PA Traveler
Service Attendant
We just did our second large trip on Amtrak. Last year on the EB, everything went really smoothly. This year, not so much, but most of this seemed to be out of Amtrak's hands. We had a trip planned out to Salt Lake City on the CL and CZ to pick up a rental car and head up to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone for about a week and a half. Our train was scheduled to leave Chicago for Salt Lake City on Saturday, June 11. We got a call from Amtrak about four days earlier that the CZ was not running for several days. I returned the call and was given three options: cancel; get to SLC from Pittsburgh; or take the train to Chicago and find my way to SLC from there. Canceling was not an option, so I said we would decide and get back to them. After searching for flights, we decided to take the train to Chicago and fly from there. I was able to get a non-stop flight from Chicago to SLC at 4:10 PM, which gave us plenty of time. We asked for a lunch place recommendation and the attendant in the Metropolitan Lounge suggested Lou Mitchell's, about two blocks from the station. We enjoyed the lunch there very much and then headed out to the airport, with plenty of time as the CL had come in pretty much on time at 8:45 AM.
I chose to buy round-trip airfare from Chicago to SLC in case our train was canceled on the way back. We knew we would take the train if it was coming back, but it would be more expensive if we had to buy one-way airfare for coming and going. We knew we were taking a chance on it costing us more money no matter what we did, but we had $1,500 in unrefundable lodging if we didn't go, so going was still cheaper than not going, unless we wanted to forgo the entire trip, which we did not. I did have to change and add hotels, though, in SLC and add a night in SLC and Chicago in case we had to take the plane back, but I made sure these were refundable. Amtrak is refunding the part of the trip that they canceled, so this factored in, too. This gave us an extra day in SLC, which was more than enough on a Sunday to take the TRAX around to see some of the sights. We stayed at Little America, which is about half a block away from TRAX and not far from the train station. The weather was nice and we had a nice enough day in SLC before we picked up the already-scheduled rental car on Monday morning.
All in all, we felt that the trip out went well, even if it changed our costs somewhat and we didn't get to take the CZ out.
Our trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone was really great. We stayed in Jackson for a few days and then went up to Yellowstone for a week before returning to Jackson for a night and then back to SLC to return the car and take the train back. The weather was mostly great and we had beaten the summer crowds in both parks.
I had originally not planned on a hotel in SLC the evening of the train, but since I couldn't be sure if we were going to have to take the plane, I made a reservation at Little America again, and I was really glad I had. I don't know what we would have done in SLC with no car and luggage with a train that was not coming through until 3 AM. We arrived at the hotel about 7 PM, had dinner, and tried to get a little sleep before taking a cab to the station at 1:30 AM. I had called and the train was late by half an hour at that time, but we were up, so we went anyway. Our train ending up leaving an hour and a half late.
We got up the next morning after a few hours' sleep, and the train was only 40 minutes late then. The ride through the Rockies that Friday was glorious. It was a beautiful day. We had been seeing really high water in all the rivers, streams, and lakes we had seen on the trip earlier and the Colorado was no exception. It was very high and very fast. We called it a night at about Denver as it was getting dark then anyway. We may have been running a little late at that point, but I think it was more or less on schedule.
I woke up a few times early in the morning and opened up the curtains to see the exact same trees, so I knew we were running late again. Not long after we got up, we found that we were four hours' late. The CZ was scheduled to get into Chicago at 2:50 PM and the CL was scheduled to leave for Pittsburgh at 6:10 PM, so we were pretty sure we weren't going to be on time. As it turned out, we were almost seven hours' late.
If Friday had been glorious, Saturday was sobering. We spent the day creeping through the flooded plains. We were re-routed around Omaha, but we don't really know where we were. Apparently, out of three rail lines in the area, two were closed and all traffic was re-routed to this one set of tracks. I have never seen so many freight trains!
Amtrak did as good a job as they could at keeping us informed of what was going on. They announced a few hours before we got to Chicago that passengers would be bused to Michigan, Indiana, and Minnesota. We were told by our car attendant that we would be put up in Chicago and put on the next train the next day. For some passengers going all the way to DC, they were able to put them on the Cardinal, but it was a longer trip than the CL so not everyone could take that option. If I could have, I would have, but the Cardinal got in too late to take the CL from DC to Pittsburgh the next day. They may not have given us that option, anyway.
I was expecting pandemonium when we got into the station, but after a little initial confusion, it actually went smoothly, more or less. They changed some of the information that we were given on the train about where the people on buses or vans were to go. We were given $30 each for food and taken by bus to a Holiday Inn about 22 miles out of the city, where we were picked up at 11 AM the next morning. We hadn't been given dinner on the train, so we went to a Denny's next door, the only choice around, and grabbed a bite and got into bed about 11 PM. We did breakfast there the next morning, too, and had lunch back at Lou Mitchell's. You couldn't eat high on the hog, but the $60 paid for most of the food.
The CL on Sunday left a little late, but then seemed to make up the time. I set my alarm for 4 AM for the arrival in Pittsburgh, but we were two hours' late in the morning. I'd been sort of wakeful during the night, but we had seemed to be moving quickly each time I'd wakened, so I was surprised at this.
All in all, this was quite the trip. But as we were traveling through flooded Iowa on Saturday, we were trying to figure out what Amtrak trip we're going to do next year. We already knew we wouldn't be making the CL to Pittsburgh that evening.
We think that Amtrak has decided to cancel the CZ when absolutely necessary as on our trip out west and/or take the consequences in busing or putting people up in hotels when they have to. I don't think they really have much choice. I will never forget how high the water was in general out there on this whole trip and seeing homes, trucks, cars, businesses, etc., under water in Nebraska and Iowa.
And in writing this, I just realized that the passengers on the train that was hit in Reno going west the day we got the train east were still in the station when we arrived at the station in Salt Lake City. The CZ westbound was about three to three and a half hours' late. The accident was announced on the train as a car attendant or conductor had transferred from the train we were on to the one that was hit and she was one of the people killed in the accident. We were really sad to hear about the accident.
I chose to buy round-trip airfare from Chicago to SLC in case our train was canceled on the way back. We knew we would take the train if it was coming back, but it would be more expensive if we had to buy one-way airfare for coming and going. We knew we were taking a chance on it costing us more money no matter what we did, but we had $1,500 in unrefundable lodging if we didn't go, so going was still cheaper than not going, unless we wanted to forgo the entire trip, which we did not. I did have to change and add hotels, though, in SLC and add a night in SLC and Chicago in case we had to take the plane back, but I made sure these were refundable. Amtrak is refunding the part of the trip that they canceled, so this factored in, too. This gave us an extra day in SLC, which was more than enough on a Sunday to take the TRAX around to see some of the sights. We stayed at Little America, which is about half a block away from TRAX and not far from the train station. The weather was nice and we had a nice enough day in SLC before we picked up the already-scheduled rental car on Monday morning.
All in all, we felt that the trip out went well, even if it changed our costs somewhat and we didn't get to take the CZ out.
Our trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone was really great. We stayed in Jackson for a few days and then went up to Yellowstone for a week before returning to Jackson for a night and then back to SLC to return the car and take the train back. The weather was mostly great and we had beaten the summer crowds in both parks.
I had originally not planned on a hotel in SLC the evening of the train, but since I couldn't be sure if we were going to have to take the plane, I made a reservation at Little America again, and I was really glad I had. I don't know what we would have done in SLC with no car and luggage with a train that was not coming through until 3 AM. We arrived at the hotel about 7 PM, had dinner, and tried to get a little sleep before taking a cab to the station at 1:30 AM. I had called and the train was late by half an hour at that time, but we were up, so we went anyway. Our train ending up leaving an hour and a half late.
We got up the next morning after a few hours' sleep, and the train was only 40 minutes late then. The ride through the Rockies that Friday was glorious. It was a beautiful day. We had been seeing really high water in all the rivers, streams, and lakes we had seen on the trip earlier and the Colorado was no exception. It was very high and very fast. We called it a night at about Denver as it was getting dark then anyway. We may have been running a little late at that point, but I think it was more or less on schedule.
I woke up a few times early in the morning and opened up the curtains to see the exact same trees, so I knew we were running late again. Not long after we got up, we found that we were four hours' late. The CZ was scheduled to get into Chicago at 2:50 PM and the CL was scheduled to leave for Pittsburgh at 6:10 PM, so we were pretty sure we weren't going to be on time. As it turned out, we were almost seven hours' late.
If Friday had been glorious, Saturday was sobering. We spent the day creeping through the flooded plains. We were re-routed around Omaha, but we don't really know where we were. Apparently, out of three rail lines in the area, two were closed and all traffic was re-routed to this one set of tracks. I have never seen so many freight trains!
Amtrak did as good a job as they could at keeping us informed of what was going on. They announced a few hours before we got to Chicago that passengers would be bused to Michigan, Indiana, and Minnesota. We were told by our car attendant that we would be put up in Chicago and put on the next train the next day. For some passengers going all the way to DC, they were able to put them on the Cardinal, but it was a longer trip than the CL so not everyone could take that option. If I could have, I would have, but the Cardinal got in too late to take the CL from DC to Pittsburgh the next day. They may not have given us that option, anyway.
I was expecting pandemonium when we got into the station, but after a little initial confusion, it actually went smoothly, more or less. They changed some of the information that we were given on the train about where the people on buses or vans were to go. We were given $30 each for food and taken by bus to a Holiday Inn about 22 miles out of the city, where we were picked up at 11 AM the next morning. We hadn't been given dinner on the train, so we went to a Denny's next door, the only choice around, and grabbed a bite and got into bed about 11 PM. We did breakfast there the next morning, too, and had lunch back at Lou Mitchell's. You couldn't eat high on the hog, but the $60 paid for most of the food.
The CL on Sunday left a little late, but then seemed to make up the time. I set my alarm for 4 AM for the arrival in Pittsburgh, but we were two hours' late in the morning. I'd been sort of wakeful during the night, but we had seemed to be moving quickly each time I'd wakened, so I was surprised at this.
All in all, this was quite the trip. But as we were traveling through flooded Iowa on Saturday, we were trying to figure out what Amtrak trip we're going to do next year. We already knew we wouldn't be making the CL to Pittsburgh that evening.
We think that Amtrak has decided to cancel the CZ when absolutely necessary as on our trip out west and/or take the consequences in busing or putting people up in hotels when they have to. I don't think they really have much choice. I will never forget how high the water was in general out there on this whole trip and seeing homes, trucks, cars, businesses, etc., under water in Nebraska and Iowa.
And in writing this, I just realized that the passengers on the train that was hit in Reno going west the day we got the train east were still in the station when we arrived at the station in Salt Lake City. The CZ westbound was about three to three and a half hours' late. The accident was announced on the train as a car attendant or conductor had transferred from the train we were on to the one that was hit and she was one of the people killed in the accident. We were really sad to hear about the accident.
