What's Going On With Eagle Reservations?

Starting with July 3 every day says "canceled".....then in August every day says "sold out"......

Obviously must be another glitch?????

TrainLoverJoy said:

Starting with July 3 every day says "canceled".....then in August every day says "sold out"......

Obviously must be another glitch?????

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There is going to be extensive UP trackwork around FTW/Tower#55 and between CHI and STL so there will be re-routes/bustiturions etc.
You may want to call and get the info from Amtrak since the web site probably won't have this info till AFTER the trackwork starts!

I just checked Amsnag for San Antonio to Chicago and some Eagles in July are OK, some combine with a bus to Ft. Worth and then Eagle to Chicago but none are completely canceled. Use amsnag to find the onfo rather than trying day by day on Amtrak site.

I finally thought I had my summer trip planned, now it's back to the drawing board. I was to be on 422 from LAX to AUS. According to the new schedule we'll detrain in San Antonio early in the morning to take a bus to Austin. Not the last of six nights in a bedroom on an AGR reward that I was expecting

No word from Amtrak about this change, I'm glad it was posted here!

ATXEagle said:

I finally thought I had my summer trip planned, now it's back to the drawing board. I was to be on 422 from LAX to AUS. According to the new schedule we'll detrain in San Antonio early in the morning to take a bus to Austin. Not the last of six nights in a bedroom on an AGR reward that I was expecting

No word from Amtrak about this change, I'm glad it was posted here!

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Bummer!,,You probably can stay in your room since there is Ground Power in SAS for the cutout Coach and Sleeper! If the Sunset is Late you'll go directly from the Train to the Charter Bus so its not good but not that bad!
Since the Eagle leaves @ 7AM and the Sunset doesn't leave till 6AMish if on time, you will miss Breakfast(they'll probably provide a Box Breakfast like they used to do on this Route and still do out of Portland!) But the Bus ride up I35 will probably get to Austin before the Eagle normally does @ 9:31am!!

I think I'm going to view it as an opportunity to make my annual summer train adventure something different. I try to include my home station of Austin in the mix as a sign of support (and since I think it's a really great little station). But with the bus, I think I might reconsider for something else that doesn't involve the Texas Eagle.

I just tried JULY 5 for DAL - AUS
#21 - Cancelled
#421 - Cancelled
Available: #21 DAL - FTW connect #1021 FTW - AUS

Same with northbound traffic --- #1022 to FTW, the #22/#422 onward.

But I have a question: unless #21 uses the TRE reroute, how does it get through Tower 55 inbound but not outbound.

Interesting...this may change our plans drastically....I just checked, our train is still bookable, and has no servie alert message, maybe we are right ahead of the mess.....Leaving OKC-FTW-CHI-NOL on July 4, arriving NOL July 6.

Taking my wife, son, and Mother in Law, who is handicapped, so trying to do multiple transfers to a bus etc is unacceptable to us, we'll just fly instead. Don't care if we're late, just don't want to bus it. Hoping we'll stick with the schedule....so far, it looks like it's going to be ok for us leaving on the 4th, here's hoping....

Looks like it's cancelled starting the 5th according to the Amtrak website, but Amsnag doesn't show it canclelled until the 6th and then it shows 22 as running, but 422 cancelled. Go figure, maybe Amtrak doesn't even know yet....I assume because of the overtime cost of holiday pay, they won't be working large scale project work on the holiday typical for most large projects. Might have gotten very lucky!

Well, geez. I bought tickets for the very end of July a few days back with NO problems. So does that mean I'm going to find out two days before my trip that WHOOPS I will be riding a bus instead? Grr.

How long is this trackwork expected to be?

It seems like they plan trackwork during Amtrak's busy time...

Probably they use the same guys who plan the roadwork on the Interstates....

VentureForth said:

It seems like they plan trackwork during Amtrak's busy time...

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Well, they do trackwork preferentially during the summer (to avoid any issues with freezing/thawing ground), and Amtrak is busiest during summer, so yes, but it is pretty much a coincidence.
The Texas Eagle has been hit by quite extraordinary numbers of trackwork detours for the last several months, however; it seems continuous.

TrainLoverJoy said:

Starting with July 3 every day says "canceled".....then in August every day says "sold out"......

Obviously must be another glitch?????

Click to expand...

Not a glitch?.....so now I'm getting nervous! I have a Sept. 16 reservation from Chicago to L.A.....and so far trips are being cancelled up until Sept. 5 (but as everyone knows, that could easily be extended through September.) I definitely have no desire to take any busses.....I take the long way from Chicago to LA for a reason.....I love staying on the train 3 whole days!

If it's not a glitch, I wonder how long it will take them to notify ticketholders about the problem. (In the past, I've been called and e-mailed about bustitutions).

Still hoping it's a glitch, or that the leg I'm taking (MIN to BNL) is unaffected. (Of course, that doesn't help the people leaving out of AUS.)

I just got an automated call about our July 4 departure.....told me our schedule had changed, strange though, it only mentioned the HF 821, and the "new" schedule was exactly the same as the timetable. No mention of our connection to 22 from FTW to CHI. Just looked, still bootable OKC-FTW-CHI-NOL like we have now, and no service alert on it. Really hoping we don't get stuck, buying 4 plane tickets late in the game is going to be expensive.....

It sounds like the Heartland Flyer will run its regular schedule and since the trackwork is around Tower #55 on the UP (ex T&P)Main to Dallas,The Eagle will run its regular schedule that day via the TRE Route from FTW-DAL! The bustitution will be between FTW and SAS!!

I thought so, but you can still book SAS-CHI for July 4 too, with sleeper options, and no mention of a service alert? So far it looks like we'll be ok on the 4th.