Auto Train Late North Bound (1/30)

We have reservations for the Auto Train heading north tomorrow. We received an alert letting us know that the train will be departed much later then scheduled. I would assume it is late heading south today. Anyone know what is happening?

Looks like 53 is about 3 hours late, just now getting south of Richmond.

I would assume that the snow and cold in places that don't get snow and cold is causing some issues.

Checking status maps it appears as though 53 left LOR 4 hours late yesterday and 52 left SFA 10 hours late. From what I know it is almost impossible to get them back on schedule. Not looking good for anything close to a normal schedule.

Didn't they actually cancel some trains several years ago in order to get them back on schedule?

Hanno said:

Checking status maps it appears as though 53 left LOR 4 hours late yesterday and 52 left SFA 10 hours late. From what I know it is almost impossible to get them back on schedule. Not looking good for anything close to a normal schedule.

Didn't they actually cancel some trains several years ago in order to get them back on schedule?

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Yes. And I think the latest was last year.

jb

Yeah, that happens. The alternative is run late trains for days while they try and walk things back to the schedule, but you can't make up very much time each day, so that takes a while.

#53 hit a vehicle in a grade crossing.

NE933 said:

#53 hit a vehicle in a grade crossing.

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Or as this article from ActionNewsJax.com 'correctly states' :

A car hit an Amtrak train [emphasis added] in Putnam County, sending one person to the hospital with unknown injuries.
The collision happened at a crossing along a dirt road in Bostwick near the Seminole Electric Plant on Highway 17, just north of Palatka, according to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.

Amtrak told Action News the train had 473 passengers on board. Train 53, also known as the auto train, travels daily between Lorton, Virginia, and Sanford, Florida. It was on its way to Virginia.

The crash delayed Train 53 and other Amtrak trains in the area.

The victim has been identified as 21-year-old Herbert Fridy III. He is hospitalized at UF Shands in Gainesville. Investigators say Fridy was leaving the driveway of a home off U.S. 17 when he tried to cross the crossing and failed to stop for the train. Investigators are not sure why. The front left portion of the train hit the front of Fridy's GMC pickup truck.

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The front left portion of the train hit the front of Fridy's GMC pickup truck.

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That makes it a little ambiguous.

its real bad the southbound train 53 is not scheduled to depart till after midnight and 52 is scheduled to depart at 11:40 pm is it possible that they'll do what you said, cancel to get back on schedule?

Possible, I don't know how likely.

Midnight would be 8 hours late - I think that at best they can make up an hour or two every day, so that would be quite a few days of late trains if they don't.

We are on the Auto Train #52 now. We left SFA last night at about 12:30am putting the departure 8 1/2 later than normal. We are almost at Florence and the estimated arrival in Lorton will be no earlier then 5:00 PM and most likely later.

The station at Sanford was packed last evening. There were 505 passengers arriving plus 279 cars and 260 people leaving, plus their cars, all at the stain at one time. In spite of the very long delays most people were understanding (there are always a few that expect someone to perform a miracle). The Amtrak personnel went out of their way to try to accommodate everyone. They brought your choice of subs in, plus drinks and chips, for all the departing passengers. They kept us informed of the status of the train, etc.

The dinner we would have on the train last night will now be served for lunch.

Realizing things are the way they are, we are making the best of it! One can be upset and angry because train is late or one can ride with it. Either way the train is late. I prefer the later less stressful approach!

AT is a unique operation; turning both trains in a timely manner each day in order to maintain the published schedule is an intense operation. Suffice to say that any unexpected challenge in the established pattern causes major issues. Recovery can take as little as 'a few hours' to as much 'as a few days'. It is what it is and weather WILL have an impact on areas that do not normally see extreme weather events. I'm in southeast VA and we are still digging out from 10+ inches of snow from a few days ago. Pretty to look at; the kids and the dogs have a grand time; but it plays havoc on a region that does not normally see events of this magnitude.

John Bobinyec said:

Hanno said:

Checking status maps it appears as though 53 left LOR 4 hours late yesterday and 52 left SFA 10 hours late. From what I know it is almost impossible to get them back on schedule. Not looking good for anything close to a normal schedule.

Didn't they actually cancel some trains several years ago in order to get them back on schedule?

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Yes. And I think the latest was last year.

jb

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It was never cancelled or annulled each way they made up the time over a week.

Acela150 said:

John Bobinyec said:

Hanno said:

Checking status maps it appears as though 53 left LOR 4 hours late yesterday and 52 left SFA 10 hours late. From what I know it is almost impossible to get them back on schedule. Not looking good for anything close to a normal schedule.

Didn't they actually cancel some trains several years ago in order to get them back on schedule?

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Yes. And I think the latest was last year.

jb

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It was never cancelled or annulled each way they made up the time over a week.

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Never say never. It was in the last year or two when they did cancel a day to correct the extremely late operation that they could not dig out of.

it looks like the delays are getting under control the trains are now only 1-2 hours late in the train status while the status maps show it hasn't departed

looks like all trains are back ontime and on schedule 53 is running ahead of schedule and 52 departed 2 hours late but is due to arrive at 9:30

Running two trains on a route with a 2 hour schedule padding, doesn't leave many options for making up time. If you are 10 hours off schedule, it would take the next five days of perfect on-time scheduling to make up the time. (I believe that's correct). It looks as though Amtrak took this approach.

Amtrak is really in a bad position when the A/T goes far off schedule. The choice is to keep running and wait a week or so to get back on schedule or cancel trains, lose revenue and hope that the next train can accommodate the extra passenger load. The last alternative is to shorten layover times but union

regulations may not allow this.

dlagrua said:

get back on schedule or cancel trains, lose revenue and hope that the next train can accommodate the extra passenger load. The last alternative is to shorten layover times but union

regulations may not allow this.

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This isn't an issue with the union. It's an FRA issue, as the operating crew can't get enough rest if you shorten things by much.

And frankly, they really can't unload everyone and all the cars, clean, turn as needed, restock, and reload the train in much less time than they already do.

BrianPR3 said:

looks like all trains are back ontime and on schedule 53 is running ahead of schedule ...

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It left 5 minutes early, but still managed to arrive 3 hours and 20 minutes late.

I was driving South on I-195 in Richmond about 3:00 this afternoon (Feb 4th), as I crossed the James River I look over and see the Northbound Autotrain gliding by. That usually comes through around 7 30 or so in the morning. I've seen it late before but I have never seen it 7 to 8 hours down, What on earth happened? We're about 90 minutes south of Lorton. They're going to have to unload the pax and the autos, clean the train, then reload everyone and the new autos. They will be lucky to head back south before 8:00 tonight. Owies!

dlagrua said:

Running two trains on a route with a 2 hour schedule padding, doesn't leave many options for making up time. If you are 10 hours off schedule, it would take the next five days of perfect on-time scheduling to make up the time. (I believe that's correct). It looks as though Amtrak took this approach.

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Not necessarily so. In addition to the 2 hours of running time, there may be a bit of slack in the dwell time at the end points (Lorton, VA and Sanford, FL), so that more than 2 hours per day can be recovered from a 10-hour late arrival.

I posted earlier that I saw the SB Auto Train running around 5 hours late into Savannah. I knew about this thread, but can't comprehend that after almost a week that the trains are STILL running that far behind.

If anyone see this autotrain 52 NB please post! I have family stuck in Lorton trying to get down to us in Florida and Amtrak has given us such a BROAD spectrum of information none of us know what's going on. Train to arrive at 3:20... Train to arrive at 7:48... No departure time scheduled... Train to arrive at 5:40... Every call gets a different answer. Any info would be great!

VentureForth said:

I posted earlier that I saw the SB Auto Train running around 5 hours late into Savannah. I knew about this thread, but can't comprehend that after almost a week that the trains are STILL running that far behind.

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That's because they caught up briefly:

BrianPR3 said:

looks like all trains are back ontime and on schedule 53 is running ahead of schedule and 52 departed 2 hours late but is due to arrive at 9:30

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And then fell behind again:

Guest said:

BrianPR3 said:

looks like all trains are back ontime and on schedule 53 is running ahead of schedule ...

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It left 5 minutes early, but still managed to arrive 3 hours and 20 minutes late.

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Michael061282 said:

I was driving South on I-195 in Richmond about 3:00 this afternoon (Feb 4th), as I crossed the James River I look over and see the Northbound Autotrain gliding by. That usually comes through around 7 30 or so in the morning. I've seen it late before but I have never seen it 7 to 8 hours down, What on earth happened? We're about 90 minutes south of Lorton. They're going to have to unload the pax and the autos, clean the train, then reload everyone and the new autos. They will be lucky to head back south before 8:00 tonight. Owies!

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OK - so if they caught up day before yesterday, then can today's delays be blamed on what happened last week? No... So, beginning day before yesterday, what is causing the Auto Train to be up to 5 hours behind schedule again.