EB mess

[jebr]

I see BOTH #7 and #8 were just put into "Service Disruption" status today. Another derailment--I hope not!!!!

What an unreal mess for the EBs this winter.

:-(

Due to the blizzard conditions and cold east of Havre and west of St. Paul, 8(25) terminated in Havre while 7(26) terminated in St. Paul. I have not heard what, if anything, Amtrak did to accommodate the passengers ticketed beyond those stations on those trains.

Yikes! I understand Amtrak needing to bustitute people for short trips, but St. Paul-Chicago is 400 miles, and Havre-Portland is 800 miles! Personally, I would not get on a bus for a 12+ hour, 800 mile trip. Is there a limit on how far Amtrak can/will go for a bustitution?

It's actually cancelled from Havre to St. Paul, which is 936 miles on roads that were closed yesterday. I'm guessing through passengers were put somewhere and had to wait until the next train to go through to get to their destination. Buses aren't going through there right now.

 

[anir dendroica]

Pleasantly surprised to see #7 leaving not-so-late from Chicago today despite round 2 of the polar vortex. #8(26) is already east of Havre and blizzard conditions have ended, so it looks like the annulments were a one-day affair.

With this being a low-ridership period, I wonder if there were enough seats on today's trains to accommodate those spending an unexpected night in Havre or MSP?

 

[RalphCT]

I would think the blizzard conditions is what forced the Service Disruption yesterday. I spent a day in a Minot motel one year when blizzards closed roads and rails in North Dakota. It is cold in the North Country today but then it is frequently quite cold northwest of Minneapolis and into North Dakota.

A Montanan who enjoys trail travel.

 

[Nathanael]

I think the EB got detoured around this guy:

For some reason, that photo makes me want to live there.... I guess I just really like the idea of giant hamsters...

 

[jebr]

What's been happening with the eastbound Builders lately in eastern ND and MN? They seem to be losing a lot of time there. For example, 8 on 1/29 was "only" 4 hours late into Minot, but lost seven more hours between there and Fargo. It also took over two hours to get from St. Cloud to St. Paul, which normally can be covered in about an hour and a half. 1/28 was even worse, only about an hour down by Minot but 10 hours by Fargo. It then lost another two hours between St. Paul and Red Wing.

I'm planning on taking the Builder in about a week to WIN for a day trip, but at this point I'll wind up getting into WIN after the 7 leaves for the evening!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

They really need to put a service alert on the train. Right now there's nothing for the average passenger that would indicate that the Builder is having major issues. Even communication and setting expectations can help make a better experience for passengers.

Agreed.

Maybe they should market it as a flaky undeveloped third world experience for yuppies who want to slum it up North.

 

[mkeroad]

I had booked the EB in March from PDX to CBS and yesterday I called the station in CBS to see if I should take a different route home.

He told me to expect a 2 -3 hr delay but the recent two or three days 12 hr delays was from track repair in the Dakotas

 

[montana mike]

I just returned from my westward trek on the Empire Builder last night-or should I say this morning--got into WFH at 4:29 AM (scheduled time 8:56 PM the night before). This time a frozen switch was added to the heavy freight traffic mix. And this was a CPR issue just outside of MSP, not BNSF. We did take the Surrey cutoff on our way west, and according to the conductor, this will be in place for at least several more days, perhaps longer (westbound trains on the SC and eastbound thru Devil's Lake Sub). Quite frankly we actually picked up some time using this alternative. Even tough we were limited to 60-65 mph there were no stops (other than a couple freights just outside of Minot). A different part of ND for sure, plus we got to see the remains of the big oil train fire too-my oh my.....

I would agree, if the delays were just due to freight at the moment a traveler should expect 2-3 hour delays as the norm at each ending point, but this winter weather has wreaked havoc on equipment.

BTW-Amtrak had a CR person on the train from MSP all the way to SEA to deal with the myriad of missed, delayed and confused issues. He was verrrry busy. #7 is scheduled to arrive in SEA today about 5 hours behind-I guess that means they get an extra meal on board??

 

[SarahZ]

Maybe they should market it as a flaky undeveloped third world experience for yuppies who want to slum it up North.

/snort

 

[montana mike]

Another brutally bad day for the Empire Builder. #7(2) is heading west thru ND. It left CHI on time yesterday, but has managed to drop over 7 hours and it still is not thru the "gauntlet" completely. Arrrrrrgh.

 

[RalphCT]

Another brutally bad day for the Empire Builder. #7(2) is heading west thru ND. It left CHI on time yesterday, but has managed to drop over 7 hours and it still is not thru the "gauntlet" completely. Arrrrrrgh.

Gauntlet seems like a good word for it. Over the weekend I watched the train status change. The eastbound EB (8) was on time as far east as Minot (MOT) but ended up being 6-7 hours late into MSP. Some passengers then are getting decent service but those traveling longer distances are spending much more time than anticipated on the train. One week to go before I run the "gauntlet" from SBY to MSP. Thank my lucky stars I'll be in a sleeper.

A Montanan who enjoys trail travel.

 

[fairviewroad]

Yes, the experience does certainly vary depending on the destination and the whims of nature/BNSF/Amtrak. My in-laws

returned to GFK on 8 over the weekend. Their train arrived in GFK a "mere" 80 minutes late. Had they traveled a day

earlier, they would have arrived 10 hours late. And had they traveled one day later (i.e. this morning) they would have

arrived in GFK only 15 minutes late.

So despite my warnings of the potential for a seriously delayed train, their EB journey got them to their west coast destination

on time, and back to their home just over an hour late. They enjoyed the train ride and saved about $900 over the cost of flying.

For them, it certainly wasn't a "flaky undeveloped third world experience for yuppies who want to slum it up North". It was cost-

effective transportation that largely worked as advertised. I understand they "got lucky" but before we write off the EB entirely,

I just wanted to point out that it can and does work for some of its passengers, even during this clusterbleep of a winter.

 

[montana mike]

Wait until construction season begins in a few months!!

:-(

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Let's try this again...

I understand they "got lucky" but...

Speaking of luck I've seen roulette wheels with better odds than the Empire Builder. [/sarcasm]

 

[montana mike]

Looking at the EB's this AM--ALL are very late--with the westbound #7 in MT now almost 12 hours behind (even though it left CHI just 23 minutes late). Ouch......My BNSF contact here locally says things are not going to improve very much in 2014 and that pax on the EB's should be prepared for very late trains at least some of the time. He defined "very late" by 8-12 hours behind schedule. He said between the increasing freight traffic of all types and the massive construction plans for parts of the Hi-Line, there will be days on the Hi-Line this summer where these types of delays may be fairly common. He said BNSF has officially notified Amtrak of this situation....whatever good that will do.

 

[RalphCT]

I also noted the very late trains this morning (Feb 6). When summer construction season starts winding up there will undoubtably be heavy delays, amtrak just needs to explain that to the traveling public and, where possible, temporarily adjust schedules. Hopefully the construction, which I feel is desperately needed in some areas, will eventually lead to better traffic flow for both passenger and freight traffic.

Still looking forward to my ride next week SBY to MSP. Since I've been following the train status reports I am aware that arrival in MSP 3-4 hours later than scheduled seems to be common. I'll enjoy breakfast before arrival and my friends are expecting a late arrival so won't be disappointed.

But for those passengers who may be traveling Amtrak for the first time or who don't follow the train status it could be quite a shock to find out you'll spend a third night on the train when going end to end. For everyone's benefit Amtrak should be very proactive about providing information to passengers about what's happening.

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.

 

[yarrow]

Looking at the EB's this AM--ALL are very late--with the westbound #7 in MT now almost 12 hours behind (even though it left CHI just 23 minutes late). Ouch......My BNSF contact here locally says things are not going to improve very much in 2014 and that pax on the EB's should be prepared for very late trains at least some of the time. He defined "very late" by 8-12 hours behind schedule. He said between the increasing freight traffic of all types and the massive construction plans for parts of the Hi-Line, there will be days on the Hi-Line this summer where these types of delays may be fairly common. He said BNSF has officially notified Amtrak of this situation....whatever good that will do.

Looking at the EB's this AM--ALL are very late--with the westbound #7 in MT now almost 12 hours behind (even though it left CHI just 23 minutes late). Ouch......My BNSF contact here locally says things are not going to improve very much in 2014 and that pax on the EB's should be prepared for very late trains at least some of the time. He defined "very late" by 8-12 hours behind schedule. He said between the increasing freight traffic of all types and the massive construction plans for parts of the Hi-Line, there will be days on the Hi-Line this summer where these types of delays may be fairly common. He said BNSF has officially notified Amtrak of this situation....whatever good that will do.

and now they take away our little bottle of apple juice and the flowers off the table

 

[montana mike]

Losing the W&C was the biggest blow!!! Great time to relax and have fun--oh, well......they just don't care about offering exceptional service. That would have been one way to try to capture loyal and returning customers.

Hah-Maybe we could get BH to foot the bill for the Sleeper amenities as a way to "payback Amtrak" for all of the delays??? Just kidding--sort of.

 

[Blackwolf]

The cynic in me just wants to scream. The Empire Builder: Amtrak's double-edged dagger! Not that long ago, Amtrak was extolling the ridership numbers on the EB and how it was becoming one of it's best performing routes, if not the best. Now, Amtrak probably wishes they could just kill the train and bury its memory deep in one of those oil wells, never to be mentioned again.

Out of curiosity, are they still rolling with the 6th trainset?

 

[fairviewroad]

Out of curiosity, are they still rolling with the 6th trainset?

Appears so, since the west-bound train is still frequently arrived in SEA/PDX far too late to for a timely same-day turn. And the east bound departures are still

happening more or less on-time.

 

[yarrow]

Out of curiosity, are they still rolling with the 6th trainset?

we were in pdx last week and saw the pdx part of the extra set at the station though if 27 arrives early enough to be turned for 28 it appears they use the trainset that just came as opposed to the extra

 

[Blackwolf]

Out of curiosity, are they still rolling with the 6th trainset?

we were in pdx last week and saw the pdx part of the extra set at the station though if 27 arrives early enough to be turned for 28 it appears they use the trainset that just came as opposed to the extra

If they were same-day turning even with a protect-set sitting there, that seems very odd to me. I would think the crews would like having the time to service the equipment at their leisure instead of rush-jobbing it. Spend that extra time actually cleaning, doing minor repairs, pumping the lavatories, etc.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Well, looks like the bustitiution FAR-GFK-DVL-MOT is still in effect....I was notified that my 2/13 arrival in DVL is affected....guess I'll change destination to FAR and rent a car rather than do the bus gig in the middle of the night.....

 

[fairviewroad]

Well, looks like the bustitiution FAR-GFK-DVL-MOT is still in effect....I was notified that my 2/13 arrival in DVL is affected....guess I'll change destination to FAR and rent a car rather than do the bus gig in the middle of the night.....

Happily, due to the frequent lateness of the Builder, the bustitution often does NOT happen in the middle of the night.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Well, looks like the bustitiution FAR-GFK-DVL-MOT is still in effect....I was notified that my 2/13 arrival in DVL is affected....guess I'll change destination to FAR and rent a car rather than do the bus gig in the middle of the night.....

Happily, due to the frequent lateness of the Builder, the bustitution often does NOT happen in the middle of the night.

True dat...but I'd still rather rent a car in FAR rather than ride a bus to DVL, and still have to rent one there..... :unsure: