Where's Train 504?

[John Bobinyec]

It doesn't seem to be in Amtrak's reservations system.

jb

 

[fairviewroad]

John, this thread could really be called "How NOT to roll out a new timetable."

ODOT is overhauling the Oregon portion of the Cascades corridor. This is due to the state's acquisition of two new Talgo

trainsets. They won't immediately mean more service, but it gives the state more "say" on when the trains run on the PDX-

EUG leg of the corridor. So, they are introducing a whole new timetable.

The timetable was publicly announced December 6 via a press release and an ultra-confusing article in the Oregonian,

which I won't link to here since it contains numerous inaccuracies. The new scheduled was set to take effect today, January 6.

But despite that, the new timetable was not posted on the Amtrak website, and it wasn't until YESTERDAY that tickets for the

re-designed schedule were even being sold on Amtrak.com. That's right, up until this weekend Amtrak.com was selling tickets

for train 504, which as of today no longer exists.

ODOT sent out a reminder press release on Friday, which for the first time included a PDF version of the entire new Cascades

schedule. Some times north of PDX have been adjusted, but the key changes are all south of PDX. For instance, train 504 is

gone (as you noticed). There is a new southbound 503 that leaves PDX at 0600 (and runs later on the weekends as 505). Train

509 is canceled south of PDX. And 508 now originates in EUG and runs all the way through to SEA.

The new timetable still does not exist on Amtrak.com and don't bother checking the website dedicated specifically to the Cascades

corridor...nope, no mention of the new schedule there, either.

So other than an obscure ODOT press release, how is this info being communicated to the public? Via a lone Tweet, of course, sent

out late yesterday and advising people to call 1-800-USA-RAIL to find out new train times in the Northwest. :wacko:

So that's a veeeerrrrryy long answer to your question!

 

[John Bobinyec]

Thanks. I vaguely remembered the changes but couldn't find out the details.

jb

 

[Anderson]

...and here I was hoping for a timetable version of "Where's Waldo"!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

"Car 54, where are you?"

 

[fairviewroad]

Looks like John has the new schedule loaded onto Status Maps, since it shows train 508 departing from EUG

this afternoon.

 

[AC4400]

I was on the 509 yesterday and was informed to transfer for a bus at PDX further down to ALY. The attendant said yesterday's 509 was the first run over the new schedule.

Interestingly, another train (empty, with new Talgo trainset) was running just 10 or 15 minutes behind our 509, I believe it is today's 503?

I'm just wondering how does the rotation look like in the new schedule.

I guess in the old schedule, the rotation was:

501-506-509-500-507-504-516-513-508

And 510-517 is in a separate rotation.