Late Carolinian?

[whc6]

I've noticed that the Carolinian has been running up to 3 hours late southbound the past week. I've taken this train many times, and while almost always late, it usually only runs 30-45 minutes behind.

Any idea why all the problems?

 

[Trogdor]

This might explain some of it.

 

[whc6]

Yes, I saw that too. Today it is running almost 5 hours behind. Basically makes it a useless train if it is going to be that late.

My Mom is picking it up tomorrow to come to Charlotte. If it is that late she will probably never take the train again, which is unfortunate as she loves trains.

 

[Superliner Diner]

The above mentioned trackwork project is still in effect, on Mondays through Thursdays until a time later this month. According to the releases, the CAROLINIAN is supposed to operate one hour behind schedule.

The fact that it has been observed running three to five hours behind, despite its only running within North Carolina (Rocky Mount-Charlotte) indicates that there is more at play here. CSX, for one thing, has had heat-related speed restrictions all week in much of its service area. If the PALMETTO (which carries CAROLINIAN passengers from Northeast Corridor points to Richmond) is being delayed south of Washington, then that is delaying the departure from RVR of the substitute bus (which has no heat restrictions on I-95), and that in turn is delaying the RMT departure of the CAROLINIAN even more than intended.

 

[whc6]

Well, it arrived in Kannapolis last night exactly two hours behind schedule. It left Richmond on-time, lost over an hour by the time it reached Wilson, and was a bit over 1 1/2 hours behind when it left the CSX tracks (to Norfolk Southern) in Selma.

I guess we can blame the chronic lateness on CSX.

 

[railfangns]

Yes CSX is killing the carolinians time schedule. I rode it on friday june 3 from Greensboro NC to Washington DC.We left Greensboro a little late because the piedmont was tardy getting into Greensboro and the carolinian had to wait for it to clear the single track main near High Point.We did allright on the NS but when we changed over to the CSX we kept losing time because of the heavy freight traffic, meeting other amtrak trains including the auto train and the VRE trains.We were over an hour late getting into Washington.It would have been much worse if they had been doing track work that day.There is too much traffic on the CSX for the carolinian to run on time.They need to stretch out the schedule, then it might arrive on time.