EB Mess - 2

[Bob Dylan]

The Operations Standards update dated 6/18/14 states:

In reference to sleeper room setup "two bottles of spring water per person per trip (additional water may be purchased in the café/lounge car)"

Further down the memo it references the fact that Complimentary coffee/tea/ or orange juice are provided between 6 and 11 am.

Thanks for the Official Policy from Moe Curly and Larry @ 60 Mass!!!

Let them eat Cake indeed!

 

[jis]

Overly restrictive policies are no substitute for competent middle management and the ability of top management to actually manage the company and get middle management to do what they want them to do. Fortunately, this very incompetence in management will now work in favor of things not getting to be too bad perhaps.

 

[andersone]

any update on the contaminated train,,, anybody get the car numbers?

 

[JoeBas]

I want to know what the ill passenger did that contaminated *the whole train.* The mind boggles.

Sounds like Norovirus, may have brought it onto the train with him.

 

[andersone]

that can be UGLY !! Novo wiped my best buds last cruise and he won't go back. hope they didn't have to send it to Beech Grove

 

[andersone]

The EB Facebook page is reporting that 8(21) was NOT Norovirusbut rather "It was a group that got food poisoning BEFORE they got on the train. No special cleaning needed."

Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Sounds like spin.

 

[tim49424]

Just finished my trip on 7/27 from CHI to PDX. We had unlimited bottles of water with ice available upon request. The only difference from other trips was our SCA said we couldn't take the bottles of water ourselves.

Also, oddly enough, there was musical entertainment in the lounge car yesterday afternoon.....a fiddle group. They weren't too bad. Actually, my mother and sister quite enjoyed it. The group performed three times and the OBS requested that after each performance the car be emptied out so others could have an equal opportunity to enjoy the music.

 

[TraneMan]

The group performed three times and the OBS requested that after each performance the car be emptied out so others could have an equal opportunity to enjoy the music.

I kinda wished they do that in the summer.. I've seen people sit in there for hours.. (Like our recent trip.) We never got a chance to sit in the lounge car home from SEA. Glad we had a bedroom to give us more room for us and another couple to visit us.

-Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum App.

 

[montana mike]

Update from BNSF: Some may have noticed that #8 has been averaging well over 4 hours late into CHI over the past month or so (even with the extra three hours added to the schedule), with only a couple days where the train arrived less than two hours late. My BNSF contacts say this should continue for the summer, with perhaps a modest improvement in the Fall and then a further small improvement by November, after the 2014 construction season ends. I asked if Amtrak and BNSF would revert to the "old" schedule this Fall. BNSF has told Amtrak that they may be able to do this at some point this Fall, BUT, to still expect 2-3 hour delays into CHI even after the construction season is over. There is just still too much traffic on the Hi-Line to accommodate the old schedule for the EB's without some delays. They have also told Amtrak that even if the old schedule is implemented for a while during the winter months, Spring, Summer and Fall 2015 should see the same level of construction activity and that the "padded schedule" would likely be needed again.

 

[neroden]

Appreciate the news from your BNSF contacts. You don't happen to have any CP contacts, do you? The train has often been losing unreasonable amounts of time between St. Paul and Milwaukee in both directions. Since St. Paul - Chicago is what I'm likely to be taking, I am most concerned about CP's behavior. (I'm just going to schedule a night in Chicago eastbound, but what do I have to worry about westbound?)

 

[unhappy]

10 plus hours late on my trip on 8 yesterday. We sat for 3 plus hours dead still outside Fargo with no explanation until 2 hours had already gone by. This has made me rethink wanting to take Amtrak again for future trips. I expected 5 hours delay but not 11.

 

[andersone]

Mike your inside info is greatly appreciated. I have a pool going on the over under on my 7 (6) getting into GPK at plus 5. It's a Wednesday depart, gotta be late.My return on 8(13) i am only wagering will be at plus 1 at GPK but plus 8 by the time I get to LSE.

 

[fairviewroad]

Sounds like spin.

Bear in mind there was never an official source for the "contamination" report in the first place, just a bunch of internet chatter.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Now now now. Everything you read on the Internet is true. Right?

 

[fairviewroad]

Now now now. Everything you read on the Internet is true. Right?

I won't believe this story until there's a Wikipedia entry on "The Great Empire Builder Contamination Of 2014".

 

[andersone]

Well departure is a week from today,,, so I can scratch the virus spray and just stick to the bear spray

 

[montana mike]

I hope your trip goes well!

 

[CHamilton]

From the Facebook Empire Builder group:

Any idea what happened to 8 today (7/29)? Amtrak shows a service disruption and that it only made it as far as MSP. Departed St. Cloud over 6 hours late. Just curious.
I was the conductor on that train. There was a broken switch west of GFK that we had to sit behind waiting for MOW

 

[andersone]

The Flathead Beacon is reporting on the attempt to phase out some oil tankers,,,,

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2014/07/29/federal-regulators-propose-phase-dangerous-tank-cars/

"Following a year of high-profile rail derailments involving crude oil, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced last week a gamut of new regulations in hopes of preventing more explosive accidents.

The proposed rules, which include a two-year phase-out of the DOT 111 tank car, come as more crude oil is riding the rails through Northwest Montana, including along Glacier National Park’s southern boundary and near downtown Whitefish. Data from BNSF Railway released by the state of Montana earlier this summer shows that during the first full week of June, a dozen loaded oil trains rolled through the area; that number is likely to grow in the coming years as North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields continue to boom.

“Safety is our top priority, which is why I’ve worked aggressively to improve the safe transport of crude oil and other hazardous materials since my first week in office,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on July 23. “While we have made unprecedented progress though voluntary agreements and emergency orders, today’s proposal represents our most significant progress yet in developing and enforcing new rules to ensure that all flammable liquids, including Bakken crude and ethanol, are transported safely.”

 

[montana mike]

A good part of the way thru summer and I think it is interesting to look at the BNSF estimates of transit times for the Hi-Line from last winter and what we are currently seeing. BNSF told Amtrak, before the new "padding" was added, that Amtrak could expect 7-8 hour delays eastbound into Chi-town and 3-4 hour delays westbound into SEA/PDX. Well, if you look at the arrival delays at the termination points over the past 4-6 weeks, the BNSF folks were very close to their estimates. Even with the 3 extra hours of padding #8 is arriving 4-5 hours late consistently and #7, with their additional 90 minutes is arriving 2-3 hours late on the West coast. At least they got the estimated delays right--even if we all are frustrated by this situation. I guess Amtrak was not about to agree to add 8 hours to the eastbound trek, nor were they comfortable in adding 4 hours to the westbound trip either. The compromise was likely necessitated by a lot of factors, not the least of which may have been crew issues. While the "official" schedule remains as a hope to return to at some point, my observation of BNSF's construction scheduling and traffic increases would indicate the progress is going to be measured over several years, not a few months. I think people are now resigning themselves to multiple hour arrival delays both ways on the Empire Builder route, with de facto no connections for almost all other trains out of CHI for the foreseeable future. Makes a LD train ride from the west cost to the east or gulf coasts a lot longer with that overnight stay in CHI, but not much else anyone can do if the train is the only option.

 

[yarrow]

yarrow and i booked a trip this week spk-nol and return in september. on our segment spk-chi on 9/6 the revised schedule applies(we leave spk at 10:30pm) but on our return on 9/13 apparently the old schedule is back with arrival into spk at 1:40am

 

[Bob Dylan]

yarrow and i booked a trip this week spk-nol and return in september. on our segment spk-chi on 9/6 the revised schedule applies(we leave spk at 10:30pm) but on our return on 9/13 apparently the old schedule is back with arrival into spk at 1:40am

Look for an e-mail and/or robo call from Amtrak advising that the revised revision of the "temporary" EB Schedule now in effect will apply to your trip!

 

[yarrow]

yarrow and i booked a trip this week spk-nol and return in september. on our segment spk-chi on 9/6 the revised schedule applies(we leave spk at 10:30pm) but on our return on 9/13 apparently the old schedule is back with arrival into spk at 1:40am

Look for an e-mail and/or robo call from Amtrak advising that the revised revision of the "temporary" EB Schedule now in effect will apply to your trip!

that is kind of what i figured but why do they keep doing it when they know the schedule won't be back to normal?

 

[montana mike]

Good question. My BNSF guys say Amtrak is just confusing the Pax and should just bite the bullet and keep the padded schedule in place until at least the 2014 construction season is over (Late Oct/early Nov), rather than extending things piecemeal. BNSF has advised them of both the duration and extent of the delays (which have been quite accurate so far), however, for some reason Amtrak is ignoring the information provided to them.