Capitol Limited & Lake Shore Limited Delays Summer/Fall 2014

[NYP2NFL01]

The 8/23/14 CL was over 4 hrs late arriving into TOL. Any idea what happened?

 

[Green Maned Lion]

That's not really really late by Amtrak standards. I would assume basic congestion and mishandling.

 

[tricia]

That's not really really late by Amtrak standards. I would assume basic congestion and mishandling.

This is so sad.

 

[afigg]

The 8/23/14 CL was over 4 hrs late arriving into TOL. Any idea what happened?

Both the eastbound #30 and westbound #29 got slammed between Cleveland and Chicago as has been the case for months due to NS track work. Looks both CLs that departed on Aug. 23 had a worse delay than usual of 4+ hours. With #29(8/23) arriving at CHI 5 hours and 45 minutes late, with the equipment turnaround, #30 (8/24) ended up departing CHI 3 hours and 49 minutes late at 10:29 PM CT.

The CL and LSL have had epic delays in the past few days. The sooner NS can wrap up at least some of the track work, the better.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

Ouch! Well, hopefully things will clear up by Wednesday night. I am booked on the CL from TOL to WAS, with connections to NYP.

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[Acela150]

That's not really really late by Amtrak standards. I would assume basic congestion and mishandling.

This is so sad.

What's sad is their are multiple topics on the LSL and CL and their poor OTP as of recent.

Ouch! Well, hopefully things will clear up by Wednesday night. I am booked on the CL from TOL to WAS, with connections to NYP.

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You have nothing to worry about. Trains run to NYP every hour.

 

[reppin_the_847]

The Lakeshore Limited trains have also been extremely delayed recently. I've been monitoring the statuses on the Lakeshore's and the Capitol Ltd trains since I'm slated to travel on a Lakeshore run from TOL to NYP with a very early Friday departure this coming long weekend.

The Sunday evening Lakeshore out of Chicago is only now about to arrive into NYC! Apparently it's because the equipment arrived into Chicago very late from its previous trip back from NYP. Same thing apparently happened to the Capitol.

 

[afigg]

The Lakeshore Limited trains have also been extremely delayed recently. I've been monitoring the statuses on the Lakeshore's and the Capitol Ltd trains since I'm slated to travel on a Lakeshore run from TOL to NYP with a very early Friday departure this coming long weekend.

The Sunday evening Lakeshore out of Chicago is only now about to arrive into NYC! Apparently it's because the equipment arrived into Chicago very late from its previous trip back from NYP. Same thing apparently happened to the Capitol.

There is a service alert for track work between Amsterdam and Utica from August 24 to September 17. Odd they post this one about possible delays of up to 45 minutes when the LSL has seen much longer delays on both CSX and NS this summer. Good luck on at least departing TOL somewhere close to on schedule. Just be prepared to get to NYP late.

 

[reppin_the_847]

The Lakeshore Limited trains have also been extremely delayed recently. I've been monitoring the statuses on the Lakeshore's and the Capitol Ltd trains since I'm slated to travel on a Lakeshore run from TOL to NYP with a very early Friday departure this coming long weekend.

The Sunday evening Lakeshore out of Chicago is only now about to arrive into NYC! Apparently it's because the equipment arrived into Chicago very late from its previous trip back from NYP. Same thing apparently happened to the Capitol.

There is a service alert for track work between Amsterdam and Utica from August 24 to September 17. Odd they post this one about possible delays of up to 45 minutes when the LSL has seen much longer delays on both CSX and NS this summer. Good luck on at least departing TOL somewhere close to on schedule. Just be prepared to get to NYP late.

Thanks for the heads up. Yeah I considered taking the Thursday night Capitol Limited out of TOL as an alternative (with a transfer in WAS) in order to ultimately get to NYP. The thing is, I'm traveling with my significant other and we'd prefer to avoid the transfer if we can. Plus, the Capitol Limited has also been running about 4 hours late a bunch of times this week. I know that the Northeast Regionals are fairly frequent, but the frequency does seem to drop off a bit in the evenings. Furthermore, it still takes that close to 3.5 hour travel time to get up to NYP from WAS which basically may only get us into NYP around the same time as the Lakeshore Limited ultimately. I'm not sure if we have any better options. We'll be driving in from Michigan to Toledo (Kalamazoo with a stop to relax with relatives in Metro Detroit, before taking the final 1 hour drive into Toledo). Fortunately most of our plans in NYC revolve around the following day and not that Friday night arrival. It certainly helps that we are going to be in a roommette for this trip.

Ironically for our return trip to TOL, a delayed arrival in the morning would actually be preferable so that we can enjoy some breakfast on board.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

Last night's CL (#30) is horrendously late, with an 11:18 estimated arrival into WAS. What in the world happened?

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[afigg]

Last night's CL (#30) is horrendously late, with an 11:18 estimated arrival into WAS. What in the world happened?

LSL #48 (8/26) is also running very late, down 5 hours and 52 minutes departing Utica, still enroute as I write this. According to a post on trainorders, there was major congestion on the NS line in Ohio with westbound trains backed up all the way to Alliance. The westbound CL #29 (8/26) got to CHI over 6 hours late, so #30 will likely be late departing tonight. The good news is that #49 (8/26) arrived at CHI only 52 minutes late.

Amtrak issued a news release yesterday on the extension of the summer track work Michigan service schedule to October 1. In it, there is this:

These temporary schedules also allow Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) a greater opportunity to continue their work to reduce freight train congestion that has been interfering with Amtrak trains in Northern Indiana. Both Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation have asked NS to take action to improve the daily dispatching of ten state-sponsored Amtrak trains -- and four more Amtrak national network services -- on NS tracks between Chicago and Porter, Ind.

So if the Englewood Flyover and Indiana Gateway projects had not taken so long to get started on construction, perhaps the delays for the CL, LSL, and Michigan trains would not have been as bad this summer?

 

[guest]

30 (8/26) is almost eleven hours late now. I wonder how many people bailed out at Pittsburgh.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

30 (8/26) is almost eleven hours late now. I wonder how many people bailed out at Pittsburgh.

At least 2 AUers were on #30(26). One was busituted from Pittsburgh and the other had to stay on. This was based on their destination station and connections apparently.

 

[DivMiler]

30 (8/26) is almost eleven hours late now. I wonder how many people bailed out at Pittsburgh.

At least 2 AUers were on #30(26). One was busituted from Pittsburgh and the other had to stay on. This was based on their destination station and connections apparently.

I was on this train. We finally arrived 12.5 hours late into Washington (WAS). We were told not to get off on Pittsburgh (I was headed to Baltimore). Why were some WAS-connecting passengers advised to get off, and some told to stay on? I assume it is faster to get to WAS from Pittsburgh by road instead of railroad.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

As of now (1:53 AM), Train #30 (Capitol LTD), out of TOL, is scheduled to arrive at 2:54 AM, 3.25 hrs late! I changed our tickets from Train 30 to Train 48 LSL), which is only 15 minutes late into TOL. Since my final destination is NYP, Train 48 makes more sense.

What I find so puzzling is that both trains make the same stops from Chicago to Toledo except 48 stops at Bryan, OH and 30 doesn't. So, I wonder why 30 is so late while 48 is nearly on time?

Go figure!

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[AmtrakBlue]

30 (8/26) is almost eleven hours late now. I wonder how many people bailed out at Pittsburgh.

At least 2 AUers were on #30(26). One was busituted from Pittsburgh and the other had to stay on. This was based on their destination station and connections apparently.

I was on this train. We finally arrived 12.5 hours late into Washington (WAS). We were told not to get off on Pittsburgh (I was headed to Baltimore). Why were some WAS-connecting passengers advised to get off, and some told to stay on? I assume it is faster to get to WAS from Pittsburgh by road instead of railroad.

My guess is that those connecting to nb regionals were told to stay on the train since the regionals run about every hour. Though it looks like you guys got to DC too late even for the regionals. The others were connecting to LD trains and maybe the less frequent sb "regionals".

 

[tommylicious]

12+ hour delay = train to Crazytown. What was the reason for this one?

 

[Railroad Bill]

Wonder where they stopped to get some food for supper? Glad we made it home Tuesday morning with only a 1.5 hr delay.

And hope this thing is all over by Gathering time. What a mess.

 

[afigg]

As of now (1:53 AM), Train #30 (Capitol LTD), out of TOL, is scheduled to arrive at 2:54 AM, 3.25 hrs late! I changed our tickets from Train 30 to Train 48 LSL), which is only 15 minutes late into TOL. Since my final destination is NYP, Train 48 makes more sense.

What I find so puzzling is that both trains make the same stops from Chicago to Toledo except 48 stops at Bryan, OH and 30 doesn't. So, I wonder why 30 is so late while 48 is nearly on time?

CL #30(8/27) departed CHI 2 hours and 2 minutes late at 8:42 PM, so it got off to a late start. LSL #48(8/27) departed CHI on-time and is now down 1 hour and 35 minutes at Erie, PA; which is not that bad for the LSL considering.

The late departure of #30 was probably due to the 6 hours and 23 minutes late arrival of #29 at 3:08 PM CT on Aug. 27. Both the LSL and CL trainsets make same day turnarounds at CHI. The CL is supposed to arrive at 8:45 AM, the trainset gets cleaned and serviced, and depart CHI at 6:40 PM. The LSL has a larger turnaround window; scheduled to arrive at 9:45 AM, trainset is serviced and departs CHI at 9:30 PM. With #29 arriving over 6 hours late, they had to rush the servicing and turnaround to send the trainset east as CL #30 two hours late. #30 (8/27) may have also been held for a late arriving western LD or connecting corridor train, but I have not checked to see if any arrived late at CHI yesterday.

On the NYP and WAS ends of the LSL and CL routes, the trainsets are serviced overnight, so there is a much larger turnaround window to make up for a really delayed arrival and get back on schedule. Or swap out equipment for the LSL at Sunnyside yards in Queens.

 

[afigg]

12+ hour delay = train to Crazytown. What was the reason for this one?

Don't know why CL #30(8/26) ended up arriving at WAS a whopping 12 hours and 22 minutes late. It is supposed to be a 17.5 hour trip. OK, so #30 encountered severe delays on NS from CHI to Alliance OH, departing Alliance 7 hours and 43 minutes late. But then it lost another 4 hour and 40 minutes by the time it got to WAS. Were there engine problems?

Status map report for #30(8/26) epic delay trip:

* Train 30 of 08/26/2014.
* Capitol Limited
* +---------------- Station code
* |    +----------- Schedule Arrival Day 
* |    |  +-------- Schedule Arrival time
* |    |  |     +----- Schedule Departure Day
* |    |  |     |  +-- Schedule Departure Time
* |    |  |     |  |     +------------- Actual Arrival Time
* |    |  |     |  |     |     +------- Actual Departure Time
* |    |  |     |  |     |     |     +- Comments
* V    V  V     V  V     V     V     V
* CHI  *  *     1  640P  *     645P  Departed:  5 minutes late.
* SOB  *  *     1  909P  *     1013P Departed:  1 hour and 4 minutes late.
* EKH  *  *     1  929P  *     1115P Departed:  1 hour and 46 minutes late.
* WTI  *  *     1  1023P *     1213A Departed:  1 hour and 50 minutes late.
* TOL  1  1139P 1  1149P 128A  139A  Departed:  1 hour and 50 minutes late.
* SKY  *  *     2  1240A *     240A  Departed:  2 hours late.
* ELY  *  *     2  115A  *     531A  Departed:  4 hours and 16 minutes late.
* CLE  2  145A  2  154A  835A  847A  Departed:  6 hours and 53 minutes late.
* ALC  *  *     2  305A  *     1048A Departed:  7 hours and 43 minutes late.
* PGH  2  505A  2  520A  250P  313P  Departed:  9 hours and 53 minutes late.
* COV  *  *     2  659A  *     552P  Departed:  10 hours and 53 minutes late.
* CUM  2  919A  2  931A  930P  940P  Departed:  12 hours and 9 minutes late.
* MRB  *  *     2  1100A *     1116P Departed:  12 hours and 16 minutes late.
* HFY  *  *     2  1125A *     1144P Departed:  12 hours and 19 minutes late.
* RKV  *  *     2  1210P *     108A  Departed:  12 hours and 58 minutes late.
* WAS  2  110P  *  *     132A  *     Arrived:  12 hours and 22 minutes late.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

Thank you afigg for the detailed explanation I'm on LSL 49 (8/28) with a current ETA into NYP of 6:27 PM, just four minutes late. CL 30 (8/27) is running 4+ hrs late into WAS.

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[tommylicious]

afigg where do you get that nice summary report?

 

[afigg]

afigg where do you get that nice summary report?

Amtrak Status Maps. It shows the last station check-in for every Amtrak train currently running. Click on a train marker to get the summary for the trip so far. For trains that have completed their trip, click on the Status File Archives link and then select the train, train #. and departure date.

For a neat summary list of the on-time performance of a train over a period or months, try Amtrak Status Maps Archive Database.

 

[tommylicious]

great thank you afigg!

 

[NJCoastExp]

I unfortunately was on that 30(26). Extreme congestion between ELY and CLE due to multiple NS trains outlawing. Then TOL-PGH crew outlawed and had to wait for new crew. The big chunk lost before CUM was due to CSX congestion on Sand Patch. We passed at least 2 coal trains but to do that first had to wait for at least 4 WB trains. I wound up along about 40 other people going to south portion of NEC cities on 190. I know we stopped in Abeerdeen and Metropark in addition to regular stops. Yeah I was glad because I was able to get home 3 hrs earlier than "planned". There were busses for people connecting south of DC, Pennsylvanian stops to PAO, and for people going north of NYP. People with destinations BWI to NYP were on the train all the way. Although AFAIK the DC busses got there too late to make connections anyway (definetly did not make 19)