Empire Builder #7, Jan 4 & 5th, anyone know what's happening?

[lionelhoguy]

My daughter is scheduled to leave out of CBS tomorrow. I notice EB #7 is over 4 hours overdue leaving CHI tonight and they are not even giving a time for tomorrow. I have been on hold for 30 minutes already and I am expecting a longer wait. Any information would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Thirdrail7]

It departed 4 hours late due to swapping equipment.

 

[niemi24s]

FWIW, the Eastbound Empire Builder got to CHI 1 minute early today. Consider yourself lucky in that you live only about an hour from CBS, so once you know your daughter's train has left CHI you'll have ample time to get there. CBS is also my starting point for Westbound Empire Builder trips, but as I live about 6 hours from CBS I usually stay overnight in Beaver Dam just to avoid missing the train due to vehicle problems.

I doubt Amtrak will have anything to tell you about any departure delay (if there is one) until the middle of the morning.

 

[FreeskierInVT]

There were issues with three coach cars in Chicago today, and it took 4 hours to sort it all out according to on board announcements.

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[lionelhoguy]

Thank you for all of the great information. It is nice only being about an hour away. If we leave when the train leaves CHI, we have time to stop for dinner/ snak on the way and still have time to hit the antique shops in Columbus.

Either way, since she is going all the way to Seattle, a late train is not a real problem. It is the ride down to Olympia that worries me.

Tom

 

[fairviewroad]

Thank you for all of the great information. It is nice only being about an hour away. If we leave when the train leaves CHI, we have time to stop for dinner/ snak on the way and still have time to hit the antique shops in Columbus.

Either way, since she is going all the way to Seattle, a late train is not a real problem. It is the ride down to Olympia that worries me.

Tom

The last train to Olympia leaves SEA at 6:10 p.m. It would be highly unlikely (although not impossible) for the EB to be too late into SEA as to make that connection.

 

[lionelhoguy]

And if I comes to it, we have family in Seattle that could meet her. Does anyone know if they have the New Cascades route open again?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

And if I comes to it, we have family in Seattle that could meet her. Does anyone know if they have the New Cascades route open again?

I don’t think the new route will open till mid-year.

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[Trogdor]

My daughter is scheduled to leave out of CBS tomorrow. I notice EB #7 is over 4 hours overdue leaving CHI tonight and they are not even giving a time for tomorrow. I have been on hold for 30 minutes already and I am expecting a longer wait. Any information would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

Other than when trains are cancelled in advance, Amtrak would virtually never have status information for a train that isn't scheduled to originate until the next day. Honestly, it's a feat enough to get someone to post a known delay into Arrow on the day of departure, but realistically there's no way they could have known yesterday whether today's train would depart on time. It's not until the train is inspected in the yard that they would even find potential issues, let alone know how long it would take to fix them.