Amtrak delays

[tricia]

The host railroad still decided to run the crecent late, even after working with Amtrak to create a new schedule that was supposed to cause less delay. There’s a whole thread on this subject somewhere.

Multiple threads. Here are two of the most recent:

Confused About the Crescent

Crescent schedule performance

The new schedule a) results in awful arrival times even if it's on time, and b) still hasn't improved OTP.

 

[Trollopian]

Here's a distribution of 92's lateness of arrival in WAS since 7/1:
View attachment 29411

Just a shout-out to the effectiveness of this graph at conveying info. Yeah, yeah, the x-axis could be better labeled (and would be if this were meant for wide publication!) but that's a quibble. The Amtrak stats for on-time performance should learn something from this. They just focus on whether 80% of trains arrive within 15 minutes of schedule. (See, e.g., the 2021 "report card" at Freight Delays and Your Amtrak Service.) Well, unless you're on a Northeast Corridor train and you have a multibillion dollar deal hinging on getting to NYC on time, in which case you are an *****, 15 minutes is pretty darn good. For Amtrak.* Most ordinary travelers perceive a very, very big difference between "16 minutes late" and ">9 hours late."

* Not, of course, for most continental trains. If your train is scheduled to leave Berlin's Hauptbahnhof at 16:10 you don't dare get there at 16:11.

 

[UserNameRequired]

Westbound CZ is stopped east of Galesburg 08-29-2022. An over temp alert on axle 4 trailing locomotive. They have to inspect it's temp then do a slow rolling inspection to see if it is spinning. People getting instructed do not get off the train or you will be left, and no blowing smoke out the vestibule windows haha. HEP is off.

 

[UserNameRequired]

Rolling again, max 50mph to Galesburg.

 

[Railroad Bill]

TE 22 now 7 hours late in Little Rock this morning and 21 in SD. Any information on this issue??

 

[TinCan782]

From Twitter Amtrak Alerts:
"Texas Eagle Train 22, which departed San Antonio (SAS) on 8/30, is stopped north of Little Rock (LRK) due to mechanical issues. Updates to follow.
12:48 AM · Aug 31, 2022·Salesforce - Social Studio"

"Texas Eagle Train 21/421, which departed Chicago (CHI) on 8/30, is stopped south of Poplar Bluff (PBF) due to a disabled freight train. Updates to follow.
11:28 PM · Aug 30, 2022·Salesforce - Social Studio"

 

[Railroad Bill]

Looks like both Eagles have been defeathered this morning

 

[TinCan782]

UPDATE: Texas Eagle Train 22 which departed San Antonio (SAS) on 8/30 is back on the move and is currently operating approximately 7hrs 25mins late.
5:13 AM · Aug 31, 2022·Salesforce - Social Studio

UPDATE: Texas Eagle Train 21/421, which departed Chicago (CHI) on 8/30, is still holding south of Poplar Bluff (PBF). Updates to follow
4:36 AM · Aug 31, 2022·Salesforce - Social Studio

 

[Bob Dylan]

Wonder if the "News"Stations in the NE will cover the plight of the poor Riders that are Captive in their Rooms and Seats on the 4 Car Eaglettes for Hours?( No Sightseer Lounge and not sllowed to use the Diner/Cafe Car)

And forced to exist on what little is left in the depleted Diner/Cafe after 4 days on the Chicago-San Antonio-Chicago turn, with the #22 Eaglete supposed to be heading up the St Louis to Chicago "Corridor" right now, instead of being lost in the Missouri/Arkansas Black Hole"????

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Wonder if the "News"Stations in the NE will cover the plight of the poor Riders that are Captive in their Rooms and Seats on the 4 Car Eaglettes for Hours?( No Sightseer Lounge and not sllowed to use the Diner/Cafe Car)

And forced to exist on what little is left in the depleted Diner/Cafe after 4 days on the Chicago-San Antonio-Chicago turn, with the #22 Eaglete supposed to be heading up the St Louis to Chicago "Corridor" right now, instead of being lost in the Missouri/Arkansas Black Hole"????

Nope, we’re too busy out here on the NEC watching our many, many trains zip back and forth and looking at the Acela FC menu.

Sorry Jim, couldn’t resist.

Seriously, it sounds awful. I just don’t understand the not allowed to use the diner/cafe car part—that is ridiculous.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nope, we’re too busy out here on the NEC watching our many, many trains zip back and forth and looking at the Acela FC menu.

Sorry Jim, couldn’t resist.

Seriously, it sounds awful. I just don’t understand the not allowed to use the diner/cafe car part—that is ridiculous.

The reasons most Crews don't allow Passengers to use the Cafe/Diner as a Lounge ( even though that was the reason these Diners were Remodeled for such)are
1) The Crews use them as their Lounge since there is no Transdorm on the Eaglette
2)One LSA has to try to Operate the Diner for Sleeping Car Passengers and in their spare time run the Cafe on the other end of the Car.

This really isn't the OBS fault, it's poor Management by Amtraks Suits and the lack of a Train Chief for the Skeleton Crews now trying to operate LD Trains!

So the Crews make up their own "Rules" so as to make it easier for them, not for the benefit of the Passengers!

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

The southbound Texas Eagle was about an hour late zipping through Dwight, IL on Monday (4:15PM), but right on time (about 3:15PM) yesterday and today.

 

[MARC Rider]

Wonder if the "News"Stations in the NE will cover the plight of the poor Riders that are Captive in their Rooms and Seats on the 4 Car Eaglettes for Hours?( No Sightseer Lounge and not sllowed to use the Diner/Cafe Car)

And forced to exist on what little is left in the depleted Diner/Cafe after 4 days on the Chicago-San Antonio-Chicago turn, with the #22 Eaglete supposed to be heading up the St Louis to Chicago "Corridor" right now, instead of being lost in the Missouri/Arkansas Black Hole"????

Is the air conditioning still working, at least?

 

[MIrailfan]

It says #1 has a service disruption now too.

 

[Widfara]

I see that the Eaglette is horrendously late in both directions today. Southbound Train 21 is 4 hours 25 minutes late, now heading toward Marshall. So much slop in the schedule that if there are no more delays (don't count on that!), 21 will still arrive 17 minutes early at San Antonio.
Northbound Train 22 is 6 hours 40 minutes late, now at Acadia, MO. Expected into Chicago at about 6:45 pm tonight.
Oh, yes. the asm.transitdocs thing now requires you to sign in to Twitter to get the alerts. Amtrak website does not.
I rarely trust even a 5 to 6 hour layover. My trips typically have a hotel stay between legs.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I see that the Eaglette is horrendously late in both directions today. Southbound Train 21 is 4 hours 25 minutes late, now heading toward Marshall. So much slop in the schedule that if there are no more delays (don't count on that!), 21 will still arrive 17 minutes early at San Antonio.
Northbound Train 22 is 6 hours 40 minutes late, now at Acadia, MO. Expected into Chicago at about 6:45 pm tonight.
Oh, yes. the asm.transitdocs thing now requires you to sign in to Twitter to get the alerts. Amtrak website does not.
I rarely trust even a 5 to 6 hour layover. My trips typically have a hotel stay between legs.

You don’t need to sign into Twitter. Click on Log In (or whatever the button says) then X out of the log in screen

 

[TheCrescent]

Have the delays (due to switching from electric to diesel locomotives) at Washington been resolved?

Last week, the train I was on sat in the station for over two hours. I hope that won’t happen again.

Thanks.

 

[Widfara]

I see that the Eaglette is horrendously late in both directions today. Southbound Train 21 is 4 hours 25 minutes late, now heading toward Marshall. So much slop in the schedule that if there are no more delays (don't count on that!), 21 will still arrive 17 minutes early at San Antonio.
Northbound Train 22 is 6 hours 40 minutes late, now at Acadia, MO. Expected into Chicago at about 6:45 pm tonight.
Oh, yes. the asm.transitdocs thing now requires you to sign in to Twitter to get the alerts. Amtrak website does not.
I rarely trust even a 5 to 6 hour layover. My trips typically have a hotel stay between legs.

The southbound 21 Eaglette is 4 hours 22 minutes late at Mineola today, and the northbound 22 is an hour and a half late at McGregor, with the worst yet to come. Seems like the line from Dallas to Little Rock is where the big mess is.
Thanks for the Twitter tip. I'll try it. I'm not on social media, escept this, and one for my church.

 

[Widfara]

Today's champion late train is the Southwest Chief heading for Chicago, over 15 hours late, presently between La Junta and Lamar, Colorado. The Eagles are flying better today, although a bit late.

 

[Railspike]

If I'm not mistaken, Amtrak #160 is the culprit. It needs to take a "time-out" (a good mechanical check). It went down on #1 last week in El Paso and caused a 5+ hour delay into LAX. Then turned and went out on #4 again???

 

[Amtrak709]

I wonder what the "mood" is aboard 4(1) just now: food, service issues, etc. I know if it were me just going for a railfan ride--as many and most of my rides are--I would probably be OK with that extra night in the sleeper (although arrival middle of the night at CHI might be unappealing). Most passengers are NOT me. Would be interesting to read specific passenger reports of the general status of some of these long late on time performances lately. My favorite trains 91/92 and 19/20 have also had their share of on time anomalies.

 

[PaTrainFan]

I wonder what the "mood" is aboard 4(1) just now: food, service issues, etc. I know if it were me just going for a railfan ride--as many and most of my rides are--I would probably be OK with that extra night in the sleeper (although arrival middle of the night at CHI might be unappealing). Most passengers are NOT me. Would be interesting to read specific passenger reports of the general status of some of these long late on time performances lately. My favorite trains 91/92 and 19/20 have also had their share of on time anomalies.

Years ago I was on a 12 hour late Zephyr into Emeryville. It was unfortnate because we missed the Rockies in daylight but saw the Great Salt Lake. Hey, I'm not against seeing the usually unseen countryside, even if it is unspectacular. The bad part was the Dinty Moore beef stew and arriving in Emeryville at 4 a.m. It is a shame they couldn't have allowed us to stay in our rooms for a couple more hours, but I realize they had to get the conist into the yard and clear the tracks and clock out the crew.

 

[Amtrak709]

arriving in Emeryville at 4 a.m. It is a shame they couldn't have allowed us to stay in our rooms for a couple more hours, but I realize they had to get the conist into the yard and clear the tracks and clock out the crew.

Thanks, PaTrainFan, for the reply and comment and you make a good point in your final sentence. I obviously do not know at what time 4(1) will ultimately arrive in CHI tomorrow morning in the AM, but if it were 3AM or 4AM or 5AM, would it not be good customer service to allow occupancy--if desired to 6 or 7AM or whatever--you get my drift. If you are a sleeping car passenger from LAX-CHI you have probably paid $1000 for your ticket and a perk like longer occupancy to soften the blow of a very late arrival would be, I think, reasonably good customer service and customer relations for the inconsistency. I make this statement to beg the question: Do you think Amtrak operations would consider an offering of this nature?? I am not going to attempt to answer my own inquiry.

 

[PaTrainFan]

Do you think Amtrak operations would consider an offering of this nature?? I am not going to attempt to answer my own inquiry.

Amtrak hasn't shown the inclination to do so and likely would not, largely due to equipment and crew issues.

But when I was young and my family was on a very late original CZ (Burlington/Rio Grande/Western Pacific) we had a similar situation, arriving into Oakland in the wee morning hours and were permitted to stay on the train for a few extra hours.

Such considerate service no longer exists, evidently.

 

[zephyr17]

Amtrak has a history of kicking you off the train at arrival. For a short time, when the implemented the current Sunset schedule, they said sleeper passengers could stay aboard until 6:30 am. That lasted only a short time and the crews reportedly did not respect it while it was in forcce, many booting sleeper passengers off at arrival regardless. Amtrak management appears to have bowed to this, and stopped offering the occupancy until 6:30 am.

I have arrived at Chicago between 2 am and 4 am more times than I can count. Every time we were kicked off the train upon arrival at CUS. Back in bad days of the Starlight always being 8-12 hours late, I was also booted off in LA at 2 or 3 am.

There is a long history here under Amtrak, dating back to at least the 1990s. It is pretty ingrained.

Contrast this with VIA. The Canadian is scheduled for an 8:00 am arrival at Vancouver. It usually arrives at Vancouver between 4 am and 5 am if they left Kamloops anywhere close to on time (there are now huge pads at Edmonton and Kamloops). VIA allows occupancy until 8 am, moreover, they have a full breakfast service in the diner. It is a kind of a strange experience having breakfast while sitting at Pacific Central Station in Vancouver.