Winter Planning for Empire Builder Trips

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What it has to do with it, Mike, is I read somewhere that when the oil companies upped thier fracking activities in the area, their increased usage of the tracks had a detrimental effect on Amtrak's performance. I didn't make this up, I read it somewhere, maybe even here. This might be wrong, this might be right, but for anyone reading this, please do understand one thing. If you truly seek to create more "rail advocates" there are a few users on this forum who could scale back a little on their hostility.
 
It's not the tracking per se. It's the energy activity throughout the entire Hi-Line, especially ND and MT. Fracking doesn't "cause" delays. The delays are because most of the new oil has to be shipped via rail, since the pipeline is now a dead duck. If you had said BNSF's major increases in energy trains was the main issue you would have been correct.

Meanwhile, I see another derailment-this time a UP coal train (19 cars) in Caledonia, WI. Good grief! I wonder if this will effect Amtrak trains?
 
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Currently on #8 in MN. For once BNSF did a superb job on guiding the EB thru a myriad of freight traffic last night in ND (amazing the number of energy train on the tracks now!!). We arrived in MSP only 43 minutes behind schedule--which for this year is terrific. However, now that we are under CP control we have gone only 25 miles in the past hour, so all of the good time gained appears to be disappearing under CP. Hopefully this train will still arrive less than 2 hours behind schedule. The conductor believes it is going to be a slow go all the way into CHI today.
 
montana mike said:
Currently on #8 in MN. For once BNSF did a superb job on guiding the EB thru a myriad of freight traffic last night in ND (amazing the number of energy train on the tracks now!!). We arrived in MSP only 43 minutes behind schedule--which for this year is terrific. However, now that we are under CP control we have gone only 25 miles in the past hour, so all of the good time gained appears to be disappearing under CP. Hopefully this train will still arrive less than 2 hours behind schedule. The conductor believes it is going to be a slow go all the way into CHI today.
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Mike - when it changes to CP, what happens to all the oil trains BNSF has running? They have to go somewhere. I assume BNSF has their own lines that head toward Chicago, etc, but aren't used by the EB past MSP?
 
Good question--not sure. There are certainly more tracks than the ones Amtrak run on. The BNSF system map shows their lines runs south to the west of where Amtrak runs its trains. But the Builders run on CP Rail lines from MSP to just north of CHI, where they pick up Metra tracks. I have seen several CPR track crews out today (slowed us down twice). Tough job in January!


th.jpeg
 
I remember seeing the Empire Builder going west at East Glacier around 1969. I was on a cross country trailer trip with my parents. It was about 3 hours late. A sleeping car porter grumbled, " just plain delayed. "
 
MrFSS said:
montana mike said:
Currently on #8 in MN. For once BNSF did a superb job on guiding the EB thru a myriad of freight traffic last night in ND (amazing the number of energy train on the tracks now!!). We arrived in MSP only 43 minutes behind schedule--which for this year is terrific. However, now that we are under CP control we have gone only 25 miles in the past hour, so all of the good time gained appears to be disappearing under CP. Hopefully this train will still arrive less than 2 hours behind schedule. The conductor believes it is going to be a slow go all the way into CHI today.
Click to expand...
Mike - when it changes to CP, what happens to all the oil trains BNSF has running? They have to go somewhere. I assume BNSF has their own lines that head toward Chicago, etc, but aren't used by the EB past MSP?
Click to expand...
Not that this answers your question at all, but I do know there are sand fracking pits just west of Tomah, along the CP rail that the EB uses. I was told that the sand from those pits is being shipped west to North Dakota.
 
Yes, that is correct. Quite a complex. I have watched them construct this amazing facility over the past several years! BTW: My #8 lost the 2 hours we had gained back on its trek thru Wisconsin and MN ( due to very heavy freight), so we arrived 2 hours late in CHI. Still, better than many of the EBs over the past months.
 
The EBs look better on the map tonight than they have since some time last May. It's possible that the seasonal grain crunch is starting to ebb, freeing up some capacity on the line. Here's hoping it's a trend...
 
Perhaps the closure (due to the derailment) of the UP line that parallels the CPR line may have contributed to both the #7 and #8 delays, since it would be logical to move these trains on the other line while UP fixes their mess in WI? That may have contributed to the very heavy freight traffic on my trek thru WI yesterday.
 
Oh, for the Milwaukee Road transcon to be reopened. Until that mistake is rectified in some way, this situation on the Hi-Line won't end.
 
Fargo to Chicago is back in the deep freeze (temps around -10 to -20). Points further west are being spared this time.
 
Not to be snide, but I'm sure it is a certainty that the Milwaukee will be rebuilt soon, complete with electrification. Snowballs in hell are more likely.
 
Yet another derailment on the Builder route. This article, naturally, makes no mention of the Empire Builder

but it does say that 13 corn cars derailed yesterday near Ross, ND, which is just west of Stanley.

On the EB Yahoo list, it was reported that 8(22) spent the night in Williston as there was no train on "the other

side" to bus bridge to (since 7(22) slipped through the area prior to the derailment.) As of this morning 8(22)

appears to be on the move again. The train tracker website, if accurate, shows that it's moved past the

derailment and just stopped in Stanley, some 16 hours late.

Meanwhile 7(23) was re-routed via New Rockford and made it into Minot "only" 3 hours late where it currently

sits.

I have in-laws scheduled to travel on 7(24) departing GFK tomorrow morning. They just got the dreaded "service

disruption" call and told they'll be bussed from GFK to Minot.
 
I saw the Service Disruption on the Amtrak train status yesterday (1/23/2914) for 8. Are there actually passengers on board east of Williston do you think?

A Montanan who enjoys trail travel.
 
RalphCT said:
I saw the Service Disruption on the Amtrak train status yesterday (1/23/2914) for 8. Are there actually passengers on board east of Williston do you think?
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I suspect there are. For one thing, the derailment happened after the train left SEA/PDX on Wednesday evening. So Amtrak/passengers

had no reason to suspect they wouldn't get through. So once the train pulled into Williston, what would the passengers bound for east of

there do? If you were headed to Stanley or Minot, you might have been able to arrange local transportation. But for everyone else, there

would be no choice but to wait. Even if Amtrak had put everyone up in a hotel (assuming there was space available) they would still probably

put them back on the train this morning for the onward journey.

Both 7 and 8 have now made it past the derailment spot. 7(23) is about 3 1/2 hours down, having resumed its regular route in Minot. 8(22)

is pulling into Minot about 17 hours late.
 
Wow! I'd sure want to be in a sleeper on that one. Hey, looking at the next 8 eastbound (in Montana on 1/24)-- it's running on time. That's different. Let's hope it stays that way.

A Montanan who enjoys trail travel.
 
fairviewroad said:
RalphCT said:
I saw the Service Disruption on the Amtrak train status yesterday (1/23/2914) for 8. Are there actually passengers on board east of Williston do you think?
Click to expand...
I suspect there are. For one thing, the derailment happened after the train left SEA/PDX on Wednesday evening. So Amtrak/passengers

had no reason to suspect they wouldn't get through. So once the train pulled into Williston, what would the passengers bound for east of

there do? If you were headed to Stanley or Minot, you might have been able to arrange local transportation. But for everyone else, there

would be no choice but to wait. Even if Amtrak had put everyone up in a hotel (assuming there was space available) they would still probably

put them back on the train this morning for the onward journey.

Both 7 and 8 have now made it past the derailment spot. 7(23) is about 3 1/2 hours down, having resumed its regular route in Minot. 8(22)

is pulling into Minot about 17 hours late.
Click to expand...
That's two freight derailments six days apart in time and 30 miles apart on the map. It appears that the roller coaster temperatures are taking their toll on the rails...
 
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