I just looked at weather.gov (US Weather Service), and the winter storm warning and advisories seem to be restricted to the Carolina coastal plain, the Virginia Tidewater and the southern Delmarva Peninsula. It's perfectly clear and calm, if cold, here in Baltimore. I could see them truncating the Carolinian, Newport News, and Norfolk trains at Richmond or Washington, and also perhaps cancelling the Silver Star and Palmetto, but why did they also cancel a Washington-New York train?
Amtrak long term service cancellations and restorations (2022-2023H1)
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And we in the western mountains of North Carolina got hit terribly by the weather today. I counted at least 100 tiny flurries of snow but they all disappeared when they hit the ground. No rain either.
According to the weather service, the winter storm warning was focused on the Carolina coastal plain, maybe extending to Raliegh and Greensboro.
west point
Engineer
Freezing rain? You do not want to mess with it. It is too easy for any forecast to miss the track of a storm 50 or 100 miles. Way back when had a forecast of up to 1/2 inch of freezing rain. Well, forecast missed with getting 2 inches. The southern pines stared breaking with what sounded like 88s going off. Unable to leave for 4 days until dozer cleared street. Broken Pines kept fireplace warm. Power was off 6 days neighbor behind power out 3-1/2 weeks Loaned him power with a series of long extension cords which I still own. Clean up took several months but county could not pick up debris on street until late September.
How does that apply now? CSX and to a lesser extent NS may have thousands of trees on their lines. No one wants Amtrak trains caught in that case. Tose RRs do not clear their ROW since there are no longer signal lines to keep clear. Of course, the storm may move away, and no rail line will be impacted. But can Amtrak take the chance? No way.
How does that apply now? CSX and to a lesser extent NS may have thousands of trees on their lines. No one wants Amtrak trains caught in that case. Tose RRs do not clear their ROW since there are no longer signal lines to keep clear. Of course, the storm may move away, and no rail line will be impacted. But can Amtrak take the chance? No way.
jis
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I got a curious SMS this morning saying something like "98 on 30th March is cancelled due to service disruption, please go to amtrak.com and..." followed by some instructions to get alternative arrangements taken care of. Me being lazy decided we'll take care of it later. Within half an hour I got a voice message saying the previous message was an error and should be ignored. I guess someone in the IT or booking department is learning hands on on the job 
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JoshP
Service Attendant
Heads up, more cancellations:
The 89 the Palmetto will not operate Wednesday January 26, and train 90 the Palmetto will not operate Thursday January 27 account CSX trackwork. No alternative transportation to be provided. This also applies the Meteor cancellations so on these days only train runs on the corridor is Auto Train.
Poor thing
The 89 the Palmetto will not operate Wednesday January 26, and train 90 the Palmetto will not operate Thursday January 27 account CSX trackwork. No alternative transportation to be provided. This also applies the Meteor cancellations so on these days only train runs on the corridor is Auto Train.
Poor thing
fillyjonk
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Looks like some of the Eagles are cancelled for some March dates. I was considering booking a spring break trip to see my mother - could get up on the date I wanted, but both easy-return dates, there were ZERO roomettes or bedrooms (I will try again to see if there was a cancellation or of they somehow find more) but when I tried to return on the 17th (a day earlier than I might have), it simply said the train was cancelled. So I don't even know.
I'm more than a little disappointed; it's too far to drive, I won't fly, and....
oh well, guess I do spring break HERE and work instead.
Edited to add: aha, and dangit: temporary service reductions
Guess I try for visiting her in May....surely omicron will have receded by then? Surely? And we won't be onto pi just yet?
I'm more than a little disappointed; it's too far to drive, I won't fly, and....
oh well, guess I do spring break HERE and work instead.
Edited to add: aha, and dangit: temporary service reductions
Guess I try for visiting her in May....surely omicron will have receded by then? Surely? And we won't be onto pi just yet?
RebelRider
Service Attendant
Amtrak has begun telling unions the Long Distance service reductions will continue past March.
TLDR; Amtrak has no idea what it is doing.
TLDR; Amtrak has no idea what it is doing.
As I suspected, end of March was a straw man...if so, my April long distance loop trip will become a messy problem...I just hope that they cancel April soon rather than put me in rescheduling at the last moment...
JoshP
Service Attendant
My brother in law who works for Amtrak informed me that Amtrak is serious considering extending the service reductions until June 1 2022 instead of March 28th because they are very short on staff and trainsets so they want to wait until summer so things will get better from the wintry cold that breaks down the engines.
The "wintry cold" ends, even in the North, long before the summer.
"short on staff" -- well, it's a bureaucracy. Once they decide they need new people, it takes a while for all the various big shots to approve the positions (even if everyone agrees that the new positions are needed), then it takes time to hire -- you need to keep the position open for a while, then you have to sort through all the applicants, etc. Then there's process to bring the person on-board. That's all before any training.
"short on trainsets" -- I guess that shows it was a dumb move to put all those cars into mothballs during the initial Covid shutdowns. I guess the staff shortage is also a reason why they can't get them out of mothballs quickly enough to increase consists. I hope if they do some kind of after-action review, they'll come to the conclusion that in similar events in the future, they should keep the rolling stock in operational condition, even if they have to cancel trains due to not enough passengers.
"wintry cold breaks down the engines" -- This, I think is bogus. Locomotives shouldn't be breaking down in March weather, even in the north. I guess the new Chargers can't come online fast enough.
fillyjonk
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well, at least in the summer I have longer than a week that I could travel in, and I can pick the days, so provided they don't stop the Eagles altogether (not impossible, nothing is impossible in the world we're forced to live in now), I can make plans to go see her then
gonna wait a few weeks to book though in hopes Amtrak maybe has its early-summer poop in a better group by then.
gonna wait a few weeks to book though in hopes Amtrak maybe has its early-summer poop in a better group by then.
Maverickstation
Lead Service Attendant
We are expecting a weekend storm for Greater Boston with snow totals around a foot and a half, as well as strong winds from early Saturday, continuing through the day. We'll have to see what service changes Amtrak announces.
https://www.boston.com/weather/snow...ed-totals-saturday-jan-29-2022/?p1=hp_primary
https://www.boston.com/weather/snow...ed-totals-saturday-jan-29-2022/?p1=hp_primary
Law638
Train Attendant
i understand what this means because I had to change all my reservations on my round trip cross country trip due to a cancellation of my CS leg. But this notification is displayed on all my reservations. Is there’s a chance that I may get another cancellation on one of my legs of my cross country trip?
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If there is an across the board extension of the status quo until June 1 I would hope that RPA/advocacy groups would push allies in congress to push the leadership (and engage the OIG if necessary) to provide a little bit of transparency into this decision making given what the law says. Amtrak is not supposed to be reducing frequencies less than daily except in operational emergencies. One can accept that at the moment with a late March resumption but June 1 is a rather extended disruption that WILL negatively impact ridership and they should be prepared to provide data supporting why it is necessary.
Train 48/448 of the 28th is cancelled due to the storm.
On one hand, I don't want to second-guess Amtrak, which is facing staffing shortages in addition to foul weather, so there's a whole lot less "slack" or "give" in the system. Not to mention the bad publicity from the Southeast snowstorm not long ago.
On the other hand, I took 448 all the way CHI-BOS on Christmas Day 2010 and arrived in Boston in the teeth of a blizzard. As I walked from South Station to my hotel a few blocks away, the streets were plowed (and mostly empty given the weather and the late hour) and the sidewalks well-shoveled but there was a waist-high wall of snow between them except at the intersections.
fredmcain
Service Attendant
Amtrak Blue,
Is this table for sure right? It shows train #'s 30 and 48-448 as operating westbound. I thought that even numbers ran east and odd numbers west or, did Amtrak change that at some point?
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
jis
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Thanks for noticing. The directions are all mixed up. Indeed there are many errors about the direction. The departure cities are wrong too in some cases. I will create a correct version of this later this evening and replace the erroneous one.
I am wondering what Amtrak will do with me if I miss my Saturday departure on the CZ #5 from Chicago due to a late arrival by the #449 LSL… just hypothetical at this point. No reason to think it will happen.
But are there any examples yet?
But are there any examples yet?
jis
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I have installed a corrected version at:
https://www.amtraktrains.com/thread...ation-through-end-of-march.80938/#post-940416
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west point
Engineer
These cancellations and remaining are a disaster. The Crescent not operating Tue and WED are 2 days it operates from ATL on time. Mon and THUR are other days. All days during the NS cancellations south of ATL. Therefore, only MON and THUR can it get reliable connections for Carolinian. Capitol. Then the everyday Star is too late at NEC for connections.
The CS was canceled yesterday from Sea and Lax,not today,Friday. Sure hope I'm right since I am on the CS tomorrow from San Jose to Lax .
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