Bluewater derailment

[jis]

Chicago-bound-Amtrak-engine-derails-in-Port-Huron

Was the westbound train this morning

From Gene Poon

Media source quotes Amtrak spokesman as saying a locomotive had to be cut before the train could continue. However, over six hours after the derailment, Train 365(27) continues to be in Service Disruption status, and ticket sales on the return trip, Train 364, are blocked.

You can see a picture here.

 

[VentureForth]

Well, what made that loco want to go off and do something like that?

 

[Linda T]

Media source quotes Amtrak spokesman as saying a locomotive had to be cut before the train could continue. However, over six hours after the derailment, Train 365(27) continues to be in Service Disruption status, and ticket sales on the return trip, Train 364, are blocked.

What's it mean when the said "a locomotive had to be cut before the train could continue?" Is that fancy talk for another engine had to be brought up?

 

[jmx53]

Media source quotes Amtrak spokesman as saying a locomotive had to be cut before the train could continue. However, over six hours after the derailment, Train 365(27) continues to be in Service Disruption status, and ticket sales on the return trip, Train 364, are blocked.

What's it mean when the said "a locomotive had to be cut before the train could continue?" Is that fancy talk for another engine had to be brought up?

The Port Huron Times Herald article said that "the trailing locomotive derailed" & " After about five hours, they were able to disconnect the trailing locomotive from the rest of the train, which then continued to Chicago." I'm thinking that means that there were 2 units so what they did is cut the derailed unit out and left it in place, then coupled the lead unit to the cars and continued on.

There is a pic from a different angle with this article, can anyone identify what is above the plow on the left side?

http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20130327/NEWS01/303270022/Amtrak-investigates-derailment

 

[battalion51]

Most of the Amtrak Michigan trains operate with a motor on either end, so it that part jives. IIRC, there is a point in the route where the train has to switch operating ends (a la Vermonter at Palmer) so in all likelihood that means that one of the other Michigan bound trains had to bring another motor out to this set for them to make it in to Chicago. It seems like this is the second or third locomotive involved in a derailment in Michigan recently, they must be getting awfully tight on ITCS locomotives out there...

 

[henryj]

There were 14 people on the train?????????????? Why do they even run this thing?

 

[Tracktwentynine]

There were 14 people on the train?????????????? Why do they even run this thing?

In all fairness, the train just left the first station on the line. It picks up other passengers along the way.

 

[Anderson]

What Tracktwentynine said. There are plenty of trains that start out pretty empty and fill up as they go along (heck, the Silvers only seem to have about 62 passengers apiece into/out of Miami, but they add another 95,000 riders/year (or about 65/train) by Fort Lauderdale and another 110,000/yr (or 75/train) by West Palm Beach, so that you go from 62/train to 205/train before you can start discharging. Yeah, you have about 15% occupancy out of MIA, but you're somewhere in the ballpark of 50% by WPB, and your numbers keep rising from there (esp. for the Meteor, and esp. at ORL).

Also as a note, the Blue Water has almost the ridership of the Lynchburger (albeit less than half the revenue), so it's not like this is the Hoosier State or Lake Country Limited we're talking about.

 

[Trogdor]

Most of the Amtrak Michigan trains operate with a motor on either end, so it that part jives. IIRC, there is a point in the route where the train has to switch operating ends (a la Vermonter at Palmer) so in all likelihood that means that one of the other Michigan bound trains had to bring another motor out to this set for them to make it in to Chicago. It seems like this is the second or third locomotive involved in a derailment in Michigan recently, they must be getting awfully tight on ITCS locomotives out there...

No. There is no changing directions in any Michigan service. The same end leads for the entire trip.

Two engines have been used since the line went to 110 mph, as a single engine wouldn't quite have the guts to get the train up to speed for any meaningful amount of time, plus there aren't any really good turning facilities on the east end.

 

[Shanghai]

There were 14 people on the train?????????????? Why do they even run this thing?

The train may stop in Royal Oak to pick up Kevin (amtrakwolverine) and his buddies. Sometimes, wabbit also

boards there!!

 

[SarahZ]

A Wednesday morning train leaving the first stop is going to be pretty empty. I'm sure it had more riders by the time it left Kalamazoo.

It doesn't run through Royal Oak. That's the Wolverine. The Blue Water goes through Flint and Lansing, following I-69, before continuing on through the SW portion of the state on the same route as the Wolverine. The Wolverine follows I-94 for the most part.

 

[amtkstn]

DId this happen on the NS owned track or the state owned track?

 

[MikefromCrete]

DId this happen on the NS owned track or the state owned track?

CN owned track.

 

[jis]

DId this happen on the NS owned track or the state owned track?

CN owned track.

Hey! Maybe CN will now try to ban P42s since their trackas apparently cannot hold those up either Juuuuust kidding!