Winter Planning for Empire Builder Trips

Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
CHamilton said:
Landslide reportedly strands residents near Index (WA)

The affected area is not far from the BNSF tracks used by the EB, but none of the press reports indicate that the slide affected the tracks. The Builder is probably in the area at the moment, having left Leavenworth almost 5 hours late at 10:52 am.
Click to expand...
Today's EB 7 got through the area without losing any further time, so the slide did not affect the train.
 
About to board 28 in Portland. Sounds like they are using the protect trainset for closer to on time departure.
 
Update for today:

1. Big time congestion in eastern ND today-again too many trains and not enough tracks. Both EB's (7 and 8) lost about 3 hours each in this short stretch. Mostly between Grand Forks and Fargo.

2. Another area that is experiencing increased congestion on a regular basis is between WFH and SPK. Several days recently have seen delays of between 1 and 2 hours (including today), just to get thru this stretch. The 7 mile long, single track tunnel just west of Whitefish is likely a contributing factor. #7 waited for over an hour as west bound freights went thru this feature early AM.

3. The BNSF prediction that SEA and PDX will experience arrival delays of 1-2 hours on a more regular basis has come true if you look at the past week's arrivals. Bummer.
 
montana mike said:
Update for today:

1. Big time congestion in eastern ND today-again too many trains and not enough tracks. Both EB's (7 and 8) lost about 3 hours each in this short stretch. Mostly between Grand Forks and Fargo.

2. Another area that is experiencing increased congestion on a regular basis is between WFH and SPK. Several days recently have seen delays of between 1 and 2 hours (including today), just to get thru this stretch. The 7 mile long, single track tunnel just west of Whitefish is likely a contributing factor. #7 waited for over an hour as west bound freights went thru this feature early AM.

3. The BNSF prediction that SEA and PDX will experience arrival delays of 1-2 hours on a more regular basis has come true if you look at the past week's arrivals. Bummer.
Click to expand...
was in downtown spk yesterday. the tracks are elevated through town giving a good view of traffic. couldn't believe the number of westbound freights. grain, oil, merchandise. 2 at a time. never saw anything like it for the time i watched
 
Western Washington state is getting a little bit of snow this morning, but as of 8 am PT, all of the Cascades trains are running on time, and the westbound Empire Builder is no later than usual. The snow is supposed to turn to rain in the next couple of hours, so the trains should not be affected.
 
Report from #8/28(18)

We were the first train to use the protect trainset. However both the extra lounge and sleeper in PDX were "inoperable" according to the station crew, so after they switched in the lounge and sleeper from the late #27 and got the sleeper cleaned we were two hours late departing. The two coaches started out with car numbers 04-12 and 04-13, so it looks like they were last assigned to the SWC.

Arrived into MSP 3:30 behind schedule. Estimated breakdown of delays:

Amtrak equipment: 2:40. Two hours in PDX, then forty minutes between Minot and Rugby when we developed a leak in the airbrake system. Turned out to be a gasket by the main reservoir, relatively quick fix.

Passenger loading: 0:20. Longer station stops due to lots of folks on and off, mainly at Stanley, Williston, Minot

Permanent track conditions: 0:30. Guaranteed half-hour loss between Grand Forks and Fargo due to downrating of track speed 2+ years ago that has not yet been reflected in a schedule change. I would presume that BNSF plans to improve that track again over the next couple of years for the oil traffic.

Temporary track conditions: 0:30. Variety of slow orders, mostly 40 mph and 60 mph as the track construction 20's have been cleared. 10 mph at south end of Northtown through working switch crew. 10-15 minutes coming into Staples due to a frozen crossover switch that BNSF was already fixing when we arrived.

Freight congestion: 2:30. BNSF is doing what they can to move trains. Longest wait was 45 minutes in Tampico coming into Glasgow as we took the siding to meet a fleet of three westbound Z-trains hot on the heels of #7/27(18). There was already another eastbound on the Glasgow siding that ended up waiting for at least five trains (#7, the three Z's, and then us) before proceeding. A large portion of the double track between St. Cloud and MSP is effectively single track now with a line of at least four freights parked waiting to get into Northtown.

Total delays PDX-MSP: 6:30

Minus 3 hrs schedule padding: 3:30 late into MSP

Overall conclusion: This route is not broken, but it absolutely needs a schedule change to reflect the congestion and summer construction. It might still be possible for a train to run on time given no equipment issues (Amtrak or BNSF), but that would be an exception. If the extra trainset can be maintained, #8/28 should leave the west coast between 10 am and noon, enough to make Chicago connections 80+% of the time. The 14-28 connection would be broken, but that is not a huge number of passengers and is frequently missed as is anyway. As an added benefit, if it were actually possible to run the train on time, the missed incentive payments might mean more to BNSF.

In light of all of the recent negative reports, I want to say kudos to the Amtrak crew for a great on-board experience. A smooth and quiet ride on sleeper #32000, with working temperature control and the best sleep I have yet managed on a train. Cheerful service despite the delays. Film crew of eight was on board recording for a documentary, which may have helped motivate everyone to put their best foot forward. Very fun wine and cheese tasting. Met lots of interesting folks, heard lots of good stories. One downside was that first the shower and then all of the bathrooms in our sleeper froze across North Dakota despite normal winter temps around -13. Didn't hurt the experience for us, but the EB equipment could definitely use some winterizing.

Until next time....

Mark
 
:hi: Excellent Trip Report with Good Info! If VIA can Run Trains Regularly with Constant Below Zero Temps No Reason Amtrak Can't Winterize the Equipment used on the Hi Line! :help: Based on your Report, and With What's Happening on the Hi-Line, Unless you Live There I would Say Dont Travel on the Empire Builder Unless You Are an Adventure Seeker with Patience,Willing to Pay High Bucket Prices and Have a High Tolerance Level for Discomfort and Plenty of Time! Opps, :blush: Sounds like Me!(Except for the High Bucket Fares!) :lol:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Great report on what's going on.

What was the film crew about? Have any info of what it is and when it will be shown?
 
I see that my train lost another two hours before arriving in Chicago. Too bad for all of the folks I met who were hoping to make connections...

CP delays between MSP and CHI are becoming unfortunately consistent. It has been a while since a late #8 has made up time between MSP and CHI.
 
anir dendroica said:
Re: the film crew

Albert Maysles is still making documentaries at age 87, and he was on board with his crew of seven. For whatever reason they chose to highlight the EB and will be riding it a few times over the coming days and months. They said they have been trying for some time to get the necessary permissions from Amtrak and finally succeeded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_and_David_Maysles

http://www.mayslesfilms.com/production/index.html
Click to expand...
Cool, will have to keep an eye out on this and see the movie when it's done.
 
I see #7 is still sitting in CHI, more than 2 hours after scheduled departure time……anyone know what happened? Last night's EB arrived "only" about 2 hours behind schedule, so the yard should have had plenty of time to prep today's #7. Perhaps a bad ordered car or locomotive?
 
montana mike said:
I see #7 is still sitting in CHI, more than 2 hours after scheduled departure time……anyone know what happened? Last night's EB arrived "only" about 2 hours behind schedule, so the yard should have had plenty of time to prep today's #7. Perhaps a bad ordered car or locomotive?
Click to expand...
Im guessing bad order??
 
Curious situation on the Dixieland status map this morning. One EB is between GFK and FAR, and the other is between SCD and SPL. However, the train numbers are opposite from the usual situation. #8 lost 4 hours between RUG and DVL and is down 5:43. #7 departed CHI 3 hours late and lost an additional 1.5 hours between MSP and SCD; now running 6:02 late. The two trains will probably meet somewhere around Detroit Lakes.
 
#7 chugging away today in ND (now 7 1/2 hours behind) will make sure they make up for that good deed!! They lost over three hours alone going thru the short "squeeze zone" in western MN and eastern ND--ouch!!

:-((
 
Freight slowing Amtrak’s Empire Builder


By Curtis Tate

McClatchy News Service





WASHINGTON — Freight congestion has caused massive delays and even cancellations of a popular Amtrak train in recent months, a situation that could worsen as one of the nation’s largest rail companies plans to increase shipments of fossil fuels on much of the route.


The Empire Builder, which runs from Chicago to Seattle and Portland, carries more passengers than any of Amtrak’s other long-distance trains, 543,000 in 2012.

But it also recorded the worst on-time performance in Amtrak’s nationwide network in November, at 44.5 percent. Any number below 80 percent is considered substandard under a law Congress passed in 2008.
Click to expand...
 
Good to see some media coverage of the Northern Transcon - HI-Line

BUT

Roxanne Butler, a BNSF spokeswoman, attributed the congestion to an increase in the number of grain trains from 60 a day to 122. She said the crude-oil shipments account for 85 trains a day, “one-half of 1 percent of the total daily train volume.”

Still, that’s 85 trains BNSF was not operating before the Bakken boom, and many observers have questioned whether the railroad has enough track space to handle increased shipments without delaying other trains.
Click to expand...
The numbers in this quote make absolutely no sense at all. "85 trains a day" crude shipments is "one-half of 1 percent" -- The mind boggles -
 
Perhaps a percentage of ALL freights in the US? I agree, doesn't make much sense. My local BNSF guys say the number of ALL freight trains moved by BNSF nationwide has gone up significantly this year, especially the energy trains. The intermodal trains were particularly singled out as being a much bigger player, as trucking firms move more and more long distance freight via rail.

I do agree that grain trains play an important role on the Hi-Line, but this is no "surprise" and the larger number of these trains is cyclical in nature and has been a major player on the Hi-Line for decades. They all say BNSF was really caught "with their pants down" (their comment) with regard to not doing a good job of anticipating these increases-despite many in the trenches trying to get senior management's attention. On several occasions they have said for the first several years BNSF was run purely as a profit center, without regard to long term planning by senior Berkshire Hathaway "hired guns" who knew little about railroads, but who tried to squeeze extra profits out of the railroad in the short term. They are paying for their short sighted mismanagement now big time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top