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

[Maverickstation]

The snow storm for Greater Boston has been upgraded with Blizzard Warnings now in effect for the weekend. The heaviest snow will hug the 95/NEC Corridor.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/01...k-how-much-snow-expect-upcoming-winter-storm/

 

[Zack]

Coast Starlight and Empire Builder both canceled from their Seattle departure today.

That’s “normal” for the new schedules. The Empire Builder is canceled Thursday and Friday every week and the Coast Starlight is canceled Tuesday and Wednesday each week. Almost all long distance trains are being cut back to 5 days a week until at least March 27th. A few pages back on this thread has the exact days for each train.

 

[jis]

That’s “normal” for the new schedules. The Empire Builder is canceled Thursday and Friday every week and the Coast Starlight is canceled Tuesday and Wednesday each week. Almost all long distance trains are being cut back to 5 days a week until at least March 27th. A few pages back on this thread has the exact days for each train.

See Amtrak LD Days of Operation through end of March

 

[Zack]

Amtrak has published its cancellations/modifications due to the 1/29 winter storm. I was supposed to take the Cardinal eastbound yesterday but canceled because of the weather. My would-be return flights have already been canceled with no alternatives unless I got off before PHL so looks like I made the right call.

Saturday, January 29:

• All Acela Service (operating between Washington, D.C. and Boston) is cancelled
• All Northeast Regional Service between Boston and New York is cancelled
• Limited Northeast Regional Service between New York and Washington, D.C. and points south.
• Lakeshore Limited trains 49/449 (operating between Chicago and New York) are cancelled
• All Springfield Shuttle service between New Haven and Greenfield, Mass. is cancelled
• Limited Downeaster Service (operating between Brunswick, Maine to Boston)
• Limited Empire Service (operating between New York and Albany)
• Limited Keystone Service will operate between Philadelphia and Harrisburg ONLY
• Carolinian/Piedmont train 80 (operating between Charlotte and New York) will terminate in Washington, D.C.
• Palmetto train 90 (operating between New York and Savannah, Ga.) will terminate in Washington, D.C.

Sunday, January 30:

• Northeast Regional trains 150 & 160 (operating between Boston and New York) are cancelled
• Downeaster Service train 690 (operating between Brunswick, Maine to Boston) is cancelled
• Northeast Regional train 195 (operating between Boston and Richmond, Va.) will originate in New York
• Northeast Regional train 99 (operating between Boston and Newport News, Va.) will originate in New York
• Carolinian train 79 (operating between Charlotte and New York) will originate at Washington, D.C

 

[MARC Rider]

Amtrak has published its cancellations/modifications due to the 1/29 winter storm. I was supposed to take the Cardinal eastbound yesterday but canceled because of the weather. My would-be return flights have already been canceled with no alternatives unless I got off before PHL so looks like I made the right call.

Saturday, January 29:

• All Acela Service (operating between Washington, D.C. and Boston) is cancelled
• All Northeast Regional Service between Boston and New York is cancelled
• Limited Northeast Regional Service between New York and Washington, D.C. and points south.
• Lakeshore Limited trains 49/449 (operating between Chicago and New York) are cancelled
• All Springfield Shuttle service between New Haven and Greenfield, Mass. is cancelled
• Limited Downeaster Service (operating between Brunswick, Maine to Boston)
• Limited Empire Service (operating between New York and Albany)
• Limited Keystone Service will operate between Philadelphia and Harrisburg ONLY
• Carolinian/Piedmont train 80 (operating between Charlotte and New York) will terminate in Washington, D.C.
• Palmetto train 90 (operating between New York and Savannah, Ga.) will terminate in Washington, D.C.

Just looked at weather.gov. Looks like this storm is going to be pretty brutal from Wilmington all the way up into Maine. As usual, so far this year, Baltimore and Washington have dodged another bullet. (They're predicting 1 to 3 inches for us.) Anyone living up that way, be safe!

 

[JoshP]

Amtrak has published its cancellations/modifications due to the 1/29 winter storm. I was supposed to take the Cardinal eastbound yesterday but canceled because of the weather. My would-be return flights have already been canceled with no alternatives unless I got off before PHL so looks like I made the right call.

Saturday, January 29:

• All Acela Service (operating between Washington, D.C. and Boston) is cancelled
• All Northeast Regional Service between Boston and New York is cancelled
• Limited Northeast Regional Service between New York and Washington, D.C. and points south.
• Lakeshore Limited trains 49/449 (operating between Chicago and New York) are cancelled
• All Springfield Shuttle service between New Haven and Greenfield, Mass. is cancelled
• Limited Downeaster Service (operating between Brunswick, Maine to Boston)
• Limited Empire Service (operating between New York and Albany)
• Limited Keystone Service will operate between Philadelphia and Harrisburg ONLY
• Carolinian/Piedmont train 80 (operating between Charlotte and New York) will terminate in Washington, D.C.
• Palmetto train 90 (operating between New York and Savannah, Ga.) will terminate in Washington, D.C.

Sunday, January 30:

• Northeast Regional trains 150 & 160 (operating between Boston and New York) are cancelled
• Downeaster Service train 690 (operating between Brunswick, Maine to Boston) is cancelled
• Northeast Regional train 195 (operating between Boston and Richmond, Va.) will originate in New York
• Northeast Regional train 99 (operating between Boston and Newport News, Va.) will originate in New York
• Carolinian train 79 (operating between Charlotte and New York) will originate at Washington, D.C

My question, if this is in the case, then why Silver Star 91 is running? Make no sense? I'm confused.

 

[joelkfla]

My question, if this is in the case, then why Silver Star 91 is running? Make no sense? I'm confused.

New England is getting the worst of it. NYC & Newark are forecast to get up to 8"; I-95 south from there is forecast at 5" or less. According to the list, Amtrak has canceled service between NYP & BOS, but is maintaining limited service between NYC & WAS.

 

[neroden]

The Lake Shore Limited New York section cancellation seems completely unjustified; we're not getting
ANY snow from Chicago to Albany, and I think they can get one train through from Albany to NYC given that Metro-North is running.

 

[Exvalley]

The Lake Shore Limited New York section cancellation seems completely unjustified; we're not getting
ANY snow from Chicago to Albany, and I think they can get one train through from Albany to NYC given that Metro-North is running.

Maybe it has more to do with no cafe car available to the coach passengers.

 

[OBS]

Maybe it has more to do with no cafe car available to the coach passengers.

More likely has to do with lack of staff at NYP and Sunnyside Yard...

 

[TheCrescent]

My question, if this is in the case, then why Silver Star 91 is running? Make no sense? I'm confused.

Same for the Crescent. I'm thinking that Amtrak might just be watching the weather and will cancel the train a few hours before departure, but I have no idea.

 

[jis]

This is almost funny...

If Amtrak cancels all trains people complain.

If they manage to get a few trains through they complain about getting confused.

 

[John from RI]

Amtrak has annulled all Saturday trains on the Shoreline between New York and Boston because of weather. In Connecticut as far north as Stonington total snowfall is reported as 4 inches so why can't trains run as far as New London?

Providence reports 12 inches of snow. That is a lot deeper but I have taken the train from New York to Providence in past years when the snow was deeper than that. No doubt there would be delays. But why just shut down the service.

Massachusetts reports up to 20 inches of snow. Again, that would cause delays but why shut down the service? Amtrak runs through much deeper snow in the mid-west.

A real advantage of trains is that they run when nothing else can get through, when major highways are shout down and planes cannot fly. At least that used to be true.

 

[SarahZ]

Amtrak has annulled all Saturday trains on the Shoreline between New York and Boston because of weather. In Connecticut as far north as Stonington total snowfall is reported as 4 inches so why can't trains run as far as New London?

Providence reports 12 inches of snow. That is a lot deeper but I have taken the train from New York to Providence in past years when the snow was deeper than that. No doubt there would be delays. But why just shut down the service.

Massachusetts reports up to 20 inches of snow. Again, that would cause delays but why shut down the service? Amtrak runs through much deeper snow in the mid-west.

A real advantage of trains is that they run when nothing else can get through, when major highways are shout down and planes cannot fly. At least that used to be true.

There may be issues getting crew to the stations. Additionally, there could be issues with frozen switches.

20” of fresh snow in the Midwest is extremely uncommon. We don’t get that much at a time, unless it drifts after a particularly bad storm, and the trains tend to plow through it before it even gets to that point.

 

[Asher]

There may be issues getting crew to the stations. Additionally, there could be issues with frozen switches.

20” of fresh snow in the Midwest is extremely uncommon. We don’t get that much at a time, unless it drifts after a particularly bad storm, and the trains tend to plow through it before it even gets to that point.

I’ll agree. It’s more than the train plowing through, not to mention passengers and crew getting plowed getting to the train.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Amtrak has annulled all Saturday trains on the Shoreline between New York and Boston because of weather. In Connecticut as far north as Stonington total snowfall is reported as 4 inches so why can't trains run as far as New London?

Providence reports 12 inches of snow. That is a lot deeper but I have taken the train from New York to Providence in past years when the snow was deeper than that. No doubt there would be delays. But why just shut down the service.

Massachusetts reports up to 20 inches of snow. Again, that would cause delays but why shut down the service? Amtrak runs through much deeper snow in the mid-west.

A real advantage of trains is that they run when nothing else can get through, when major highways are shout down and planes cannot fly. At least that used to be true.

In addition to the potential large snow totals, this was expected to become, and did, a bomb cyclone which means hurricane strength winds. High winds mean chance of trees, wires, etc falling onto the tracks.

 

[SarahZ]

Ten states in the Northeast/East are under a blizzard warning, and all of them are along the coast.

I wouldn’t expect my crew to head in under those conditions, and people shouldn’t be traveling unless it’s a dire emergency. I don’t blame them for canceling the trains.

 

[Mailliw]

Two consecutive non-serice day? ***. I was going to take the Capitol Limited back from Chicago in March, but not anymore. Just got a cancelation notice.

So I rebooked on the LSL westbound leaving March 11th, no problems. Now that train is showing Canceled and I can't modify it in the app; it says I need to call Amtrak. But the app will also let me book an entirely new LSL for the same date and itinerary? WTF? I'm confused and passed now.

 

[Maverickstation]

A real advantage of trains is that they run when nothing else can get through, when major highways are shout down and planes cannot fly. At least that used to be true.

You answered your own question, passenger trains may have BEEN able to run when other modes were unable to, but that has not been the case for along time now.

Amtrak was 100% correct is canceling all NEC service to and from Boston on Saturday, as we had a BLIZZARD Warning in effect. A blizzard is only called when you extremely high winds, in addition to snow. This combination can wreck havoc on electric operations along the NEC. Back in the day when the NEC was not electrified east of New Haven you may have gotten older generation diesels through, but even then you had to deal with fallen trees, and major snow drifts.

The last thing Amtrak needed to deal with yesterday (1/29) would have been stranded trains, and reports from passengers sitting in cold, dark, trains.

Ken

 

[Old MM]

Been watching the Wolverines and no cancellations as yet, although all the Michigan routes have been showing some degrees of delay. But all running! "Amtrak Alerts" on Twitter mentioned equipment problems at the origin, so maybe the cold is involved. Next weekend is forecast to be even colder.

 

[me_little_me]

So I rebooked on the LSL westbound leaving March 11th, no problems. Now that train is showing Canceled and I can't modify it in the app; it says I need to call Amtrak. But the app will also let me book an entirely new LSL for the same date and itinerary? ***? I'm confused and passed now.

Time to call, even if the app lets you book. It may be invalid. Note that the agent should rebook you on another date at no increase in cost.

 

[Mailliw]

I called this morning. The LSL isn't really canceled that day; somehow the reservation was flagged as canceled because it was originally for the Capitol Limited. Tracy corrected it for me and got my e-ticket pushed through. It was surprisingly painless.

 

[user 14106]

I was talking to an agent today as I had two silver star trips show up the same way. Apparently Something in the system changed for codes for sleepers. They are retiring the separate codes in Arrow for Viewliner sleeper rooms - now they use are using the same Superliner codes across the system. This change went into effect over the last couple days and it seems in the app the train sometimes shows up as canceled on the res. To clear it up just call in or see a station agent and they can fix it.

 

[fredmcain]

Ten states in the Northeast/East are under a blizzard warning, and all of them are along the coast.

I wouldn’t expect my crew to head in under those conditions, and people shouldn’t be traveling unless it’s a dire emergency. I don’t blame them for canceling the trains.

How often did these kinds of cancellations happen back in the Pennsylvania and New Haven Railroad days?

I remember one really bad snowstorm when I was a kid in the early '60s. All planes were grounded and nothing in the way of ground transportation moved between Washington and New York. Nothing, that is EXCEPT the Pennsy. They kept their trains running and somehow those powerful GG1s got their passengers through.

It seems to me like we've lost something here.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

How often did these kinds of cancellations happen back in the Pennsylvania and New Haven Railroad days?

I remember one really bad snowstorm when I was a kid in the early '60s. All planes were grounded and nothing in the way of ground transportation moved between Washington and New York. Nothing, that is EXCEPT the Pennsy. They kept their trains running and somehow those powerful GG1s got their passengers through.

It seems to me like we've lost something here.

The trees were much smaller back in the early '60's. They've been growing for 60 years and can now reach across all the tracks when they fall.