Amtrak long term service cancellations and restorations (2022-2023H1)

[jis]

I'm looking at my future route....sampled several dates

Looks like CONO is being cancelled both directions on Saturday and Sunday through March....

Looks like Coast Starlight is being cancelled in both directions on Wednesday and Thursday through March...

Can't see anything for Empire Builder yet...

From @rtabern's post above, for what it is worth..

it seems #7 out of Chicago is cancelled on Thursdays and Fridays. And the #8 into Chicago on Saturdays and Sundays is cancelled.

 

[rtabern]

This was posted on the Amtrak site Friday evening (1/14).


• City of New Orleans trains 58 & 59 (operating between Chicago and New Orleans) is canceled
• Texas Eagle trains 21 & 22 (operating between San Antonio, Tx. and Chicago) is canceled

The City of New Orleans and the Texas Eagle --- WTF???

The worst weather on the City of New Orleans route seems to be 2-4" of snow in Memphis.

The worst weather on the Texas Eagle route seems to be 1" of snow in St. Louis.

(I used to live between STL and MEM for 4.5 years... and yes, that amount of snow will cause some road issues... but should not significantly impact rail).

Absolutely pathetic. Weather is being used as an excuse to cancelled trains because of staffing issues I am guessing.

Also, they could easily run a "stub" 50/51 to IND or CIN.

I honestly have about had it with Amtrak. We have been using them monthly to travel between Northern Wisconsin (home) and where my folks live (Glenview), but with our trips cancelled in Jan, Feb, and March now... as there will be no #7's on Thursdays when we need to head home... I am about to give up on them. Time to shelf the Amtrak credit card and use my new Hawaiian Airlines card.

 

[Zack]

I'm looking at my future route....sampled several dates

Looks like CONO is being cancelled both directions on Saturday and Sunday through March....

Looks like Coast Starlight is being cancelled in both directions on Wednesday and Thursday through March...

Can't see anything for Empire Builder yet...

Adding onto this, both California Zephyr trains will be canceled Sunday and Monday starting January 27th. So far it looks like service up until then has not been disrupted.

The Southwest Chief in both directions is canceled on Monday and Tuesday, also starting January 27th.

 

[user 14106]

And here it is in full form:

Capitol Limited Sunday - Thursday
Lake Shore Thursday - Monday
Empire Builder - Saturday - Wednesday
Coast Starlight Friday - Tuesday
CONO Monday - Friday
Chief Wednesday - Sunday
Zephyr Tuesday - Saturday
Texas Eagle Friday - Tuesday

 

[user 14106]

The City of New Orleans and the Texas Eagle --- ***???

The worst weather on the City of New Orleans route seems to be 2-4" of snow in Memphis.

The worst weather on the Texas Eagle route seems to be 1" of snow in St. Louis.

(I used to live between STL and MEM for 4.5 years... and yes, that amount of snow will cause some road issues... but should not significantly impact rail).

Absolutely pathetic. Weather is being used as an excuse to cancelled trains because of staffing issues I am guessing.

Also, they could easily run a "stub" 50/51 to IND or CIN.

I honestly have about had it with Amtrak. We have been using them monthly to travel between Northern Wisconsin (home) and where my folks live (Glenview), but with our trips cancelled in Jan, Feb, and March now... as there will be no #7's on Thursdays when we need to head home... I am about to give up on them. Time to shelf the Amtrak credit card and use my new Hawaiian Airlines card.

While this is disappointing and I’m sorry that affects your Thursday trips - a set schedule is preferable to the random cancellations we’ve been seeing and having people get stranded.

This is the unfortunate reality of our national situation and other travel modes are also having to reduce service for the same reasons.

 

[Zack]

And here it is in full form:

Capitol Limited Sunday - Thursday
Lake Shore Thursday - Monday
Empire Builder - Saturday - Wednesday
Coast Starlight Friday - Tuesday
CONO Monday - Friday
Chief Wednesday - Sunday
Zephyr Tuesday - Saturday
Texas Eagle Friday - Tuesday

Thanks. It looks like from the 3 routes I've searched they all start January 27th, so service next week is unchanged (even though according to NYT it is starting on Tuesday. I am taking 5 departing on 1/23 (which is a Sunday, one of the canceled days) so I hope that remains intact.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

And here it is in full form:

Capitol Limited Sunday - Thursday
Lake Shore Thursday - Monday
Empire Builder - Saturday - Wednesday
Coast Starlight Friday - Tuesday
CONO Monday - Friday
Chief Wednesday - Sunday
Zephyr Tuesday - Saturday
Texas Eagle Friday - Tuesday

Looks like they're making sure at least one train each day from Chicago westbound. Without delving into it, it looks like each day will have a connection to the CS.
edit: got distracted and lost my train of thought before hitting the post reply button.

 

[Exvalley]

Whew! My February trip on the Lake Shore Limited survived the cut. Westbound on Friday. Eastbound on Saturday. I got very lucky.

 

[Todd]

My trip starts with Empire Builder from Chicago on Friday 4/8...I'm OK with the current days off for Coast Starlight, Sunset and CONO, it only hits me once at the start of trip...but now I'm wondering if I should move my Empire Builder to Saturday now...what are the odds that this schedule really ends two weeks earlier than my trip...problem is they probably won't give me the same price/accommodation because my trip hasn't been cancelled yet...by the time they decide if it returns to normal schedule in April, the Saturday may be sold out...and then my vacation would really be screwed up...

 

[jis]

Looks like they're making sure at least one train is each day from Chicago westbound. Without delving into it, it looks like

Also at least one train each day from the NEC-land to Chicago and back

Though Atlantic Coast Service to Chicago without overnight at NEC-land apparently will not be possible. I wonder what is the volume of that connected trip.

 

[chickpea]

Time to shelf the Amtrak credit card and use my new Hawaiian Airlines card.

Alaska Airlines card has awesome benefits FWIW and they loads of routes to fly to Hawaii

Keeping on topic, I think that while weather is an issue there are huge huge staff shortages everywhere due to Omicron, with cases skyrocketing I am not surprised if Amtrak has to make tough staffing decisions.

 

[Zack]

Looks like Amtrak is going to go through next weekend with normal service and begin on January 24th with the Southwest Chief being the first train to end daily service. Here is a list of when daily service will end with each train:

Southwest Chief: January 24th
Lake Shore Limited: January 25th
Texas Eagle: January 26th
Coast Starlight: January 26th
Empire Builder: January 27th
Capitol Limited: January 28th
California Zephyr: January 30th
City of New Orleans: January 30th

 

[Eric in East County]

Looks like Amtrak is going to go through next weekend with normal service and begin on January 24th with the Southwest Chief being the first train to end daily service. Here is a list of when daily service will end with each train:

Southwest Chief: January 24th
Lake Shore Limited: January 25th
Texas Eagle: January 26th
Coast Starlight: January 26th
Empire Builder: January 27th
Capitol Limited: January 28th
California Zephyr: January 30th
City of New Orleans: January 30th

At what point will Amtrak will go back to normal daily service? We have already purchased our tickets for the Southwest Chief for next summer based on a daily service schedule. Assuming that daily service will have been restored by next summer, will Amtrak keep our reservations in the system until then?

 

[jis]

At what point will Amtrak will go back to normal daily service? We have already purchased our tickets for the Southwest Chief for next summer based on a daily service schedule. Assuming that daily service will have been restored by next summer, will Amtrak keep our reservations in the system until then?

According to current plans, by the end of March.

 

[Qapla]

I usually watch the Weather Channel in the morning. They cover more than "just the weather" - although they seldom mention Amtrak there have been daily mentions/warnings of cancelled flights, closed roads and other travel related weather issues.

It is NOT just Amtrak that is being adversely affected by this winter storm situation ...

 

[John Webb]

Amtrak has announced that, due to staffing shortages (not weather) that some (not all) long distance trains are going to be reduced to 5 days weekly. Also NEC and state supported routes will see cutbacks. Amtrak says it is temporary until the staffing issue can be resolved with new hires and training.

 

[jis]

Amtrak has announced that, due to staffing shortages (not weather) that some (not all) long distance trains are going to be reduced to 5 days weekly. Also NEC and state supported routes will see cutbacks. Amtrak says it is temporary until the staffing issue can be resolved with new hires and training.

Nice to get a quick summary of several pages of detailed discussion of days of cancellation for each train etc. A quick perusal of the last several pages of this thread will fill in the details.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I usually watch the Weather Channel in the morning. They cover more than "just the weather" - although they seldom mention Amtrak there have been daily mentions/warnings of cancelled flights, closed roads and other travel related weather issues.

It is NOT just Amtrak that is being adversely affected by this winter storm situation ...

But in the minds of Amtrak riders....

 

[bbappel]

I feel as if they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. People who get stuck in a train for hours and hours without food and the toilets get full might prefer cancellations. My biggest concern with cancellations is that I feel they have a responsibility to see that people can get to their destinations, if not that day, another day. And to help them find safe lodging if they are stuck mid-stream. However, I'm new to this site and haven't taken overnight trains since 1971.

 

[DCAKen]

My Empire Builder trip on March 19th was canceled today. I was going to DC and the first available itinerary was on March 21

 

[tim49424]

Train 7/27 is canceled for Friday February 18. Just got the notification from Amtrak.

 

[Lonnie]

Just learned that my SWC 3 Chicago to Lamy 3/7 was cancelled. Apparently it's also not departing Chicago on the 8th. But that's normal, right? I was able to move everything back a day, departing on the 6th.

 

[Zack]

Just learned that my SWC 3 Chicago to Lamy 3/7 was cancelled. Apparently it's also not departing Chicago on the 8th. But that's normal, right? I was able to move everything back a day, departing on the 6th.

It is normal for the new schedule, yes. The Southwest Chief (both directions) will only run Wednesday-Sunday, with Monday & Tuesday being canceled through at least March 27th.

 

[me_little_me]

Just learned that my SWC 3 Chicago to Lamy 3/7 was cancelled. Apparently it's also not departing Chicago on the 8th. But that's normal, right? I was able to move everything back a day, departing on the 6th.

And mine from ABQ to CHI on the 15th is also gone. I'm on phone waiting to see if they will give me the same price on the outrageously priced trains a few days later.

 

[neroden]

Why would they not space out the cancellations and do them two days in a row?

Having the cancellations on two consecutive days is an asinine decision, indeed. Lack of management competence?