As noted, Amtrak doesn't have any points where they're likely to end up with a massive number of passengers piled up too often. Their only main meeting points for LD trains are NYP, CHI, WAS, NOL, LAX, EMY, and PDX (SEA isn't a valid transfer point for scheduling reasons). Of these:
-NOL is a forced overnight in all cases. No pileups to be had there.
-PDX, EMY, LAX, and WAS only have a limited number of LD connections to play with (PDX has Builder-Starlight, EMY has Zephyr-Starlight, LAX has Chief/Sunset-Starlight, and WAS has Cap-Crescent and Cap-Meteor). Moreover, in a bunch of cases Amtrak has fallback options for missed connections (the CA bus/train network covers a lot of possible city pairs for both EMY and LAX).
-NYP has a lot of LD trains...but only one valid connecting pair out of the whole mess (Meteor-LSL). Everything else is an on-your-own connection.
--Additionally, though there are lots of connections in/out of NYP to/from LD trains, Amtrak owns the tracks and has low-load factor late night trains in most directions. If push comes to shove, Amtrak can drag a protect coach or two out and put it on a Regional to cover most of the "local" connections.
So...basically, Amtrak is likely to have to cover more than a small number of pax in one station (Chicago)...and there, I believe Amtrak has arrangements in place to begin with (likely at a pre-arranged rate, which is likely a decent deal for the hotel in question). Even there, the required room count is much better than any of the major airlines might face at O'Hare (you're looking at maybe a few hundred passengers per day for Amtrak versus potentially thousands at O'Hare...I don't think any Amtrak LD train regularly has more than about 500 seats; even if the Builder, Zephyr, and Chief all misconnect, you're never looking at more than a thousand pax piled up...and if you have massive delays in both directions there's a chance that the trains on one side will be delayed enough to mitigate the problem).
There's also the once-daily nature of most of Amtrak. Yes, a few pairs may have a second daily option (e.g. CHI-WAS works via either BUF, PGH, or CIN), but those are the exceptions.As noted, Amtrak doesn't have any points where they're likely to end up with a massive number of passengers piled up too often. Their only main meeting points for LD trains are NYP, CHI, WAS, NOL, LAX, EMY, and PDX (SEA isn't a valid transfer point for scheduling reasons). Of these:
-NOL is a forced overnight in all cases. No pileups to be had there.
-PDX, EMY, LAX, and WAS only have a limited number of LD connections to play with (PDX has Builder-Starlight, EMY has Zephyr-Starlight, LAX has Chief/Sunset-Starlight, and WAS has Cap-Crescent and Cap-Meteor). Moreover, in a bunch of cases Amtrak has fallback options for missed connections (the CA bus/train network covers a lot of possible city pairs for both EMY and LAX).
-NYP has a lot of LD trains...but only one valid connecting pair out of the whole mess (Meteor-LSL). Everything else is an on-your-own connection.
--Additionally, though there are lots of connections in/out of NYP to/from LD trains, Amtrak owns the tracks and has low-load factor late night trains in most directions. If push comes to shove, Amtrak can drag a protect coach or two out and put it on a Regional to cover most of the "local" connections.
So...basically, Amtrak is likely to have to cover more than a small number of pax in one station (Chicago)...and there, I believe Amtrak has arrangements in place to begin with (likely at a pre-arranged rate, which is likely a decent deal for the hotel in question). Even there, the required room count is much better than any of the major airlines might face at O'Hare (you're looking at maybe a few hundred passengers per day for Amtrak versus potentially thousands at O'Hare...I don't think any Amtrak LD train regularly has more than about 500 seats; even if the Builder, Zephyr, and Chief all misconnect, you're never looking at more than a thousand pax piled up...and if you have massive delays in both directions there's a chance that the trains on one side will be delayed enough to mitigate the problem).
There's also the once-daily nature of most of Amtrak. Yes, a few pairs may have a second daily option (e.g. CHI-WAS works via either BUF, PGH, or CIN), but those are the exceptions. So unlike airlines, where these messes are supposed to be the exception (or Spirit, who just doesn't give a rip), with Amtrak they know this will happen with at least some regularity...and I believe Amtrak closes CUS for a few hours at night, while at least in O'Hare the airport remains open, so I think Amtrak might be stuck between keeping Union Station staffed up those nights or finding somewhere to put people.