St. Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago Corridor service H2 2024

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Two Borealis items:

1. 100,000th passenger served on the Borealis 22 weeks after launch
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news...e-twin-cities-hits-100000-riders/75838498007/
https://www.progressiverailroading....ns-served-over-100000-riders-since-May--73161

2. September showed promising improvement in on-time performance
September
84.1% of all station stops were on time
75.5% of all customers arrived at their station on-time

May through August
62.2% of all station stops were on time
45.2% of all customers arrived at their station on-time

CPKC permitting Borealis to start before "required" improvments are in place does risk higher delays, but big picture I don't think it was a mistake to not wait for a couple more years for them to be done.

It feels like...and this could be a wrong imprssion...that unless the westbound is almost perfectly on time at Red Wing that it often takes a very ugly delay between there at St Paul. I seem to recall the reuiqrement improvements were mostly around La Crosse / Winona and also St Paul. Anybody know more about delays on that last segment RDW-STP and if improvements are underway?

Links to the stat sources:

September OT (page 12 Current Month stat)
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...eptember-2024-Amtrak-Host-Railroad-Report.pdf

May through August (page 12, the Most Recent 12 Months stat)
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...s/August-2024-Amtrak-Host-Railroad-Report.pdf
Once crossing the river at Hastings - there are two routes - the KCP river route thru St. Paul Park and the
BNSF (hi-line) thru Cottage Grove - both of these merge at Newport - this is sometimes a chock point - then
further towards St. Paul at The Pigs Eye freight yard of KCP the tracks diverge into 4 tracks leading into the
Division Street Wye just east of SPUD (St Paul Union Depot) - this also presents a MAJOR problem for ease
of access to SPUD - 2 of these 4 tracks follow the river and 2 hug the bluff and these split off north of the
Wye - one to the BNSF Midway Division and the other the UP to points east in Wisconsin (Eau Claire) - there are some 60 plus trains daily transiting the Wye some simple short way-freights and others 100 or more cars
of various commodities. The 2 river tracks KCP and UP do not connect to the SPUD tracks - of the other 2
ONLY the inside track goes to SPUD the other does not.
Threading the needle here is the final piece de la resistance in delaying Amtrak Borealis from schedule !
No matter how timely the progress has been made up to and passed Pigs Eye - - -
WAIT FOR IT !
CLEARANCE TO TRANSIST THE WYE TO SPUD !

Google Map image detail zooom in/out for more definition:

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.950...try=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTAyMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

Exasperating to come this far timely and snatch delay from the jaws of timeliness - - -
Crews and Agents catching heat from this - not their problem - - -
Certainly a slot for a 5 car 2 engine train should be made available with priority - - -
Safety issues concerns not withstanding
 
To expand on what WW said, MnDOT staff confirmed this rail congestion near SPUD is the issue. He claimed that the freight dispatchers have a "really hard time" getting trains through that area, since, as WWW said, there are over 60 a day. If the Borealis is "out of slot," then yes, it gets stuck waiting for freight traffic to clear.

I take issue with this explanation because there's been plenty of times where the Borealis is either on time or under five minutes late at Red Wing where it *still* ends up being 10-20 minutes late at SPUD. Very unfair to Borealis passengers!
 
Barring any personal or weather-related things that come up, I'm booked for my first-ever Borealis trip as the last leg of my Thanksgiving Amtrak odyssey home to Minnesota from North Carolina! Will just be in coach, which will be a step down from the Floridian roomette that my girlfriend and I will be in all the way from Raleigh to Chicago. Couldn't justify the price for business class though the privacy and larger seats would be nice.

Honestly, though, I am more interested in experiencing coach class anyway, so I can compare my experiences to those of others on this new service, and be able to understand others' opinions on the seats/space better. I've heard so much criticism of the old Horizon cars over the past 2-3 years that I am honestly intrigued to finally experience them myself 😆 (Criticism includes a YouTuber visiting from another nation who took the Cascades and called the Horizons "prison cars" and whatnot)

I can't wait to try out the Borealis! Getting into MSP so much earlier than the Builder will be excellent, and also much more convenient for my family to pick us up. Even if the Borealis is 30-45 minutes late, which 1333 has been on and off, 7 to 7:15 is a world better than 4-ish hours later.
Welcome aboard! Borealis bookings are rapidly filling up for next month.
Check out WisARP's website wisarp.wordpress.com for more information on this successful Amtrak passenger rail expansion.
 
Welcome aboard! Borealis bookings are rapidly filling up for next month.
Check out WisARP's website wisarp.wordpress.com for more information on this successful Amtrak passenger rail expansion.
I am glad I got booked ahead of schedule because prices were already high (understandable, given that I'm traveling the week of Thanksgiving!) on the Borealis back when I bought our tickets.

Can't wait to ride the Borealis for the first time less than a month from now!
 
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