Empire Builder's Troubles continue into the Fall

[montana mike]

If BNSF's promises are to be believed (holding my nose here), hopefully the Empire Builders won't be too late. The westbound train has been fairly close to schedule lately. It has been the Eastbound trains that are the wild card and have been very tardy at times. We will all think good thoughts for two reasonably on time departures for you!!

 

[Ispolkom]

I was amazed to arrive in St. Paul Monday morning only an hour late. Best Empire Builder performance in ages. I live in hope, since with my mother's declining health, I'm on the train at least once a month.

 

[montana mike]

I was amazed to arrive in St. Paul Monday morning only an hour late. Best Empire Builder performance in ages. I live in hope, since with my mother's declining health, I'm on the train at least once a month.

Today's #8 dropped another 2 1/2 hours between MSP and CHI and arrived in CHI 3 1/2 hours late. Sad to say this was one of the better runs in the past couple of weeks. At least they could make some of the connections.

 

[TraneMan]

Let the good times roll & continue! We are taking our grandkids(3&5) on their 1st train trip. Starting short with an overnight from Minneapolis/St.Paul to Lacrosse, Wi. and back. Leaving Saturday 10/18 and returning Sunday 10/19. Hopefully the delay won't be too late that we get a bus to Lacrosse :-( They are excited to hear "ALL ABOARD"

The train doesn't travel overnight from MSP to LSE. Your trip home from there will be in the evening.

Have a great trip with the grandkids!! I am thinking of taking a good friend of mine son on a short trip next year for his birthday as he loves train!

 

[George K]

http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/21206/

Amtrak’s temporary detour of Empire Builder trains has reversed directions in North Dakota.
Eastbound passengers boarding or leaving Amtrak in northern and northeastern North Dakota are now traveling by buses between Minot and Fargo, bypassing Rugby, Devils Lake and Grand Forks, while westbound passengers are taking the train at those stops.

That’s a reversal of the detour direction that has been in place since this past spring, as Amtrak deals with construction projects being done this year by BNSF Railway in North Dakota, according to Marc Magliari, Amtrak spokesman.

The detour is expected to last until winter.

“We’re still going to be reassessing the detour before the holidays,” he said.

BNSF is in the middle of a $400 million track improvement project in North Dakota, including additional and lengthened passenger sidings and additional double track.

Hooray! We get to take THE BUS!!!

 

[neroden]

I have suspicions regarding the directional reversal here.

I'm not sure why they had the directional running going the other way before -- but now they have "right hand running". Since BNSF is building a double-track railway from the junction point to Glasgow, MT, and they probably intend to use right-hand running on that railway, they would want to continue the same directional pattern east of there.

Hopefully enough sidings will get built on the Devil's Lake line to run the eastbounds that way again soon.

 

[montana mike]

Looking like Montana is rurally starting to take its toll on the EBs. The increase in grain shipments and ongoing track work has caused 4-5 hour delays in eastern MT. Rats.

 

[SteveSFL]

On my EB trip in late September -- train 8 of 9/27 -- we actually arrived at midway station early (7:30). But there we had to pick up a private car and they weren't ready because they were so used to train being late. We ended up losing almost 2 hours there. I believe if it hadn't been for the private car, our EB would have been only the second on-time arrival into CHI in almost a year.

 

[George K]

That's very interesting. I wonder if Amtrak has some kind of penalties for private railcars that are not ready to be picked up at the scheduled time. If not, they should. It should be the owners' responsibilities to assure that they're ready to go at the scheduled time.

 

[Bumblebone]

Well ... I just bought tickets for Empire Builder, from WDL to PDX ... in December. With connecting flight the next morning in PDX.

What are my chances of the train actually being a WHOLE DAY late? That freaks me out a little since the connecting flight a day later was a huge bump in price.

Are the trains ever 20+ hours late?

 

[jebr]

Well ... I just bought tickets for Empire Builder, from WDL to PDX ... in December. With connecting flight the next morning in PDX.

What are my chances of the train actually being a WHOLE DAY late? That freaks me out a little since the connecting flight a day later was a huge bump in price.

Are the trains ever 20+ hours late?

Very rarely.

 

[afigg]

This is a change of pace. EB #8 (10/11) arrived at CHI on-time and #8 (10/12) arrived CHI today 20 minutes early. Lighter freight traffic over the Columbus day holiday weekend was likely a significant factor, but still on-time or early 2 days in a row? Been a while since that happened.

 

[montana mike]

Meanwhile #7, still in far western Washington state is now well over 7 hours behind, having lost all of that time during it's trek over the Hi-line. A miserable performance for the westbound Empire Builder today. #8 in MN is back to the usual 3+ hours behind as they crawl into MSP this morning.

 

[Joe F]

#7(13)'s tardiness wasn't helped by losing 3 hours between Red Wing and MSP. Not sure what happened in that 46-mile stretch.

 

[fairviewroad]

Well ... I just bought tickets for Empire Builder, from WDL to PDX ... in December. With connecting flight the next morning in PDX.

What are my chances of the train actually being a WHOLE DAY late? That freaks me out a little since the connecting flight a day later was a huge bump in price.

Are the trains ever 20+ hours late?

You'll be fine.

In an absolutely worst case scenario, you could save a little time by hopping off the train in VAN and getting a cab to the airport. It's actually

a shorter cab ride anyhow than from the PDX Amtrak station. (Though of course from PDX-Amtrak you can take light rail out to the airport

if you have the time).

IME there are usually cabs at VAN though of course if you arrive in the middle of the night I wouldn't count on it, but you could find the # for a

local cab company ahead of time and give them a call when you're about 30 minutes out from VAN.

But again, that's really a slim-chance scenario that you'd be that late.

 

[neroden]

That's very interesting. I wonder if Amtrak has some kind of penalties for private railcars that are not ready to be picked up at the scheduled time. If not, they should. It should be the owners' responsibilities to assure that they're ready to go at the scheduled time.

Oddly I don't see such a charge listed on the private car tariff.

 

[TraneMan]

#7(13)'s tardiness wasn't helped by losing 3 hours between Red Wing and MSP. Not sure what happened in that 46-mile stretch.

A friend was on that train, and he said a car thought the crossing was a parking lot.. He never did say if it was hit or what.

-Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum App.

 

[William W.]

I'm honestly surprised that the EB connection with the CS at PDX is still valid.

I booked it a few months ago when the EB was scheduled to arrive at 1030 (the trip is scheduled for 01.05).

When they reinstated the modified schedule, they changed the arrival time to 1140.

The connection disappeared from the list of published routes for a few weeks, but then returned.

I'm pretty much planning on spending in night in Portland (I booked a refundable hotel in LA).

 

[TraneMan]

#7(13)'s tardiness wasn't helped by losing 3 hours between Red Wing and MSP. Not sure what happened in that 46-mile stretch.

A friend was on that train, and he said a car thought the crossing was a parking lot.. He never did say if it was hit or what.

-Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum App.

October 14, 2014 6:07 pm • Marcia Ratliff Daily News

(0) Comments




An Amtrak train collided with a car in Winona Monday night after a woman accidentally drove onto the tracks.

Catherine Michelle Beguin, 43, Winona, was eastbound on Broadway shortly after 8 p.m. when she turned southeast near the tracks at South Baker Street on what she thought was a road, according to the Winona Police Department.

Upon discovering her mistake, Beguin attempted to back out of the area, at which point she mistakenly drove onto the railroad tracks, according to the department. Her vehicle got stuck on the tracks, and when she saw the train coming she exited the vehicle before the train arrived.

The train was unable to stop in time and collided with the vehicle, according to the department.

Beguin was uninjured in the incident, and was not under the influence of alcohol, the department said. No injuries were reported on the train.

 

[acelafan]

Well ... I just bought tickets for Empire Builder, from WDL to PDX ... in December. With connecting flight the next morning in PDX.

What are my chances of the train actually being a WHOLE DAY late? That freaks me out a little since the connecting flight a day later was a huge bump in price.

Are the trains ever 20+ hours late?

Very rarely.

Indeed - rarely. Since January 1, 2013 train #27 has arrived into PDX 12+ hours late on 13 occasions:

(From http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=27&station=pdx&date_start=1%2F1%2F2013&date_end=12%2F31%2F2014&sort=d_ar&sort_dir=DESC&limit=&co=gteq&limit_mins=720 )

 

[montana mike]

Today's #7, currently in central MT lost 7 hours on the Hi-Line. This is happening with increased regularity lately. Not a good sign.

 

[TraneMan]

Something must be going on, #8 is not showing up on the map.

-Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum App.

 

[montana mike]

Something must be going on, #8 is not showing up on the map.

-Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum App.

#8 is there-just left MOT just under 3 hours late. Lost most of the time in MT. #7 now 8 hours late in western MT. Without that extra train set sitting in PDX and SEA this route would be a disaster.

 

[montana mike]

10-19 Update on BNSF's efforts to improve timekeeping on the Hi-Line. My BNSF guys say that by the time the construction season closes (within the next few weeks) BNSF will have completed 45% of the double tracking they plan to install between 2014 and 2016. Which is what they had planned to do this year. On the not so good news side: Their weekly report of delayed shipments remains well over 4000. Which is more than DOUBLE where they have promised the STB they would be by this time in 2014. The past week did not go up any more, but it didn't decline any either. Over the past week most #8's have arrived between 1-3 hours late in CHI-town, with one arrival on time!! This is an improvement to be sure, so just maybe the worst is over????

One of the BNSF contacts said that they have noticed a modest decrease in oil shipments from ND with the price of crude oil dropping to around $80/bbl, so if the oil price goes back up again might the shipments increase as well??? One never knows.

 

[MnMotherMary]

Well, we had a great trip on the Empire Builder Saturday 10/18 and returning Sunday 10/19.

We were up at 6am and checked train tracker and seen it was running 2 hours late, which was ok because we didn't have to wake up the grandkids too early. We also received a text telling about the late arrival. We picked them up and made it too the fabulously restored Union Depot in downtown St. Paul around 8:30. We explored the depot and found a nice park right outside the depot.

The train arrived around 10am and it was really nice how the passengers that were boarding were coming down from the 2nd floor the departing passengers were leaving in a different area. The old station everyone inside had to wait for everyone departing to start loading.

Enjoyable ride along the Mississippi with the fall colors. The kids loved it. We had lunch on the train so when we arrived in La Crosse we were able to make it on a 1:30 riverboat cruise. We stayed at the Radisson which offered a free shuttle to & from the station and were able to walk to restaurants, stores and museum's in the downtown riverfront.

The train arrived right on time for our return home on Sunday night @ 7:10pm. We got on the train and got settled in our seats when the 3 year old leaned up against the window and said "I love you train"