EB mess

[montana mike]

#7 will be at least 3 1/2 hours late out of CHI tonight-not a good way to start a 2000 mile trip is it.

:-(

 

[Nathanael]

In real life Mt Buffett is NO "Teddy Bear" as is often seen in his public persona. He didn't get to be one of the richest persons in the world by being nice to everyone-he is a clever, cool, calculating and determined driver of people and companies (often into the ground I might add--the record speaks for itself).

Well, that's the thing. The record does speak for itself. He's most certainly a sharp operator. He is no friend to the worker. Even less of a friend to the customer -- he's explicitly stated that his favorite thing to do is to own monopolies and collect monopolistic profits off of them. His big reinsurance companies mostly charge the highest rates out there, and have low payouts -- which he can get away with because when companies need reinsurance, they need it fast and they need it from a company with a huge warchest.
But his companies *haven't* been driven into the ground, and frankly I dare you to find an example of a company which he did drive into the ground. (The few which went under were in doomed industries, mostly.) He is, as he always says, "long term greedy".

Which means that this kind of short-term thinking, underinvesting in infrastructure for a short-term cash juice, isn't his *style*. Empire building is his style.

My guess is that there was a promise by senior management to start paying BH back (WB paid a fairly high price for the BNSF) as soon as they could and they likely figured they could get away with little or no reinvestment in infrastructure for a few years. If I was WB I would have fired the SOBs for this!

That makes a lot of sense to me. Who knows -- he could still fire them.

He is high enough up in the "food chain" there to be able to share with me that BNSF management was informed of exactly what was going to happen as far as transportation needs and production levels several years ago and he said the BNSF people just blew him and the others in ND off, saying that the energy people were way off the mark and BNSF had plenty of capacity to meet their needs for years. This despite even the state of ND reps at these same meetings pleading with BNSF to listen to the energy people. Bummer.........

Ugh. OK, I'm definitely blaming BNSF senior management here. Frankly, it sounds like the kind of thinking which has recurred more than once in railroad senior management. Railroads have repeatedly been bought out by short-term-thinking funds who *did* want the management to underinvest. This may have been almost a reflex action by the senior management, not understanding what sort of a boss they'd actually acquired.

 

[greatcats]

Good grief ! Today's #8 due at 3:30 am. 11+ hours late. This calls for a Congressional investigation! Oh phooey. That probably would make matters worse.

 

[RalphCT]

Good grief ! Today's #8 due at 3:30 am. 11+ hours late. This calls for a Congressional investigation! Oh phooey. That probably would make matters worse.

The train 8/28 due in CHI on Monday Feb 10 was over 8 hours late in western Montana the day before. So it didn't lose all that much more time from there to CHI. It seems 8 left Seattle and reached Spokane all right but the 28 was 5 hours late leaving Portland. Maybe the big Portland storms and the very late Cascades caused part of the problem.

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.

 

[CHamilton]

If this hasn't already been posted, Amtrak has finally made the delays and detours official.

Empire Builder Train 7/27 and 8/28: Service Delays and Detours Effective through February 28, 2014The following changes affecting the Empire Builder service now through February 28, 2014, are shown below:

Trains 7/27 and 8/28: Severe Delays Along the Route

• Train 7/27 and 8/28 will experience significant delays along the route due to freight train interference. We are working to reduce delays whenever possible and provide our passengers with more reliable service.
• Empire Builder passengers should contact Amtrak before heading to the station for the most up-to-date arrival and departure times. Passengers can obtain train status information and make reservations on Amtrak.com, our free mobile apps and at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

Train 7/27: Busing to and from Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby

• BNSF Railroad requires the Amtrak westbound Empire Builder Train 7/27 to detour between Fargo and Minot, resulting in the train missing the following stops: Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby, ND.
• Passengers on Train 7/27 who are traveling to these cities will detrain at Fargo and be provided bus service to their destination. Westbound passengers who are boarding at Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby will be bused to Minot, where they will board Train 7/27.
• This detour is expected to reduce delays caused by severe freight train interference. It is the goal of Amtrak to return to our normal route as soon as possible, in order take care of our passengers getting on and off at Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby, ND.

 

[CHamilton]

And a scary comment from someone who is evidently an OBS crew member on the EB, from the Facebook Empire Builder group:

I just get worried when we work alone (as we have been lately due to short staffing) and some folks have an extra 10 hours to drink... We've had a few incidents lately with some conductors being assaulted, and it concerns me. I can handle complaining, though.

 

[Ryan]

I would imagine that the tolerance for that sort of thing would be pretty much zero and that a conductor working without an assistant would be a little quicker on the trigger to put someone off before things get rough.

Hopefully the OBS staff would lend a hand if needed (and if things really came to it, I could see some of the pax getting involved if it comes to fisticuffs).

Sad situation, though.

 

[TraneMan]

On our trip to CHI last week, the Conductor was solo. The LSA helped him get people on board.

-Sent from my iPad using Amtrak Forum App.

 

[Ispolkom]

Commuter trains to Minneapolis canceled today because of a stopped freight train. I imagine it won't affect #8, since train is hours late.

 

[EB_OBS]

I also saw this at the SCD station yesterday. It's a start, though I only got a call for my final RDW - SCD segment (even though that was way closer to on-time than any of my eastbound segments.)

The dates in the fine print at the bottom amuse me.

All that date at the bottom of the posting means is that the "document" is not "officially" required to posted at crew bases and stations after that date.

Pretty much all updates, advisories and notices have one.

It means that should an "audit" be done by management you are in compliance if you have all the current postings.

 

[montana mike]

And #7 will start its journey from CHI today at least 3 1/2 hours behind as well.

 

[RalphCT]

8/28 through Montana today is leaving Havre only 53 minutes late. I'm enjoying the ride so far. Lunch was very pleasant. But the North Dakota "gauntlet" is still ahead.

Wine tasting in the diner was cancelled today because the diner has no cheese! Not sure about that one. So my SCA is setting up a wine tasting event in our car. Yummy!

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.

 

[montana mike]

Expect to lose 4+ hours going thru ND

 

[RalphCT]

Expect to lose 4+ hours going thru ND

Yes, I'm expecting that. But I should sleep better if the train is stopped or going slower. Don't care too much as I've planned the delay into my travel plans. Just so long as I get to MSP by train on Wednesday.

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.

 

[montana mike]

If all goes as has gone over the past few weeks you should arrive around noon or a bit before!

 

[RalphCT]

If all goes as has gone over the past few weeks you should arrive around noon or a bit before!

Yep, that what I've seen. Gives us time for some cross country skiing at Theo Wirth Park in MSP and the a drive to Hayward Wisconsin.

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.

 

[RalphCT]

The conductor has been very up front with explanations of the problems that the Empire Builder has been encountering. I appreciate the good communication.

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.

 

[jebr]

I hate to advocate for changing the train schedule, but if BNSF could actually find a time for the train to get into SPUD that it could meet the vast majority of the time, it may be worth setting the departure time from MSP to that time (plus time for servicing.) That way CP has a time that it can put a slot around and hopefully not cause any additional delays by having the train out-of-slot.

Again, it sucks that this even has to be proposed (BNSF should figure out how to run it on time) but sometimes it's worth finding a way to make it later but reliably timed, at least for some markets. Plus, it offers a baseline of what BNSF is expected to keep throughout the rest of the route (keep the arrival time at 7:05 AM or 7:30 with the move to SPUD so that BNSF isn't getting any cut on the timetable, but rather Amtrak is simply gaining a cushion so that it can get on CP lines on-time.) SPUD wouldn't be a horrible place to have a long break at, either.

 

[Steve Manfred]

What is there to stop BNSF from allowing this situation to go on indefinitely or even get worse to the point that Amtrak has to cancel the EB on a regular basis? Anything?

 

[montana mike]

If all goes as has gone over the past few weeks you should arrive around noon or a bit before!

Yep, that what I've seen. Gives us time for some cross country skiing at Theo Wirth Park in MSP and the a drive to Hayward Wisconsin.

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.

Looks like #8 should arrive in MSP around 11 AM today--just under 4 hours behind--not bad!!!

 

[Anderson]

What is there to stop BNSF from allowing this situation to go on indefinitely or even get worse to the point that Amtrak has to cancel the EB on a regular basis? Anything?

At some point, Amtrak would probably end up taking them to court. We're not there...not even close...but I could see Amtrak going to court for a breach of contract.

 

[fairviewroad]

7(10) pulled off a neat trick last night of arriving into Minot exactly 12 hours late.

Yep, you can once again set your (analog) watch by the Empire Builder!

 

[montana mike]

7(10) pulled off a neat trick last night of arriving into Minot exactly 12 hours late.

Yep, you can once again set your (analog) watch by the Empire Builder!

It will be close, but the two Empire Builders could conceivably arrive in WFH today about the same time--#8 is several hours late and #7 continues to be verrrrry late. Both cannot be at the station together, so I guess BNSF dispatchers might let the 12+ hour late train in first!!!

 

[Guest]

Unbelievable, number 7 left CHI only 8 minutes late today! And number 8 in Wisconsin is only a little under 3 hours down!

 

[montana mike]

I too saw that. Well, there is a first time for everything. Poor #7 now heading west in ID is almost 13 hours late, so maybe they are just averaging things out!

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