Capitol Limited & Lake Shore Limited Delays Summer/Fall 2014

[montana mike]

I have fired off an email to NARP about this mess. I will share whatever reply I receive. Meanwhile my nephew, the CSX guy sent me a note saying that freight customers are "howling" over the situation in Ohio and Indiana and have been for months. If the NS freight clients can't get them to clean up their act I don't think Amtrak is going to have much luck either. Sad to say. Gee, if you go onto NS's website you would think all is just going wonderfully and all of their clients are just as happy as a bee in honey!!!

 

[MARC Rider]

I'm sitting in the Club Acela in WUS, and they're showing a 7:00 PM arrival for #30. Maybe they'll let us board 188 early, and I can see it come in.

I'm a little concerned, as I've gor a reservation for 30 for Thursday next week. I'm thinking of switching it to the Cardinal if they have any roomettes left. It seems the Cardinal was more or less on time today. (I also wouldn't have to worry about a connection in WUS, as #50 goes straight therough to Baltimore.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I can only imagine the logistics nightmare this is causing for Catering as they now have to deal with the possibility of the Diners having to sling out up to 2 extra meals. Expenses on these routes have no doubt gone straight down the toilet and then some!

 

[jis]

Yeah. Surprisingly, everyone's favorite whipping boy CSX seems to be doing more or less OK these days while everyone's darling NS is thoroughly down the toilet this summer.

 

[MARC Rider]

I'm on 188 now. Didn't see any sign of 30 while sitting in the station, but Amtrak.com train tracker isn't showing the train at all. The Cardinal #50 was shown as being 24 minutes late into BAL and 6 minutes early into NYP.

 

[afigg]

I'm on 188 now. Didn't see any sign of 30 while sitting in the station, but Amtrak.com train tracker isn't showing the train at all. The Cardinal #50 was shown as being 24 minutes late into BAL and 6 minutes early into NYP.

Status Maps shows #30(9/30) having arrived at WAS at 6:53 PM, 5 hours and 43 minutes late, It lost several more hours between Connellsville and Martinsburg. Looks like #19 was held for connections at WAS, yet another delay cascade effect caused by the problems in IN and OH.

LSL #48 is having its third consecutive really, really late trip to NYP. :help:

 

[amtrakmichigan]

Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but could Amtrak use the South Shore Line from just south of CHI to SOB? I know S.S. is a electric line, but I know there is a handful of cross overs between the SS line and NS so obviously there wouldn't be clearance issues with at least locomotives. If this would physically work, this could be the perfect answer to the total time keeping nightmare between CHI and SOB.

If this wouldn't work then use the Michigan line from Porter, In. to Wayne, Mi. (CSX crossing with a wye) then straight south to Toledo. Yes it would take a little longer, but at least it would have some sort of predictable time keeping.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Both schemes are possible. I believe there is a connection between the NS and SS in South Bend and on the Chicago end, the CL and LSL could switch over t the CN at Kensington and follow the route of the CONO to Union Station. Whether the South Shore would accept the additional traffic is the big question. A connection from the Michigan Line to the South Shore is possible, but would have to be built. Detouring via the Michigan Line to Porter would require CSX cooperation on the east. Much of the congestion is west of Porter so that wouldn't help. So, both are possible, but I think the actual execution of either is doubtful.

 

[montana mike]

The hits just keep on coming. #48 is already estimated to be at least 2 1/2 hours late departing CHI tonight, which likely means by the time it gets to NYP tomorrow night it may be 9+ hours late just like #48 is today---arrrrrgh! Ditto for the poor #30 as well, estimated at more than 2 1/2 hours late departing CHI and a likely pokey slow trip to WAS tomorrow.

This just keeps getting worse and worse.

:-((

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

And they are still allowing folks to book Capitol Limited to Silver Star connection in DC, with the Star leaving at 3:05 pm! I wonder when was the last time that connection actually hit?

 

[richm49]

A brief discussion with an Amtrak rep disclosed they don't really know what to do at the moment. They were and are aware of the NS melt down (her words btw), but short of stopping both trains, which they don't want to do, she said they are just "hunkering down" with the mega delays each day. NS has told them to expect 4-6 hour delays thru the OH-IN stretch, for the "foreseeable future" as the railroad is both struggling with a big increase in traffic and are behind in track work--sort of a perfect storm that created this mess. She did mention bussing would happen on a day to day basis, but was not sure whether they opted for this today, since both the CL and LSL were actually doing quite well until between SOB and TOL. And, oh yes, because of this mess and people missing connections some sleeper pax, IF they can be accommodated, are not getting comparable accommodations on later trains. Just wonderful.

I am waiting a bit, but I may end up flying both ways to the east coast from ORD if this fiasco gets any worse.

It is these ongoing absurd delays that have caused me to abandon my plans of using the 49/LSL from NYP-CHI. There is no way anyone can feel comfortable trying to make a West Coast LD connection in CHI with either 49/LSL or 29/CL. I guess I am one of the lucky ones who can adjust his schedule to the 3/day/week schedule of 51/Cardinal. I have modified my original plans from 49/LSL to 51/Cardinal as a result of this OH-IN delay mess. Have been tracking the Card for last 5 weeks or so and it has been either EARLY or ON TIME arriving CHI 11 of the last 16 trips!!!Of the 5 times it was late, the delays were 40,41,52 and 27 minutes late. Only once was it over an hour late( 1 hour,21 minutes). Either 29/CL or 49/LSL would love to have that type of on time performance.Of course I have to depart early in the morning on the Card vs late afternoon for LSL (6:55 A.M. vs 3:40P.M.) but that is small price to pay for the peace of mind feeling confident I will make my connection with 3/SWC with time to spare in CHI. And as an added bonus I even snagged a low bucket bedroom( not roomette) on the Card for $400; that is even less than I would have paid for roomette ($520) on LSL!

 

[montana mike]

Well #30 left 3 1/2 hours late and #48 still had not left more than 2 1/2 hours behind. what a way to begin a trip. Bummer.

 

[acelafan]

And they are still allowing folks to book Capitol Limited to Silver Star connection in DC, with the Star leaving at 3:05 pm! I wonder when was the last time that connection actually hit?

I was curious about that, too. Here is some data which shows 23 missed connections Sept 1 to Sept 30. I marked the misses with ** at the beginng:

Arriving 30 Departing 91
Sch AR Act AR Sch DP Act DP
** 09/30/2014 1:10 PM 11:33PM 09/30/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/29/2014 1:10 PM 8:21PM 09/29/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/28/2014 1:10 PM 6:15PM 09/28/2014 3:05 PM 3:18PM
** 09/27/2014 1:10 PM 11:47PM 09/27/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/26/2014 1:10 PM 7:24PM 09/26/2014 3:05 PM 3:11PM
** 09/25/2014 1:10 PM 7:05PM 09/25/2014 3:05 PM 4:18PM
** 09/24/2014 1:10 PM 10:45PM 09/24/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/23/2014 1:10 PM 3:47PM 09/23/2014 3:05 PM 3:31PM
** 09/22/2014 1:10 PM 6:18PM 09/22/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/21/2014 1:10 PM 5:07PM 09/21/2014 3:05 PM 3:54PM
** 09/20/2014 1:10 PM 4:53PM 09/20/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/19/2014 1:10 PM 7:01PM 09/19/2014 3:05 PM 4:12PM
09/18/2014 1:10 PM 3:00PM 09/18/2014 3:05 PM 3:13PM
** 09/17/2014 1:10 PM 4:00PM 09/17/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
?? 09/16/2014 1:10 PM 3:27PM 09/16/2014 3:05 PM
** 09/15/2014 1:10 PM 4:05PM 09/15/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
09/14/2014 1:10 PM 3:24PM 09/14/2014 3:05 PM 4:03PM
09/13/2014 1:10 PM 1:51PM 09/13/2014 3:05 PM 3:23PM
** 09/12/2014 1:10 PM 3:28PM 09/12/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
09/11/2014 1:10 PM 3:20PM 09/11/2014 3:05 PM 3:39PM
** 09/10/2014 1:10 PM 5:10PM 09/10/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/09/2014 1:10 PM 5:38PM 09/09/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/08/2014 1:10 PM 3:12PM 09/08/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/07/2014 1:10 PM 5:22PM 09/07/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/06/2014 1:10 PM 7:35PM 09/06/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
09/05/2014 1:10 PM 3:12PM 09/05/2014 3:05 PM 3:23PM
** 09/04/2014 1:10 PM 5:29PM 09/04/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/03/2014 1:10 PM 4:43PM 09/03/2014 3:05 PM 3:05PM
** 09/02/2014 1:10 PM 4:22PM 09/02/2014 3:05 PM 3:08PM
09/01/2014 1:10 PM 09/01/2014 3:05 PM 3:15PM


Source URL:

http://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/connections.php?date_start=9%2F1%2F2014&date_end=12%2F31%2F2014&a_train_num=30&c_train_num=91&station=was&sort_dir=DESC

Several of the missed connections were close.

 

[Barciur]

30 is 8 hours late, 29 only 1,5 hrs at this point but it's about to be sucked into the Toledo Triangle...

 

[andersone]

But remember

the Cardinal is the slow boat to China Chicago

but it is real close to the on time boat to Chicago

 

[jis]

Both schemes are possible. I believe there is a connection between the NS and SS in South Bend and on the Chicago end, the CL and LSL could switch over t the CN at Kensington and follow the route of the CONO to Union Station. Whether the South Shore would accept the additional traffic is the big question.

There used to be a connection in South Bend, but I don't think it exists any more. The ROW is there but can't see any track on it in Google satellite view.

 

[montana mike]

Oh, so close, but stopped! It looked like, for a moment, that #29 and #49 would make it thru the NS mess with minimum delays today, until just east of Chesterton. Both have now been stopped for about 30 minutes. Perhaps this is just a brief delay. One can hope, but if this last week's delays are any indication, they may be stuck there for much of the AM. Time will tell.

12:35 PM CDT Update: Both #29 and #49 are still not in CUS yet. Looks like they will be between 4 and 5 hours late. Better than the last several days, but still terrible, most of this time was lost in Indiana again.....

 

[Barciur]

4hrs 24 minutes late into CHI for 29 - I guess it's late enough to cause another departure delay. Snowball effect.

 

[tommylicious]

I am on tonight's 30. I predict a departure time of 8:40pm and an arrival time of 6pm into WAS. Glad I have my passenger comfort kit!

 

[Barciur]

Good luck, that 6pm arrival into WAS might be very optimistic given how 30 today is doing!

 

[jis]

If your train gets delayed submit a complaint e-mail to the federal Surface Transportation Board at [email protected] including:

• Your train’s number (it’s on your ticket/reservation confirmation);
• The approximate time(s) and location(s) of the delay(s);
• The date(s) of the incident(s); and
• Why you believe the delay was caused by the freight railroad.

Let us see if we can collectively gain STB's attention by crowd sourcing......

Information courtesy of All Aboard Ohio.

 

[tommylicious]

yesterday's inbound 29 was over 7 hours late; today's 29 did a little better hopefully that helps.

Good luck, that 6pm arrival into WAS might be very optimistic given how 30 today is doing!

 

[afigg]

Oh, so close, but stopped! It looked like, for a moment, that #29 and #49 would make it thru the NS mess with minimum delays today, until just east of Chesterton. Both have now been stopped for about 30 minutes. Perhaps this is just a brief delay. One can hope, but if this last week's delays are any indication, they may be stuck there for much of the AM. Time will tell.

12:35 PM CDT Update: Both #29 and #49 are still not in CUS yet. Looks like they will be between 4 and 5 hours late. Better than the last several days, but still terrible, most of this time was lost in Indiana again.....

In my checks of Amtrak Track-a-Train earlier today, #29 and #49 were not moving for a LONG time about 8-10 miles east of the connection with the Michigan line at Porter. Meanwhile, several westbound Michigan service trains were able to run through Porter and continue west, albeit at a slower speed. So the choke point that added ~2 hours to the delay appeared to be east of Porter.

The choke point may be the Indiana Gateway Project #1 to install #20 universal crossovers as shown on the diagram linked to below that is still on the net from a few years ago. If that is the case, how long does it take to install a #20 crossover? Of course, NS may be performing other track maintenance and replacement work in combination with the crossover installation.

With the CZ #6 (9/30) running over 12 hours late, no need to hold the CL or LSL for CZ connections, even with already late departures. The EB #8(9/30) is running almost 6 hours late, so the LSL could get held if it was ready to go at the normal time.

 

[montana mike]

Thanks for the detailed information. We are all aware that construction and maintenance is a normal part of any rail operation of course, but one would think that the RR would take this into account for all customers and try to minimize the delays. Oh, well. It will be interesting to see how late the CL and LSL are tonight and whether they hold them for another every late EB, now back over 6 hours behind schedule. Arrrgh.

 

[MARC Rider]

#30 looks like it's now (~6:00 PM) running over the Sand Patch Grade. They're calling for a 10 PM arrival in WUS.