Amtrak Status Maps / Amsnag - Down

[John Bobinyec]

Is anyone else having trouble getting information from the Status page of Amtrak.com - or is it just me?

John Bobinyec

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Worked for me. Maybe they started blocking you?

 

[Grandpa D]

Seems OK here. (Comcast cable internet.)

 

[Acela150]

Mine says "Lost Contact With AMTK"

 

[Phil S]

Mine says "Lost Contact With AMTK"

Mine too says "Lost Contact" but the times seems to be up to date. I'm waiting to see if 14 successfully navigates the SLO vortex today. 20 minutes late out of Santa Barbara, no report yet from SLO. I see that 14 (7) finally dragged into SEA about 0300 -- what a mess.

 

[John Bobinyec]

Sorry folks. The Amtrak Status Maps are temporarily offline. I'm being denied access to the Status page of Amtrak.com. Hopefully I'll be able to do something to get things back online, but it won't happen until tomorrow.

John Bobinyec

 

[Phil S]

Sorry folks. The Amtrak Status Maps are temporarily offline. I'm being denied access to the Status page of Amtrak.com. Hopefully I'll be able to do something to get things back online, but it won't happen until tomorrow.

John Bobinyec

John - Thanks again for all the work you put into this, especially the stuff you shouldn;t have to do!

 

[The Chief]

John,

Error Code noted by Acela 150 still displays, each region:

Lost contact with Amtrak
Times are NOT current.

Status appears to be functional on amtrak.com

 

[George]

yikes, there's a fire in Connecticut that is affecting Amtrak service. We need those maps to know about the status of trains between Penn and South Station.

 

[Ryan]

Sorry folks. The Amtrak Status Maps are temporarily offline. I'm being denied access to the Status page of Amtrak.com. Hopefully I'll be able to do something to get things back online, but it won't happen until tomorrow.

John Bobinyec

Does it appear that they're specifically blocking the IP address of your server?

That would suck, and I'd wonder if amsnag's days are numbered.

 

[gaspeamtrak]

Mine says "Lost Contact With AMTK"

Same here...

 

[Aaron]

That would suck, and I'd wonder if amsnag's days are numbered.

It appears that number may be 0. Any request I try with Amsnag just gives me back the generic error of "Check Departure and/or Arrival station codes".

Poop.

 

[TimePeace]

That would suck, and I'd wonder if amsnag's days are numbered.

It appears that number may be 0. Any request I try with Amsnag just gives me back the generic error of "Check Departure and/or Arrival station codes".

Poop.

I'm getting that too. Darn, we are gonna miss amsnag a lot if it stays down...

 

[Henry Kisor]

Railstatus.com on TrainWeb is also fritzed.

 

[Ryan]

I wonder if Amtrak took notice of IP addresses that were doing more than a "normal" amount of requests and pulled the plug on all of them.

That would suck to be sure.

 

[acelafan]

Yes it would...especially since there isn't an easy alternative to the maps and the fare comparisons. It could be they implemented some sort of automatic algorithm that detects abnormal activity (as opposed to singling out Amsnag and the status maps on purpose) and this is a consequence.

If they have deliberately cut off access I wonder if there is any way to engage them in a conversation to reconsider...we'd have to explain why we feel it's important to share data, not restrict it.

 

[John Bobinyec]

I've initiated a change which I expect to take place in "24 to 48 hours". If it works, the maps will be back online. We'll have to wait and see.

jb

PS We're back - 9.29 a.m. 4/10/2012

 

[acelafan]

Thanks very much!

 

[Tumbleweed]

I've initiated a change which I expect to take place in "24 to 48 hours". If it works, the maps will be back online. We'll have to wait and see.

jb

PS We're back - 9.29 a.m. 4/10/2012

Thanks for all your efforts! Any chance Amsnag will be back up? That is probably the most handy tool and I would think very beneficial to Amtrak also....

 

[John Bobinyec]

I've initiated a change which I expect to take place in "24 to 48 hours". If it works, the maps will be back online. We'll have to wait and see.

jb

PS We're back - 9.29 a.m. 4/10/2012

Thanks for all your efforts! Any chance Amsnag will be back up? That is probably the most handy tool and I would think very beneficial to Amtrak also....

In order to come back, they'll need to counteract the change that Amtrak took.

jb

 

[Blackwolf]

I've initiated a change which I expect to take place in "24 to 48 hours". If it works, the maps will be back online. We'll have to wait and see.

jb

PS We're back - 9.29 a.m. 4/10/2012

Thanks a Million, JB! :lol:

Off-hand, and without divulging information that you want to keep under wraps, was the issue a side-effect of something else Amtrak did with their side of the system? I would be very disappointed if the problem was caused by a deliberate attempt at shutting down sites like the Status Maps and AmSnag (considering, as noted before, that even Amtrak employees use the Maps and AmSnag has become rather invaluable in its own right!)

 

[John Bobinyec]

I've initiated a change which I expect to take place in "24 to 48 hours". If it works, the maps will be back online. We'll have to wait and see.

jb

PS We're back - 9.29 a.m. 4/10/2012

Thanks a Million, JB! :lol:

Off-hand, and without divulging information that you want to keep under wraps, was the issue a side-effect of something else Amtrak did with their side of the system? I would be very disappointed if the problem was caused by a deliberate attempt at shutting down sites like the Status Maps and AmSnag (considering, as noted before, that even Amtrak employees use the Maps and AmSnag has become rather invaluable in its own right!)

I think they were doing a little spring cleaning, or perhaps "tuning" is a better word. We just happened to get caught in the fallout.

jb

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

John --

I'd like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks and appreciation to you for providing the Amtrak community with this invaluable tool. It's become so integral to my travel planning that I even use it onboard to monitor the timekeeping of the train I'm riding. If you do ever decide to accept donations for the ASM application, please be sure to let us know as I know many folks like me would like to send a donation your way. Your ingenious app and the support you underwrite it with are deeply appreciated.

Keep up the great work!

--Jeff Nicholson

 

[John Bobinyec]

John --

I'd like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks and appreciation to you for providing the Amtrak community with this invaluable tool. It's become so integral to my travel planning that I even use it onboard to monitor the timekeeping of the train I'm riding. If you do ever decide to accept donations for the ASM application, please be sure to let us know as I know many folks like me would like to send a donation your way. Your ingenious app and the support you underwrite it with are deeply appreciated.

Keep up the great work!

--Jeff Nicholson

Thanks, I really appreciate that. Even though I go to some lengths to hide them, I should point out that the maps are supported by ads. You just have to look for them ( click on (+) Ads ).

jb

 

[PaulM]

I wonder if Amtrak took notice of IP addresses that were doing more than a "normal" amount of requests and pulled the plug on all of them.

At first I thought this could be the case because I got results when a ran amsnag from my own machine instead of the normal web hosting server. But then I noticed that they were nonsense. So I suspect Amtrak made some change that is causing the problem. Theoretically, changing one character in the reservation query response could send amsnag to the bit bucket.