd ask if anyone has heard about that 2 hour window requirement before I try calling them again
Click to expand...
Never heard of the 2-hour rule. What happened when you pointed out that the 14-28 connection is less than two hours? FWIW, SAN-LAX-PDX-MSP used to be a published route, and I traveled on it in 2013.
 
With the EB having padding taken out, is there any chance the Sunset could follow? Travel time now is about 5 hours slower compared to the mid 1990s.
 
They told me it was an illegal connection and they couldn't do it. Since SAN to PDX and LAX to MSP are valid and after reading the prior posts here, I'm thinking that they haven't restored all of the possible city pairs yet?
 
I was trying to book a trip we have taken several times in the past--all successful btw--which used the EB connecting to the CL (now just under 3 hour connection time), and Amtrak will not allow this booking. The customer service person said 2 hours and 45 minutes is not sufficient time given the EB's "expected" performance parameters in 2015. Well, I guess that sums up how confident Amtrak is that the EB's recent decent timekeeping will last--not!!!! Bummer.

The only connection offered is via the LSL and then a NE regional train, which adds almost another 1/2 day to my travel planning, not worth the effort. I can't imagine an airline saying that 3 hours was not sufficient connection time between flights. :-(
 
montana mike said:
I was trying to book a trip we have taken several times in the past--all successful btw--which used the EB connecting to the CL (now just under 3 hour connection time), and Amtrak will not allow this booking. The customer service person said 2 hours and 45 minutes is not sufficient time given the EB's "expected" performance parameters in 2015. Well, I guess that sums up how confident Amtrak is that the EB's recent decent timekeeping will last--not!!!! Bummer.

The only connection offered is via the LSL and then a NE regional train, which adds almost another 1/2 day to my travel planning, not worth the effort. I can't imagine an airline saying that 3 hours was not sufficient connection time between flights. :-(
Click to expand...
The connection from the EB to the CL (8 to 30) was broken last year when they made the "new" schedule that was in effect from early 2014 until 1/23/15. Now that they've reverted to the "old" schedule, this connection will allegedly be made available again some time soon (at least that's what an AGR rep told me). It's just a matter of restoring it as a "published route" in Arrow.

And yes, I understand what you're saying about airlines and the 3 hour connection time. OTOH, lateness is relative - the EB is just finishing a 48 hour journey, and a lot more can go wrong on a 48 hour trip than on a 4 hour trip.
 
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