53(25) Auto Train Arrived Sanford ~14hr Late

[Devil's Advocate]

Maybe Amtrak could work out a deal where they forward relevant scheduling questions to the host railroads that control actual movements. That way when the answers are false it's not Amtrak's fault. h34r:

 

[dlagrua]

Just for reference, the AutoTrain Corporation had three consists and loads of extra equipment. From what I can tell they had a good on-time performance record but only went bust when their combined midwest AutoTrain route did not catch on and the Floridian was discontinued by Amtrak..If the mid West AutoTrain was operating today it would probably be successful as there are no snowbird routes from the midwest to Florida and no passenger service in Louisville, Nashville and along Southern Georgia. It should be noted that the only presidential candidate even mentioning our minimalist passenger rail system was Donald Trump. No comments from any other candidate. Shows you how much our political system likes Amtrak.

 

[fixj]

I'm not sure the late consist on Auto Train will ever get out of the death spiral. Looks like it will not arrive Lorton as 52 today until well after 5 PM. So it's still down 7 or 8 hours. It's taken 6 days to gain half of the delay. Those crews must be very tired, not to mention the poor passengers.

 

[FormerOBS]

It will get out of the "death spiral", as you call it, but it will do it faster if its running time over CSX can be improved.

I have adjusted some of the timings I mentioned above & it now appears that this all started when the train arrived Sanford 2/26/16 approximately 840 minutes (14 hours) late. So far, time has been gained through speedy turnarounds by Amtrak personnel at terminals, shaving 693 minutes (11;33) off of that delay, which means the train should be about 147 minutes (2:27) late.

Unfortunately, enroute delays have been incurred on every run while operating over CSX adding 352 (5:52) minutes to the delay. As a result, the train is still 8 hours & 19 minutes late right now.

The train is in Lorton now, and I understand the Lorton Mechanical and Cleaning crew are again trying to make up as much of the time deficit as they can.

Tom

 

[Ryan]

Yeah, slow and steady improvement back to normal is kind of the opposite of a "death spiral".

 

[Thirdrail7]

It departed 5'45" down. Hopefully, it has a good run and makes 1'45" on the run. It could be back on schedule by Monday.

 

[pksundevil]

It departed 5'45" down. Hopefully, it has a good run and makes 1'45" on the run. It could be back on schedule by Monday.

So far it's picked up 30 minutes or so, according to Track-A-Train.

 

[lo2e]

Unfortunately, enroute delays have been incurred on every run while operating over CSX adding 352 (5:52) minutes to the delay. As a result, the train is still 8 hours & 19 minutes late right now.

Well, it looks like the CSX bug might not have bitten quite as bad today, as I type this right now, 53(2) is "only" down 5'23", so the fact that it is still going to gain a few minutes on the rails is encouraging. If they can shave an hour or two on either end over the weekend, I agree that Monday could be the end of the mess.

 

[fairviewroad]

And "end of the mess" doesn't have to mean an on-time departure (or arrival). If it gets back to the point of being "only" an hour or even two hours late, then I think most people's expectations would be met. It doesn't result in odd meal schedules, middle-of-the-night calling times at endpoints, etc. Sometimes "close enough" is good enough, especially since no one is making any rail connections, etc.

 

[lo2e]

Unfortunately, enroute delays have been incurred on every run while operating over CSX adding 352 (5:52) minutes to the delay. As a result, the train is still 8 hours & 19 minutes late right now.

Well, it looks like the CSX bug might not have bitten quite as bad today, as I type this right now, 53(2) is "only" down 5'23", so the fact that it is still going to gain a few minutes on the rails is encouraging. If they can shave an hour or two on either end over the weekend, I agree that Monday could be the end of the mess.

Apparently I jinxed it, as now 53(2) showing down 6'01" near Hilliard, FL and it's not far behind a late-running 97(2) which is sitting at JAX.

 

[Thirdrail7]

This set may right itself with a cancellation. It departed 4'48" on the turn with the weekend coming.

 

[FormerOBS]

I don't foresee a cancellation. If that were done, the train would have to be cancelled in both directions, since neither terminal can hold both consists. The other consist is on time, so annulling it would be counterproductive. The delay has been cut from 14 hours to about 5 or 6 hours, and steady progress is being made on the turnarounds, in spite of lost time over the road. If nothing happens to interfere with this progress, the delayed consist should be running on time around March 6 or 7.

Tom

 

[Thirdrail7]

I meant to say "without" a cancellation.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I'm not sure the late consist on Auto Train will ever get out of the death spiral.

Amtrak has been cheating fate for so long that it seems more like a death jacuzzi at this point.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Ah, Amtrak. Such a wonder.

 

[lo2e]

52(3) has gone from 4'48" down to 5'07" down and it's just past Richmond. I wonder now if the "late" consist is getting caught by some morning CSX freight traffic, as its "on time" counterpart hasn't lost much time at all in the last few days. But at least losing 19 minutes is better than some of the other runs of that consist lately.

 

[b243923]

I am sitting at the Sanford station waiting to board the north bound train. It is leaving on schedule as the southbvound train arrived early this morning. Lets hope it makes it to Lorton without any hitches.

Ben

 

[fixj]

With the weekend coming up do you think the freight traffic would be lighter than during the week? Perhaps the late consist can finally get back to normal over the next few days.

 

[chakk]

No, lo2e, you didn't jinx it. The only way the Auto Train will get jinxed is if it appears on the cover of "Sports Illustrated."

 

[west point]

Friend just reported he left Lorton only 2 Hours late.

 

[fixj]

So happy to see 53 only 1:50 late today! Congrats to the crews both on board and on the ground for your super effort. With a little luck they could be back to normal after today’s run.

 

[lo2e]

No, lo2e, you didn't jinx it. The only way the Auto Train will get jinxed is if it appears on the cover of "Sports Illustrated."

Uh oh... h34r: (sorry, I couldn't resist...)

 

[b243923]

Just to report train 52 Sanford to Lorton arrived today early 8:30am.

We got our car quick and were on our way.

Ben

 

[fixj]

Our late consist (52 today) just left Sanford only a bit over 1 hour late. I think this ends the death jacuzzi ( as Devil advocate called it). Congrats to the A team!

 

[chakk]

Hopefully, you won't find that latest issue of "Sports Illustrated" in the Sightseer Lounge's magazine pile.