It appears that, as of today (5-30-22), SWC No. 4 is running about 12-1/2 hours late. We will be interested to learn the specific details of how Amtrak accommodated those SWC passengers with guaranteed connections to other trains, specifically the eastbound No. 30 Capitol Limited.
Eric & Pat
It would be interesting to see what happens with this train and what the current Amtrak procedure is and whether it is consistent with past practices. Maybe someone will give us a first hand report.
However I have had some experience with this. In May of 2014 we arrived in Chicago about midnight to 1 a.m. on a very late No. 6. We had guaranteed connections to 448 to Boston. As I recall we were given very little information by Amtrak as we approached Chicago and it did not occur to me to call Amtrak reservations although maybe that would have been of little assistance. We had a roomette on No. 6 and roomette reservations on 448.
At some point either just before or just after arriving in Chicago we were told to go to Customer Service so we got our luggage (our bags were in the sleeping car and not in checked baggage) and made our way there. I can't recall the exact details but it seems to me that at Customer Service we were given some money for food and perhaps a hotel voucher, etc. We were then told to go to the ticket counter to make new reservations and then to go outside to a waiting bus. We went to the tircket counter and were given a reservation for a roomette from Chicago only as far as Syracuse since there was already a reservation made on the roomette on 448 from Syracuse to Boston. I guess that person who only needed a roomette for daytime use could not be inconvenienced by being moved to coach so we lost out Syracuse to Boston and were moved to coach.
But to get back to Chicago, after getting our reservation we went outside and boarded the bus. Unfortunately we were among the first passengers to go through this process so we had to wait on the bus while the rest of the passengers slowly went through the process and boarded the bus. We were waiting on the bus for about an hour. As I recall there were two buses, one went to a hotel in Chicago. Our bus took a half hour (?) trip to a hotel in Indiana in a city which begins with M. We finally got into our room about 3 a.m. It was a very nice hotel.
There was no distinction from what I could see between what was offered to sleeping car passengers and what was offered to coach passengers. Everyone got the same as far as hotel rooms and food allowance from what I could see.
We did not receive any instructions from Amtrak but got them from the bus driver. He told us that he would pick all of us up at 11 am that morrning and take us back to Union Station which he did.
The next morning some passengers told me that they were going to rent a car and drive the rest of their way. Others were going to fly. However I think most of us went back to Union Station on the bus. We spent the afternoon in Chicago and boarded 448 for Boston.
Of course 48/448 had a meltdown of its own so we got to Boston around 1 or 2 a.m. after all public transportation had ceased and we spent the night in South Station trying to sleep in a chair.
