Upcoming Cal. Zephyr Detour

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EmpireBuilderFan

EmpireBuilderFan

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Aug 24, 2002
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412
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Malta, MT
Well, UP has announced another tie replacement blitz for the California Zephyr, so the opportunity once again arises to ride along the original transcontinental railroad between Denver and Salt Lake City. From Gene Poon on the Yahoo Amtrak mailing list:

CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR DETOUR DUE TO TIE REPLACEMENT WORK

TIE REPLACEMENT PROJECT:

UNION PACIFIC WILL INSTALL 86,553 TIES BETWEEN BOND, MP 128.8,

(NEAREST STATION IS GRANBY) AND PALISADE, CO, MP 437.0

(NEAREST STATION IS GRAND JUNCTION), BETWEEN THURSDAY,

SEPTEMBER 1, AND FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2005.  DURING THE WORK

PERIOD NO TRAINS CAN OPERATE OVER THIS PART OF THE RAILROAD.

TRAINS 5/6 DETOUR DATES

TRAINS ORIGINATING EMY AND CHI ON THE FOLLOWING DATES WILL

DETOUR BETWEEN DENVER AND SALT LAKE CITY VIA SOUTHERN

WYOMING:

     TRAIN ORIGIN DATES                   DETOUR DATES

   -----------------------           -----------------------

   AUG 31 THROUGH SEP  7             SEP  1 THROUGH SEP  8

   SEP 15 THROUGH SEP 22             SEP 16 THROUGH SEP 23

   SEP 30 THROUGH OCT  7             OCT  1 THROUGH OCT  8

   OCT 15 THROUGH OCT 22             OCT 16 THROUGH OCT 23

   OCT 31 THROUGH NOV  3             NOV  1 THROUGH NOV  4

NOTE THAT THE ACTUAL DATES OF THE DETOUR ARE ONE DAY LATER

THAN THE TRAIN ORIGIN DATES.

SCHEDULES EMY-SLC AND DEN-CHI ARE UNCHANGED; IN FACT, THE

DETOUR TAKES LESS TIME SO IT IS LIKELY THAT THE TRAIN WILL

ARRIVE EARLY IN SLC FROM THE EAST AND IN DEN FROM THE WEST.

NO STOPS WILL BE MADE ON THE DETOUR ROUTE.

ON DATES NOT INCLUDED ABOVE, THE TRAIN WILL OPERATE ON ITS

NORMAL ROUTE MAKING ALL STOPS:

     ORIGIN DATES OF NORMAL OPERATION

--------------------------------------

- ORIGIN DATES AUGUST 30 AND BEFORE

- ORIGIN DATES SEPTEMBER 8 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 14

- ORIGIN DATES SEPTEMBER 23 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 29

- ORIGIN DATES OCTOBER 8 THROUGH OCTOBER 14

- ORIGIN DATES OCTOBER 23 THROUGH OCTOBER 30

- ORIGIN DATES NOVEMBER 4 AND AFTER.

ARROW ACCURATELY SHOWS THE DATES OF NORMAL OPERATION AND THE

DATES OF THE DETOUR.  ASK YOUR CUSTOMER FOR THE ACTUAL

INTENDED DATE OF TRAVEL AND USE THAT IN YOUR AVAILABILITY

ENTRY.  IF THE CUSTOMER SPECIFIES A DATE WHEN THE TRAIN IS

DETOURING AND MENTIONS THAT HE OR SHE REALLY WANTS TO SEE THE

SCENERY, OFFER TRAVEL ON A DATE WHEN THE TRAIN IS NOT

DETOURING.

MISSED STOPS

THE ONLY STOPS ON THE NORMAL ROUTE THAT WILL BE PROTECTED

WHEN THE TRAIN IS DETOURING WILL BE GLENWOOD SPRINGS AND

GRAND JUNCTION, AND ONLY TO AND FROM DENVER AND THE EAST.

TRAIN 5 - BUS 3505 DP DEN 805A, AR GSC 153P AR GJT 357P.

          (THESE ARE THE TRAIN TIMES; THE BUS CAN GO MUCH

          FASTER.  THE BUS MAY ARRIVE EARLY AT GSC AND GJT.)

          THE BUS DROPS OFF PASSENGERS ONLY.

          BUS WILL WAIT FOR TRAIN 5 IF IT IS LATE.

TRAIN 6 - BUS 3606 DP GJT 1043A, DP GSC 1230P, AR DEN 658P.

          (THESE ARE THE TRAIN TIMES; THE BUS CAN GO MUCH

          FASTER.  THE BUS WILL DEPART GJT AND GSC AT THE

          TIMES SHOWN BUT MAY ARRIVE EARLY AT DEN.)

          THE BUS PICKS UP PASSENGERS ONLY.

          BUS WILL OPERATE AT THESE TIMES EVEN IF TRAIN 6 IS

          LATE.

OTHER STOPS ARE NOT PROTECTED BECAUSE THEY ARE WELL OFF THE

MAIN HIGHWAY (WIP, GRA) OR RIDERSHIP IS LOW (PRO, HER, GRI)

AND IN EITHER CASE, THE BUS RIDE WOULD BE VERY LONG.

PLEASE NOTE IN PARTICULAR THAT THERE IS NO BUS BETWEEN GSC

AND GJT, ON THE ONE HAND, AND STOPS ON TRAINS 5/6 BETWEEN SLC

AND EMY, ON THE OTHER HAND.  IN OTHER WORDS, THERE IS NO

SERVICE FROM THESE STOPS TO AND FROM SLC AND POINTS WEST.

(THERE ARE SOME GROUPS ALREADY BOOKED OVER THIS SEGMENT AND

INDIVIDUAL ARRANGEMENTS WILL BE HANDLED BY THE GROUP DESK.)

(Cut passenger notification and other internal Amtrak "stuff")
Click to expand...
I wish I could get a trip on one of these detours. I just finished reading Nothing Like It In the World, Stephen Ambrose's book on the building of the Transcon. It's very interesting reading, as he tells it more as a story than as a history lesson.
 
From what I hear the trip over the original transcon is pretty boring due to the fact that it's largely over the plains of Wyoming. Obviously if you've done the trip before it could be interesting to compare, but its not recommended if this is your first time on the CZ, especially since it might even be snowing up there in the Rockies towards October. For staffing purposes I'd be intersted to know who staffs T&E during the project since Grand Junction is a crew change for the CZ (guess we'll see when the bids come up). The upside, you can never complain about schedule pad on UP. :lol:
 
Yeah, it is pretty boring, scenery wise. I've driven I-80 through there, and the continental divide crossing is pretty underwhelming. Of course, that's why UP put the tracks through there in the first place. It was a lot easier to build on a gentle slope than rugged mountains. This is a detour only a railfan could love. :)
 
I was surprised they are changing 86,553 ties...when I looked there were only 86,552 !

B)
 
Midland Valley said:
Will this help or hinder the on time performance? The CZ has been runnig 3 1/2 to 8 hours late (East Bound) every day now.
Click to expand...
It won't necessarily affect Zephyr OTP one way or the other. Theoretically, it should improve it because the route via Wyoming is faster (not taking steep mountain grades on a curvy route). However, the last time Amtrak had a scheduled detour over this route (I think it was last year, when the Moffat Tunnel was going through some maintenance), the Zephyr suffered delays going over the route.

UP will have to provide crews to work the detour (unless there's someone at Amtrak still qualified on the line), and with all of the other traffic moved during the detour, the Zephyr could very easily be just as late with the detour as with the normal routing.

I'll let you know what happens in just over a month, as I'm now booked to ride train 6(1SEP) out of Sacramento, as I return from a trip to the Pacific Northwest.
 
UP will have to provide crews to work the detour (unless there's someone at Amtrak still qualified on the line), and with all of the other traffic moved during the detour, the Zephyr could very easily be just as late with the detour as with the normal routing.
Click to expand...
Rob if I may, I'd like to qualify that statement. UP will have to provide pilots for the duration of the reroute. A pilot is someone from the host railroad who is qualified on the physical characteristics of the railroad and can assist Amtrak's operating crew on their location, slow down spots, etc. IIRC the pilot cannot technically operate the train unless they have recieved qualifications on how to run a P-42.
 

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