Chicago-to-Pontiac Amtrak passengers spend New Year's Eve in delay

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reppin_the_847

Service Attendant
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
166
Don't shoot the messenger, heh. But check out this Detroit Free Press article. We can blame this one on the weather?:

Chicago-to-Pontiac Amtrak passengers spend New Year's Eve in long delay

https://www.freep.com/story/news/2018/01/01/its-been-new-years-slog-150-amtrak-detroit-area/994410001/

Looks like the train was scheduled to depart Chicago at 6 PM. It didn't roll out of Union Station until 8:25 PM due to an engine issue.

A switch issue caused an additional 1 hour delay between 10:45 PM & 11:45 PM near New Buffalo (MI).

The train arrives into Kalamazoo MI around 1 AM. The train only departed Kalamazoo at 5:30 AM to relieve crew. At 7:35 AM the train stopped in Albion MI to relieve additional crew. By 10:45 AM the train was finally on the move from Albion. Wonder if it made it to Pontiac yet, heh.
 
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There have been a few long Wolverine/Blue Water delays out of Union Station the past few days, due to both engine switches and track switch issues. This is the longest delay I've seen, though.
 
Sitting in Kalamazoo for 4+ hours is unreal. I understand why they had to, but it's too bad they couldn't bus the passengers from that point onward.
 
When the Illinois - Michigan corridor receives new equipment within a couple years, I wonder if the shiny new equipment will be able to withstand these Midwest winters a bit better...
 
When the Illinois - Michigan corridor receives new equipment within a couple years, I wonder if the shiny new equipment will be able to withstand these Midwest winters a bit better...
Once they get ITCS (the PTC system in Michigan) certified on the new Siemens locomotives, hopefully they'll be able to run a bit better. However, that only would fix the initial terminal delay problem. Frozen switches and crews running out of hours won't be cured by new rolling stock.
 
Try finding a bus much less more than one. Bus drivers may be scarce there as they are here. HOS nails them also.
Exactly. I should have been more specific in my post.

KAL is an intermodal station, so if this had happened earlier in the day/evening, it might have been easier to switch everyone.
 
The multiple multi-hours waits shouldn't have come as a surprise, since they were related to HOS. It's not a case of finding a bus driver at 1 a.m. They would have had a few hours advance notice, especially for the subsequent delay at Albion.

It's also a night of the year when every taxi driver on the planet is on duty, so that may have been a solution for people only traveling a couple more stops up the line. Perhaps that did happen but is not reflected in the article.
 
Wonder if many of the loco delays come from them having DC traction motors that get fouled or shorted out ?
Apparently, the only loco delay was before the train left Chicago. There is no indication that any of the subsequent holdups were due to a loco issue.

Considering that many P42s have been operating through all of this snow and ice all across the country, DC motors could not possibly be a major issue.
 
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