Reno89502
Service Attendant
When I rode in on 29 this morning. We were on time through Pittsburgh, but we didn't arrive into CHI until 1:45pm. And talk about a packed Metropolitan Lounge!!!
Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:
- Status
Reno89502
Service Attendant
30 and 48 were showing DELAYED DUE TO CREW REST before I went to board 3.
It sounds like it is about time to do that if a crew is available. Continuing to move trains 4-8 hours behind is bad business.
lionelhoguy
Service Attendant
We got on the train about 9:30. and made it into CBS around 12:30am. Just over 7 hours late. Due to the time, a bunch of the crew were done at Tomah.
When we were in MKE, the dispatchers were not replying so we were stalled for about 10 minutes. I was listening to the scanner and the dispatcher just would not answer. I guess he fell asleep.
It was great adventure, but I am really glad that we are home! We met some really nice people in the Metro Lounge, and I am watching their progress on #27 and 30.
We had planned on taking the 261 excursion in April, but now I am not sure I will be ready for another train trip that soon. :unsure:
When we were in MKE, the dispatchers were not replying so we were stalled for about 10 minutes. I was listening to the scanner and the dispatcher just would not answer. I guess he fell asleep.
It was great adventure, but I am really glad that we are home! We met some really nice people in the Metro Lounge, and I am watching their progress on #27 and 30.
We had planned on taking the 261 excursion in April, but now I am not sure I will be ready for another train trip that soon. :unsure:
Bruce-C
Service Attendant
Joe F
Train Attendant
With EB #7 departing Chicago over 7 hours late the past couple of days, it reminds me of the early 1980s when I used to ride the "North Star" MKE to MSP. Departure from MKE was around midnight, pretty close to the EB's performance lately.
lionelhoguy
Service Attendant
EB #7 lost another 3 hours, how late can it go?
Looks like both Caps are running within an hour or so of ontime and westbound LSL is also doing well. But last night's LSL 48/448 has disappeared and may never have left Chicago. The beat goes on... :unsure:
montana mike
Conductor
#7 now in central MT is over 12 hours late. Both Empire Builders (going east and west bound) are losing between 4 and 5 hours in the usual bottlenecks in ND and MT. I don't see much change in this scenario in the short term........no weather tissues to speak of, just heavy, heavy freight traffic continuing to slow things down. My BNSF guy confirmed again yesterday that BNSF continues to show 4-6 hour delays thru the effected areas on an indefinite basis.
NAVYBLUE
Lead Service Attendant
Jim,
On the 5(10) now in Nebraska. We were in CHI in our sleeper @ 4:30 PM (1/10) after 2 1/2 hr delay hooked to Aux power waiting for engine. Departed 5:30 PM after engine hook up, air bleed, brake check and then one more air bled, Crew has been very good to us.
SCA told me that on 1/9 until possibly 1/11 they will probably have to rob engines off incoming trains to CHI because of engines down for mechanical/weather issues and some crew rest related issues.
Had pancakes for breakfast this morning for first time. Decent. Chocolate bundt cake with vanilla ice cream. Life is good
Meet man and woman in SSL from Poland during post doctoral research in Physics (nanotechnology) and Mathematical Biology at UCLA. All while being being entertained by a guitar and banjo player singing folk and light rock songs,
Can't have this much fun on a plane.
Mike aka NAVYBLUE
PS: Had breakfast with one of the developers of Mozilla.
Last edited by a moderator:
Sounds Great Mike! The Eagles are Finally Flying! I'm Envious!montana mike
Conductor
#8 in western MT just can't catch a break lost two plus hours around Browning of all places-they almost never lose time around there (and the weather in that area is very mild (near 50 degrees) and not even any real strong winds or snow!! If it wasn't for the extra train set on the west coast the Empire Builder would be a total disaster. As it is, all of these trains appear to be arriving and departing anywhere from 3 to 12 hours behind--I guess it is still the "residual" effects of the cold (I wonder how VIA Rail managed to essentially run a close to normal schedule during the cold weather-I followed some of their trains and while there were some minor delays they all ran?) causing issues in Chicago??? At what point do things return to what would amount to an actual schedule? Right now while the EB's are running, no one has any idea when they will get to their destinations and how many hours they will be late. I see #7 will again be departing late today as well.
C'est La Vie'
C'est La Vie'
Was in BOS last evening, 448 (9) was posted as 16 hours late...
All both of them?
(Sorry, couldn't help myself)
But seriously, VIA doesn't have an equipment shortage as far as I can tell. It's winter, when their consists are normally reduced anyway, plus they've cut back so much service that they'd have even more equipment sitting around if needed. I don't know what their staffing levels are like, but if they haven't furloughed staff over the winter (when the Canadian gets reduced to 2x/weekly), then, depending on exactly how their crews are scheduled, they could have a 50% surplus of crews available for any delays as well. However, I'd suspect that they already have such significant recovery into their schedules that the delays are easily absorbed anyway.
montana mike
Conductor
Last time I looked VIA Rail had 19 trains across Canada, yes, less than Amtrak, but I was only referring to the handful of LD trains that Amtrak runs, not the regional and local NEC service.
My concern was not that Amtrak was not able to cope with the cold weather and snow, but that it appears it will take over a week after the event to even come close to a "normal" schedule on some of these LD trains.
My concern was not that Amtrak was not able to cope with the cold weather and snow, but that it appears it will take over a week after the event to even come close to a "normal" schedule on some of these LD trains.
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
Staff member
Administator
Moderator
AU Supporting Member
Gathering Team Member
A dozen or so is a few more than a handful I'd say. But yeah, comparing VIA with Amtrak has mostly to do with suffering from a severe case of the "grass is greener...." Syndrome IMHO. And I am allowed to have at least one
montana mike
Conductor
I consider LD trains (ie. an overnight/sleeper/dining car type experience) to be ones like The Empire Builder, CZ, CONO, Texas Eagle, etc.....If you look at those LD trains, Amtrak doesn't have that many and in every case they are once a day (or in the case of the Cardinal for example just three times a week). Regional services and NEC were excluded from my analogy, since they are all essentially "day trips".
PS-It is fortunate that the additional train set is indeed in place for the EB's, since this run would be non-functional, given the 4-6 hour average delays now being experienced both ways on the Hi-Line almost every day now (take a look at today's mess). This has nothing to do with the cold snap a week ago of course (the BNSF issues are discussed elsewhere), but would be the subject of continuing "service disruptions" for #7 and #8 without that set--so this is a plus at least, that they are able to keep this train running, albeit very, very late.....
PS-It is fortunate that the additional train set is indeed in place for the EB's, since this run would be non-functional, given the 4-6 hour average delays now being experienced both ways on the Hi-Line almost every day now (take a look at today's mess). This has nothing to do with the cold snap a week ago of course (the BNSF issues are discussed elsewhere), but would be the subject of continuing "service disruptions" for #7 and #8 without that set--so this is a plus at least, that they are able to keep this train running, albeit very, very late.....
Last edited by a moderator:
Right, and if you're only considering LD trains, then VIA has two three.
(Edit: Forgot about the Churchill run).
Between them, they offer a grand total of 15 departures per week (counting both directions; somehow the Churchill train runs 2x weekly northbound, and 3x weekly southbound; not sure how/why that is). The Coast Starlight alone (or any daily long-distance train) offers 14 departures per week.
(Second edit)
As for VIA running a "close to normal schedule," this thread would seem to imply otherwise. The Canadian also had multi-hour delays, including a train that departed a day late. If an Amtrak LD train were to depart a day late, it would simply cancel because the next day's train would need to take that slot. But when you only run twice per week...
(Edit: Forgot about the Churchill run).
Between them, they offer a grand total of 15 departures per week (counting both directions; somehow the Churchill train runs 2x weekly northbound, and 3x weekly southbound; not sure how/why that is). The Coast Starlight alone (or any daily long-distance train) offers 14 departures per week.
(Second edit)
As for VIA running a "close to normal schedule," this thread would seem to imply otherwise. The Canadian also had multi-hour delays, including a train that departed a day late. If an Amtrak LD train were to depart a day late, it would simply cancel because the next day's train would need to take that slot. But when you only run twice per week...
Last edited by a moderator:
Recovery time definitely is a major player. Comparing Winnipeg to Vancouver on Via with Grand Forks to Seattle on Amtrak, Amtrak schedules 31.5 hours versus 47.5ish for Via. Having an extra 16 hours helps a lot to keep it "on time."
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Amtrak Forum mobile app
NAVYBLUE
Lead Service Attendant
jim,
Just pulled in Reno today (1/12) 5 1/2 hours late. Were up to 6 hr 47 min at one time. Slow orders and on siding for freight added to the original 3 1/2 hours, They cut 1 hour off betweem SLC-RNO.
Ate me some Bundt cake (warmed) with vanilla ice cream. Lonnie, SA learned to just say "the usual' and I would nod. Great professional/funny SA.
Serving comp dinner meals after Truckee, CA to all coach pax after doing sleepers meals by sleeper car #(not appt) then coach pax by car #. EVERY conductor was apoligizing the whole CHI-RNO trip about the delays. I heard NO negative comments from diner mates.
Meet couple (husband CFO of Australia's largest media corporation) and they raved about the diner service, crew friendliness and passenger friendliness. First time on AMTRAK though they vacation for (2) weeks evey year in the U.S.They said from now on they plan to go by AMTRAK as much as they can when they are vacationing in U.S.
Picked up a BNSF/UP ?? engine in Denver and the AMTRAK engineer ran it. Was nice to go from Denver to Grandby in the daylight but the canyons were all in the dark.
Mike aka NAVYBLUE
- Status
