CZ delay 8/28-8/29/17

The CZ was about 2 hours late when I boarded in Grand Junction yesterday. Now it's running a bit over 3 hours late.

Those of us connecting to Cardinal were let off in Galesburg. Waiting now for a bus to take us to Indianapolis, where we will catch Cardinal around midnight.

I know this isn't a rare situation, but it's a first for me. Can someone please let me know what to expect with the bus and then waiting a few hours in Indy? How is dinner handled when on a bus? What's Indianapolis station like in the middle of the night? Any tips?

Also, any info about the cause of the delay?

Not sure it's improved much (or at all), but I took AMTK to Indianapolis in 2014 (to and from). While historic and grand in overall nature [if you have time, read the Wikipedia article on it], due to the downsizing of the original Union Station I thought the IND station to be rather sketchy in appearance, poorly lighted and a rather dismal experience. It's also an intermodal station, sharing service with bus lines (in fact, IIRC, it's primarily a bus station with rail service). On departure I had a slightly better experience, but it's a shadow of what it once was and what it could be. My sympathies for having to spend more than the suggested wait time for a departure.

The bus will probably stop someplace fir dinner. The Indianapolis train station is not that comfortable. I would use yelp to find a good restaurant in downtown Indianapolis and eat dinner there.

If the bus doesn't stop, we'll arrive at Indianapolis around 10:00pm and wait there for 2 hours. I have more luggage than I can manage alone, so I'll need to stay at the station with it. The bus driver didn't say a word about anything at all, so I guess I'll just hope for a dinner stop. That'll keep us from having to spend much time waiting for the train.

On the bright side, there's wifi on the bus!

Update: no dinner stop on the bus. Seems like Amtrak should have provided dinner arrangements, or at least made an announcement that there wouldn't be dinner. As a sleeper car passenger, I'm not thrilled with being up till at least midnight, and without dinner.

Did this same routine myself with two Amtrak first-timers in March. The difference for us was that the Cardinal had become a substitute train for us only three hours before, since the LSL was cancelled completely and the CZ was running nearly 6 hours late.

Off the train in Galesburg, onto a red Trailways bus to Indy. Agreed, the Indianapolis station is far from comfortable or seemingly safe; its 98% a bus terminal for Greyhound stuffed into what looks like the original REA warehouse for the old station and has all the expected ambiance of one. It did not help that word of 40+ displaced and rerouted passengers arriving, most with checked luggage demands, were not communicated to the sole station manager on duty inside the shuttered Amtrak booth. The only thing that brought her to help were repeated poundings on the windows by multiple passengers; she initially refused service and pointed to the posted hours showing that the windows didn't open until 10 PM, but with tensions bordering on a riot, she did begin accepting luggage early.

We schlepped our luggage to the agent and quickly fled the station for food two blocks up, under the old station tracks and past the original head house. The grub was decent, the beer marginally better, and we headed back with an intentional narrow window before the Cardinal arrived so as to limit our exposure to the station. We were not the only passengers who wanted to forget that place as quickly as possible.

anuenue said:

Update: no dinner stop on the bus. Seems like Amtrak should have provided dinner arrangements, or at least made an announcement that there wouldn't be dinner. As a sleeper car passenger, I'm not thrilled with being up till at least midnight, and without dinner.

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At the conclusion of your trip, I would definitely recommend calling Customer Relations (or even better, using ye olde fashioned snail mail) and mentioning that you were shorted meal service and without explanation. The fact that you were transferred to coach for part of your trip when you had paid for sleeper accommodations should also be mentioned. Carp happens, but that is still not your fault as a passenger.

Thank you, RSG. I do plan on making a formal complaint. With the mood I'm in right now (so tired I slept most of the day and missed looking out the window - which was the purpose of this trip) it's best for me to wait so I don't come off sounding like a lunatic!

Cardinal is now running 90 minutes late in DC.