EB Mess - 2

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andersone

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for some reason the old EB Mess thread was locked.

With a trip to GPK in August,,, I still like to know if the old schedule or the new schedule of the old new schedule is in place.. or what is the scuttlebutt,,,,, or if I were going to gamble larges sums of cash which schedule should I bet on,,,,?
 
If I were to bet on the schedule in use in August:

The odds-on favorite is for the current "temporary" schedule. With the current delays.

The second favorite is some completely new and unknown adjusted schedule. With delays.

The old schedule is a longshot. It would have delays too.
 
At the first of the year I started buying $5 in scratch off lottery tickets, with the proceeds going to the GPK fund. By the first of April I was $120 into lottery tickets and $65 in return. Since then I have just started putting five bucks in the kitty every time I buy gas. Since then I am $70 bucks up. I might need it for gas money to drive to GPK rathter than EB.
 
"News of the Weird":

Train 27 (6) is currently on time, and is estimated to arrive in Portland 34 minutes EARLY.

Train 7 (6) is only 18 minutes late, and is estimated to arrive in Seattle 31 minutes EARLY.

I don't know what they did, but I hope they keep doing it...
 
Got to keep in mind, it's a weekend, so it has a better chance at it than the week days.

-Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum App.
 
"News of the Weird":

Train 27 (6) is currently on time, and is estimated to arrive in Portland 34 minutes EARLY.

Train 7 (6) is only 18 minutes late, and is estimated to arrive in Seattle 31 minutes EARLY.

I don't know what they did, but I hope they keep doing it...
Well, one thing they "did" was play with the schedules. These EARLY trains would have been LATE under the old schedule.

Still, it's something positive at least. And today's arrivals in PDX and SEA have a fair chance of arriving close to on time, at least by the new definition of on time.
 
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I had read somewhere about bustitutions well into September. Are there any firm dates for this? Is it due to track work? Is it only through September, or is there a chance it will bleed into October? I tried to keep up with the other thread and failed.

Reason being, I'm thinking about taking a trip the second week of October, and if they're using buses for a portion**, I'd rather fly. I don't mind being a few hours late if I get to stay in my room the entire time.

**Portion being either 1) longer than 2-3 hours or 2) during the middle of the night.
 
I had read somewhere about bustitutions well into September. Are there any firm dates for this? Is it due to track work? Is it only through September, or is there a chance it will bleed into October? I tried to keep up with the other thread and failed.

Reason being, I'm thinking about taking a trip the second week of October, and if they're using buses for a portion**, I'd rather fly. I don't mind being a few hours late if I get to stay in my room the entire time.

**Portion being either 1) longer than 2-3 hours or 2) during the middle of the night.
They're busing passengers beginning or ending their trip at Grand Forks, Devil's Lake, or Rugby on the westbound Builder. Through passengers will stay on the train.

EDIT: This is the "standard" bustitution. Of course things may change, but right now that's the only bustitution.
 
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Amtrak's Empire Builder line sees drop in ridership



The Empire Builder, one of Amtrak’s most historically popular lines, is suffering as delays are causing a drop in ridership....

there has been massive growth in freight transportation nationally, which includes oil shipments from North Dakota. The increase in traffic has caused significant delays for the Empire Builder as it makes its way through Montana and North Dakota.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said it’s been a frustrating year and ridership is hurting on the Empire Builder. He said late trains are also more expensive to operate.
“We’re giving complimentary food and beverage service to try and apologize,” said Magliari. “The train crews themselves are getting into overtime because their trains are running longer than they’re supposed to run. So it drives costs up astronomically when trains are greatly delayed. It turns some one-time passengers into never-again passengers.”
Magliari said while Amtrak normally pays host railroads like BNSF an incentive for good performance, Amtrak has not been making those payments lately.
 
On my last trip on the Empire Builder a couple weeks ago even the Sleepers were not full and the coaches had only about 50% of the seats occupied, even less so after Williston. On that trip we were 10 hours late btw.

:-(
 
Wonder if Beech Grove is having trouble hiring workers since there is so much work in the Oil Boom States (the Hi-*Line and Texas)and the Construction Industry in Texas?? I'm not familiar with Indiana's economy or employment status?

And do they just use Amtrak Employees and/or Contract Workers?
 
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Wonder if Beech Grove is having trouble hiring workers since there is so much work in the Oil Boom States (the Hi-*Line and Texas)and the Construction Industry in Texas?? I'm not familiar with Indiana's economy or employment status?

And do they just use Amtrak Employees and/or Contract Workers?
One of Amtrak's problems is that there are massive retirements of employees that were hired prior to 1981. Amtrak like all railroads has its employees covered by the Railroad Retirement system. This system is basically government run but funded by the railroads and railroad employees. The railroads and the employees pay a significant amount more than Social Security, but the benefits are higher and if you have 360 months of service and 60 years of age you are able to collect a full annuity.

This being said the pre-81 employees have been reaching the "magic numbers" needed to retire and there is no incentive for those effected to stay. Many jobs were lost due to attrition with no replacements, more work was expected from fewer employees, fewer spare parts were stocked in the storeroom (inventory costs money and does not make money until it is needed) making everyone's job more difficult not to mention that Chicago just went through one of its worst winters ever. Morale is very low, decades of knowledge is being lost and no one planned ahead as budgets were being cut with no regard for the future.
 
Thanks, Institutional Memory is a key in every well functioning organization!

And with all the unemployment in the Midwest and the Rust Belt I'm wondering if Amtrak needs to Recruit harder and speed up the hiring process, it seems to be slow as molasses!
 
And yet Bear seems to be doing fine.

If there are a lot of retirements, new recruitment becomes important. I'm wondering if Beech Grove is in a problem location for hiring. I would *not* think that Indianapolis would be an attractive location to relocate to for a young person interested in maintaining trains; it barely has train service! (Ahem.)
 
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Empire Builder "troubles" back to the normal SNAFUs this AM- #8 just under 6 hours behind in MN, #7 in WA over 5 hours late and #27 suffering a service disruption. Bummer.
 
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Empire Builder "troubles" back to the normal SNAFUs this AM- #8 just under 6 hours behind in MN, #7 in WA over 5 hours late and #27 suffering a service disruption. Bummer.
Does anyone know what the "service disruption" is for #27 that was supposed to arrive in Portland on Wednesday morning? Amtrak's status map still shows it parked somewhere north of Pasco.
 
Empire Builder "troubles" back to the normal SNAFUs this AM- #8 just under 6 hours behind in MN, #7 in WA over 5 hours late and #27 suffering a service disruption. Bummer.
Does anyone know what the "service disruption" is for #27 that was supposed to arrive in Portland on Wednesday morning? Amtrak's status map still shows it parked somewhere north of Pasco.
BNSF track gang had a construction window and with #7 so late, #27 missed it and had to bus to PDX.

The equipment finally left SPK at 2:15pm. At 6:30pm it hadn't even made it thru Cheney, WA. Finally arrived into PDX 4:08am.

There's a lot of construction and expansion going on right now between SPK and PSC.
 
And the construction efforts in MT and ND have ramped up big time. My BNSF guy said the 5-6 hour delays being seen this week thru this area should be likely much of the summer until late October.

:-(
 
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