Capitol Limited & Lake Shore Limited Delays Summer/Fall 2014

[Railroad Bill]

On the CL now, headed from Pgh to Seattle on tomorrow's EB. Train arrived in Pgh at about 11:40. Left right on schedule. Lost ten minutes before we left the city limits. Fingers crossed...

Unfortunately, you are now 3 hours late leaving Waterloo, Indiana. Such is the life of the Capitol Limited.

 

[afigg]

Well, not all the CL and LSL trips are getting in hours late. The eastbound LSL #48(9/11) departed CHI on-time, was 31 minutes late at Bryan OH, departed CLE on-time and got into NYP 6 minutes early! #48 (9/12) is still en-route, but departed CLE 38 minutes late, so it could get to NYP close to on-time if it does not get jammed up on CSX in upper NY state.

 

[jis]

Maybe because everyone was too buy ordering their iPhone 6s instead of running freight trains Juuust kidding!

 

[Joezeppy412]

Yep ended up pulling into CHI at 1:30. Just enough time to run up to Gold Coast dogs, stuff our faces standing in the lounge and get on the EB.

 

[Barciur]

Today's CL pulled into CHI at 9:57, only 72 minutes late - so you got unlucky!

 

[justinslot]

A question for the panel:

Let's say I want to go from Chicago to Orlando. The CL is scheduled to get to DC at 1:10 PM. My connection options are the 91 that leaves at 3:05 and the 97 that leaves at 7:30. If I book a sleeper on the 91, am I playing with fire? Like, when the CL inevitably arrives too late to meet the 91 will I not be guaranteed a sleeper on the 97--will they force me into coach on the 97, or to wait a night for the next 91?

 

[jis]

Once you miss your connection, you will get a sleeper only on an if available basis. There will be no guarantees. Of course if you do not get a sleeper on the connection you will be compensated.

So yes, you will be sort of playing with fire attempting a connection from 30 to 91.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[justinslot]

Thanks--that's what I figured.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Once you miss your connection, you will get a sleeper only on an if available basis. There will be no guarantees. Of course if you do not get a sleeper on the connection you will be compensated.

So yes, you will be sort of playing with fire attempting a connection from 30 to 91.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

When I called to switch my connection from 91 (Star) to 97 (Meteor) last July the Agent was surprised I was able to book the 91 connection saying at least for the time being it was being closed.

 

[tommylicious]

A 2 1/2 hour delay I would conjecture is probably perfect for the Eastbound CL. You wake up just about when the scenery starts to get good.

 

[tommylicious]

5.5 hours late rite now

 

[afigg]

5.5 hours late rite now

Which train?? CL #30 (9/18) which just got into PGH 5:59 late? Departed CHI 51 minutes late, then 5 hours late by the time it departed CLE. Another bad day for both the eastbound and westbound CLs and LSLs on the NS segment. All 4 trains are quite late.

There is some good news for the LD trains, the Silvers and the Palmetto have been doing better in OTP lately from what I can tell.

 

[Trollopian]

This is such a disgrace to our country's infrastructure. I divide my time between Pittsburgh and Washington DC, with apartments in or near downtown in both cities, and Amtrak is by far my preferred travel mode. It's a beautiful journey, in my opinion one of the prettiest (and most underrated) journeys on Amtrak. I don't even care that the train to DC is scheduled to leave Pittsburgh at 5:20 a.m.; I could leave home at 5 a.m. and catch it! But notice I said "scheduled to leave" at 5:20 a.m. It hardly ever does. I've gotten used to 1- or 2-hour delays, but 5 hours is obviously unacceptable. Until the NS work gets done and the schedule regains some semblance of reliability, I've switched to bus, car, and plane, all of them decidedly second choices.

Returning from DC I can usually expect the Capitol Limited to leave DC and even arrive in Pittsburgh reasonably on schedule. The massive delays are west of Pittsburgh.

 

[Thirdrail7]

A freight train had a problem and was delayed. The resulting delays cascaded through the system, which is already overloaded. It doesn't take much with a fragile system. Think of it like a car breaking down in rush hour.

 

[Orangesaint]

A freight train had a problem and was delayed. The resulting delays cascaded through the system, which is already overloaded. It doesn't take much with a fragile system. Think of it like a car breaking down in rush hour.

Out of curiosity, where do you find information like that? (the freight train having a problem)

 

[tommylicious]

agreed how do you find those incident reports?

A freight train had a problem and was delayed. The resulting delays cascaded through the system, which is already overloaded. It doesn't take much with a fragile system. Think of it like a car breaking down in rush hour.

Out of curiosity, where do you find information like that? (the freight train having a problem)

 

[AmtrakBlue]

agreed how do you find those incident reports?

A freight train had a problem and was delayed. The resulting delays cascaded through the system, which is already overloaded. It doesn't take much with a fragile system. Think of it like a car breaking down in rush hour.

Out of curiosity, where do you find information like that? (the freight train having a problem)

I believe Thirdrail7 has insider info, though there are other sources, but I'm not aware what/where they are.

 

[tommylicious]

is this the sort of thing you'd hear on a scanner?

 

[neroden]

is this the sort of thing you'd hear on a scanner?

If you happened to be scanning in the right place at the right time.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Looks like something happened to #29 this morning after it left Sandusky. LSL #49 passed them and arrived into Toledo ahead of the Cap. Now running 1.5 hrs late into Waterloo, Ind with the Cap operated an hour or so behind them. :unsure:

 

[tommylicious]

did 30 leave yet? odd status.

 

[tommylicious]

30 departed 4 hours and 40 minutes late last night. what is the deal with that??

 

[AmtrakBlue]

30 departed 4 hours and 40 minutes late last night. what is the deal with that??

29 arrived over 5 hours late yesterday morning. Probably couldn't turn it in time.

 

[Barciur]

On a positive note, though, 29 today got to CHI 21 minutes late!

 

[tommylicious]

See that on today's 29 definitely excellent. But the prior nite's...holy cow that's bad.