Perhaps nobody on #8 was transferring to the Wolverine?Glad the original poster made the connection. Case in point as far as not holding trains is today it shows #8 arrived at 6:02pm and wolverine #354 departed at 6:00pm. Supposed to be a guaranteed connection but unless they allowed the passengers to walk over and then fudged the numbers to show an on time departure, they probably offered them a later van or bus ride which I think is a shame for something that close
If a passenger was trying to connect from Empire Builder to #354 and missed his/her connection to that due to #8 delays, could that passenger complain and be put up overnight at a Chicago motel/hotel, then take a Wolverine train the next day? Hopefully they wouldn't force someone to take a bus, if say he/she was trying to get to one of the smaller towns the buses don't serve(i.e. Niles). Just only a question I'm asking, since I'm trying to better understand how Amtrak operates nowadays. Hopefully they still do accommodate passengers with giving them the option to stay overnight in Chicago, if they miss their train connection to another train they want to travel on.Glad the original poster made the connection. Case in point as far as not holding trains is today it shows #8 arrived at 6:02pm and wolverine #354 departed at 6:00pm. Supposed to be a guaranteed connection but unless they allowed the passengers to walk over and then fudged the numbers to show an on time departure, they probably offered them a later van or bus ride which I think is a shame for something that close
I guess it really is true that Amtrak is no longer holding departing long distance trains in Chicago to allow for very close connections, even if a train was super close to help those from a closely arriving train board an about to depart train? That's sad to hear. I guess Amtrak managers/supervisors are feeling the pressure to pad up their on time performance figures when they work, for all I may guess?I experienced a similar situation in October last year. I was making my semi-annual trip to Florida to visit family and friends from job home in Minneapolis. Around 3:35 am (not much before I planned to get up anyway at 4:00) I got the dreaded phone call from Amtrak Customer Service advising me that my 3.5 hour late eastbound EB departure was being replaced with a bustitution to CHI to ensure my connection to the CL and later Silver Meteor. The agent stated that Amtrak doesn't hold trains in CHI anymore, even if the connection could be made with only minor delay in the departure time. Of course, I had sleeper tickets all the way and a friend of mine flew up from Florida to join me on the trip. Needless to say, I did my own train status research and found that the train wasn't that far behind schedule (maybe two hours leaving St Cloud). I took the chance and skipped the bus, enjoying a decent breakfast immediately upon departure in the dining car and the comfort of sitting in my roomette with my friend watching the world go by versus the 8 hour bus ride on I-94. The train pulled out of MSP just before 10:00.
Upon departing Columbus, the conductor made an announcement that passengers with tickets connecting to the Wolverine going to Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor or Detroit were going to be rebooked on a 12:30 am Amtrak Thruway bus. Those ticketed to other destinations were going to be provided a hotel room and rescheduled on the morning Wolverine. Shortly after, the conductor amended his message to state that the bus option was for those who really needed to get to their destination ASAP and that if the bus wasn't something a passenger wanted to do, they could go to Guest Relations at CHI and be added to the hotel and morning train rebooking list. I assume a passenger complained that option wasn't offered to all passengers and Guest Relations said OK. Information regarding connections to the CL would be made closer to CHI and he reassured that all other ticketed connections (LSL, CONO, etc.) were not going to be an issue.
After leaving Milwaukee, the conductor made the announcement that connections to the CL were going to be made, but advised passengers to immediately disembark the train and go directly to the gate (22 if I remember right) and told sleeping car passengers not to go to the Metropolitan Lounge as the pre-boarding line will have already left. We finally got into the station at 6:15 pm and had plenty of time to make our way to the other side of the building. Needless to say we didn't get to enjoy the lounge, but I was thankful that I ignored the early morning phone call to start my Florida train trip with a bus ride to Chicago.
I guess my only concern would have been if we did in fact miss the connection and Amtrak did provided us the means to make our CL connection (and later Silver Meteor) with an on-time bus departure from MSP, we may have most likely been stuck with a hotel bill in Chicago and be downgraded to coach assuming there were any rooms left on the next day's CL for the other missed connecting passengers. Of course, I always expect a downgrade if you miss your reserved room on either Silver Service trains to Florida. Fortunately, this has yet to happen! I am glad though that you were able to make your connection in Chicago as I did.
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