Amtrak Cascades Delays

[Cal]

Hi, so I look at transit docs quite frequently throughout the day. Nearly every day, I've seen Cascades trains in yellow, red, and black, meaning they are delayed. ''

Checking Amtrak Alerts Twitter, I've seen delays due to rail congestion, track work, signal issues, engine issues, and mechanical issues all within the last 5 days.

Has the service always been this unreliable? Surely this is effecting ridership. What plans are in place to help this other than the bypass?

 

[Willbridge]

A long siding near problem area Oregon City is in the works. There is more work planned but I'm not sure what is underway.

I've noticed the delays, too, and their appearance corresponds with the return to almost the pre-pandemic full schedule. So it might be a combination of summer construction and people who aren't used to running and maintaining trains.

 

[daybeers]

Maybe it's the Horizon cars they've been using? Seattle might not be used to maintaining them.

 

[railiner]

Maybe it's the Horizon cars they've been using? Seattle might not be used to maintaining them.

If anything, I would think the Horizon's would be much simpler to maintain than the Talgo's...

 

[Willbridge]

If anything, I would think the Horizon's would be much simpler to maintain than the Talgo's...

But they may not be maintained by the same people.

 

[railiner]

But they may not be maintained by the same people.

Good point...

 

[Trailrider1951]

I'm here in the Tacoma/Seattle area and I receive text alerts from Sound Transit regarding the Sounder commuter trains. I used to ride the Sounder 5 days a week commuting to my job, until I lost it because of the pandemic. I'm getting several alerts every day for the past week and a half, both in the mornings and in the afternoon/evening commute times telling of delays to the trains due to rail congestion, track work, and signal issues. Signal issues crop up occasionally, track work is now underway in earnest because nice weather (no rain) has arrived, and rail congestion is a given, with the busy ports at Seattle and Tacoma. I imagine the same goes for Portland. I don't think that this has to do with bad maintenance on the part of Amtrak. Equipment issues can crop up at any time, as they are running some vintage equipment out there.

 

[Palmetto]

The new Charger engines are having issues all over the system where they are in use.

 

[Chris I]

The new Charger engines are having issues all over the system where they are in use.

They've been using the chargers on Cascades for 4+ years now, and we can go back and see the schedule reliability numbers for the past few years when the fleet was all Talgo.

 

[Palmetto]

deleted

 

[zephyr17]

They've been using the chargers on Cascades for 4+ years now, and we can go back and see the schedule reliability numbers for the past few years when the fleet was all Talgo.

Motive power was never Talgo. Talgo isn't in the motive power business, at least in the US. Washington had a fleet of F59s that generally did Cascades work, with Amtrak P42s subbing in a pinch.

 

[jis]

Motive power was never Talgo. Talgo isn't in the motive power business, at least in the US. Washington had a fleet of F59s that generally did Cascades with, with Amtrak P42s subbing in a pinch.

For while before the bypass derailment, Talgos were powered by Chargers. The locomotive involved at the front end of the derailed train was a Charger, which survived remarkably, and the engineer came out with relatively minor damage to self. The locomotive at the other end of that train was a P42.