448/449 Bustitution

[neroden]

Oh boy, this is looking like amateur hour at Amtrak.

 

[EchoSierra]

Maybe whoever made the alert was going off of the departure date of the train.

 

[fdaley]

Maybe whoever made the alert was going off of the departure date of the train.

Hmmm. That almost makes sense. And my initial theory -- that they forgot to change the dates from last year's press release -- doesn't hold up after a quick look at a 2020 calendar. June 5 and 12 were Fridays last year, not Sundays.

 

[MARC Rider]

Just as the swallows return each year to San Juan Capistrano so the bus seems to return each spring to replace 448 and 449 between Boston and Albany for an extended period of time. This is done by Amtrak in order to remove any doubt that 448 and 449 are the least respected trains in the Amtrak system. These trains and their passengers get no respect.

Discontinued Monday - Thursday between May 1 and June 17. Can you imagine this happening to the New England States years ago!

I wish everyone on the bus trip between Boston and Albany well. It is a poor experience. Try not to eat your small package of crackers all at once.

This bus trip makes the occasional City of New Orleans bustitution between New Orleans and Jackson, MIss. look like a Cadillac experience.

https://www.amtrak.com/alert/lake-shore-limited-track-work.html

The announcement is confusing.

At the top, they say that this will "affect trains 448 and 449 Monday through Thursday" May 1 -June 17. So apparently, the trains are already being affected by this.

Then in the paragraphs below, they say Train 448 will terminate at Albany on "Sunday, June 12." As pointed out, do they mean Saturday June 12 or Sunday June 13. Is this in addition to the Mon - Thursday terminations at Albany or in place of it?

It gives no weekend dates in June for cancellation between Boston and Albany for 449. I guess this means that the bustitutions are only Mon -Thursday, but it might be nice if the announcement was a little, more clear about this.

Has the Lakeshore Limited gone back to daily service yet? If it hasn't, then doing this work now is not a bad a idea, because fewer trains are affected. On the other hand, they could have done this work a month ago and been sure that fewer trains were affected. On the other hand, maybe they had planned to start earlier, but we all know how construction schedules can slip.

 

[neroden]

Hrrrrm, this is another example of Amtrak being very, very confused in their public-facing information.

 

[Sidney]

I booked 449 in March from Bos-Chi for a trip I am taking next week. How far in advance did they know about the track work and the bustitution? If they knew when I booked,it would have been nice to know. Amtrak texted me last month about the change. I was going out of my way to take 449 from Boston and booked a non refundable hotel on Priceline in Boston. No way will I bus it so now I m leaving from NYP

 

[west point]

It may be Amtrak does not want the train set stranded in BOS for 4 days. That may be why 448 is cancelled out of Albany on Sundays ?

 

[Steve4031]

If I was in Boston, and traveling by sleeper, I would ask to be reaccommodated on an Acela to NYP. The onward on 49.