EB mess

[CHamilton]

Once train 7 makes its way west past Spokane and Wenatchee, barriers remain...

Stevens Pass: 13+ feet of snow in February-- 2nd snowiest in 50 years

Photo courtesy: Stevens Pass Ski ResortLEAVENWORTH, Wash. -- ...Stevens Pass ski resort... said Thursday that so far this month, they have received 160 inches of snow -- over 13 feet! -- making it the second snowiest February in the last 50 years up there. It's been only upstaged by the epic winter of 1998-99 that had 226 inches at Stevens Pass in February and overall set the world record for seasonal snow at Mt. Baker.

The resort said more than 10 feet of that snow fell over an 11 day period from Feb. 10-21, doubling the base depth from 61 inches to 129 inches. As of Thursday, the base sits at 145 inches at the top and 124 inches at the base.
Stevens Pass has now had 342 inches of snow for the entire winter with six or so weeks left in mountain snow season. The annual average is 450 inches and they've averaged 118 inches in March over the past 5 years. ...
And there is more snow on the way. Forecasts show about 24-30" of additional total snow will fall around that part of the Cascades at times through Friday.

 

[RRUserious]

You ever see the machines that clear snow in mountain passes. I saw it in a documentary for a highway, THE main highway, that goes through the Sierra Nevada. When they are doin it, the walls of snow are something like 20 feet high!!! Made my little snow clearing job seem pretty puny.

 

[montana mike]

The good news for the EB's is that they go under Stevens Pass! Still a good deal of snow to clear at somewhat lower elevations though.

 

[andersone]

I realize this is concerns the CZ but one of the best rides I have ever had in my life was over Donner Pass in early Feb. There was fifteen feet of snow on either side,,, and you would come out of the snow shes into solid walls of snow,,,,, one can understand why there was a such a tragedy up there in 1846-47. You may see pictures of those rotary snow eaters, but when you pass for real the scale blows you away. We didn't go over the top but took the tunnel, but I can only imagine what it was like up there.

 

[Ispolkom]

According to a BNSF lobbyist, It's the cold weather delaying Northstar commuter trains on the Hi Line, not excess freight trains.

Does he think we've already forgot about this day, when trains were delayed and canceled because of, to quote a BNSF spokesman, "freight backups."

ETA: Clever that he says the problem isn't oil trains. No, it's traffic as a whole.

 

[fairviewroad]

New Service Alert dated March 1st. Mostly repeats the stuff about BNSF-caused delays. However, the "nut graph" is this:

BNSF will allow the Empire Builder to travel on its regular route in both directions in North Dakota, restoring normal service to Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby. This eliminates the practice of detouring the westbound Empire Builder and requiring some Amtrak passengers to transfer to and from chartered buses.

You can read the full Service Alert here:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Alert_C&pagename=am/AM_Alert_C/Alerts_Popup&cid=1251625641114

 

[montana mike]

Translated: The delays caused in that zone will be shared with BOTH east and westbound Empire Builders after 3-1!! Glad to see the stations restored, but my BNSF guy says this was purely a "political decision" made to appease the people in ND and the 4-5 hour delays currently being experienced thru that area will continue.

:-(

 

[tim49424]

Translated: The delays caused in that zone will be shared with BOTH east and westbound Empire Builders after 3-1!!

Further translated: The more things change the more they stay the same.

 

[yarrow]

we were on 28 out of pdx to spk last night. shortly after bingen the conductor announced a bnsf derailment 20 miles west of wfh. our train would be held at spk(our destination anyway)for an estimated 24 hours.

 

[tim49424]

bnsf derailment 20 miles west of wfh.

That would explain the service disruption for 7 and 8 out west.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

we were on 28 out of pdx to spk last night. shortly after bingen the conductor announced a bnsf derailment 20 miles west of wfh. our train would be held at spk(our destination anyway)for an estimated 24 hours.

What does Amtrak do with a "held train"? I assume that the people currently onboard experience bustitutions, but what happens to the next day's departing trains? I guess I just don't understand the difference between a held train and a cancellation.

 

[greatcats]

Gosh, this us just getting better and better all the time! Gasp!

 

[Texan Eagle]

we were on 28 out of pdx to spk last night. shortly after bingen the conductor announced a bnsf derailment 20 miles west of wfh. our train would be held at spk(our destination anyway)for an estimated 24 hours.

Amtrak should by now start running a counter on their site Days Since Last BNSF Derailment Delaying Empire Builder and reset it to 0 with every new derailment. With the way things are going since the last few months, it won't cross 10 I bet.

 

[yarrow]

we were on 28 out of pdx to spk last night. shortly after bingen the conductor announced a bnsf derailment 20 miles west of wfh. our train would be held at spk(our destination anyway)for an estimated 24 hours.

What does Amtrak do with a "held train"? I assume that the people currently onboard experience bustitutions, but what happens to the next day's departing trains? I guess I just don't understand the difference between a held train and a cancellation.

in this case, we were told there was also a highway closure secondary to the derailment so bustitution wasn't possible at least until the road reopened. i would guess they would turn both trains, ours in spk and i assume 7/27 in wfh and bus bridge between. but as of last night it was not known what would happen (would the trains continue after waiting for the derailment to be cleared, would they be turned where they were or some other option) so they were held(paused) pending development of the situation. they have the spare trainset for the departure of 8/28 in sea/pdx today and the set that arrived in chi yesterday for today's 7/27

 

[CHamilton]

AP story. http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Derailment-sends-45-empty-coal-cars-off-tracks-5282450.php

Derailment sends 45 empty coal cars off tracks

OLNEY, Mont. (AP) — A BNSF Railway train derailment in western Montana sent 45 empty coal cars off the tracks and closed a portion of U.S. Highway 93 near the town of Olney....

Jones says crews are working to clear the tracks and expect the road and tracks to be open by Sunday evening.

Amtrak's Empire Builder travels on those tracks. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says trains will be held in Spokane, Wash., and Whitefish until the tracks are cleared.

 

[amtrakp42]

Those who live in Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin need to contact your US Senators and have them confir with Sen Durbin of IL to inquire how he proceeded to convince CN not to run freights in front of Amtrak City of New Orleans. 2 rumors although unconfirmed true were that it was noted that the Federal Railroad regulators might start stopping CN freights for safety checks (which would tie up freight traffic something terrible) and that one dispatcher was terminated due to being the one most envolved in freights running in front of Amtrak on purpose. Another rumor is that tank car freight from oil fields are much longer than the sidings, therefore can not pull over till a longer siding is reached keeping Amtrak setting for hours.Well wouldn't running freights longer than several of their sidings be a safety concern? After all the Feds just made railroads confirm the actual hazard in each tank car (another saftety concern) which I assume they would have to test contents of every car to protect their liability. Sounds like the railroads will have to hire much more help to keep tankers rolling.

 

[RRUserious]

we were on 28 out of pdx to spk last night. shortly after bingen the conductor announced a bnsf derailment 20 miles west of wfh. our train would be held at spk(our destination anyway)for an estimated 24 hours.

Gee, if that happened to me, I could spend the time visiting all the locations of my early childhood, where I was born, where I went to kindergarten, etc. etc. So it'll never happen, of course.

 

[CHamilton]

And...as of about 11:30 pm PT Sun. 3/2:

Just heard BNSF had an avalanche about 10 miles east of Essex. The about 14 hr late 8 (because of the derailment west of Whitefish) just arrived Essex. A 3 hr or so late 7 is at Browning.

 

[RalphCT]

From krtv news in Great Falls:

Overnight avalanche causes train delay in Shelby

GREAT FALLS -- An overnight avalanche near Glacier National Park, between Browning and Whitefish, is causing a Seattle-bound Amtrak Empire Builder train to experience a delay in Shelby.

According to Matt Jones of BNSF, the avalanche caused snow to cover tracks and possibly some roads in the area.

Jones also mentioned that traffic is delayed in the Shelby area.

No equipment or people were caught in the avalanche, according to BNSF.

One viewer, who wants to remain anonymous, tells us that the Amtrak train, carrying over 100 passengers, was in Browning when it came to a "skidding stop" at around 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Around 4 a.m. Monday, a freight train arrived to assist in the process of backing up the stuck train to a Shelby location.

BNSF is in the process of relocating passengers on buses to take them to Whitefish. However, viewers say they remain concerned since they do not know when that bus will arrive due to "treacherous road conditions."

A man who gave his name as Timothy tells KRTV, "People on the train have their hands behind their back. They're working on that whole 12 hour rule - they can only work 12 hours. Even the conductors don't know what's going on. Seems like there is not much organization when it comes to emergencies like this."

UPDATE, 8:30 a.m.: A viewer reports that around 8:30 a.m. Monday, train staff announced the bus to Whitefish, for the train transfer, is four hours away from Shelby. Passengers remain concerned about the road conditions to and from Whitefish.

We will update as we get more information.

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.

 

[CHamilton]

The link to the above news story is here: http://www.krtv.com/news/overnight-avalanche-causes-train-delay-in-shelby/

 

[Ryan]

Links, excerpts and quote tags are your friend.

 

[CHamilton]

Via the Yahoo Empire Builder group, as of 10am Monday 3/3.

Like the moratorium for mudslides in Washington State, BNSF has issued a 48-hour moratorium for passenger trains due an avalanche along the southern boundary of Glacier National Park.

Train 7-1 was held at Browning when the avalanche was discovered. The train was towed back east to Shelby.

Train 8-1 (also delayed due to the Olney derailment) was at Essex when the avalanche was discovered; train returned to Whitefish.

***
Passengers off train 7-1 are being bused Shelby to Whitefish and will board the equipment off train 8-1 which will become train 7-1 west of Whitefish.

Train 8-2 will operate as far as Whitefish and the passengers off train 8-1 and 8-2 are being bused Whitefish to Shelby and will board the equipment off train 7-1 which will become train 8-2 through to Chicago.

Train 7-2 will operate as far as Shelby and passengers will be bused to Whitefish using the equipment off train 8-2 west of Whitefish. Train 8-3 will operate as far as Whitefish and passengers bused to Shelby using the equipment off train 7-2 east of Shelby.

Trains 7-3/27-3 will operate Chicago to St. Paul and Whitefish-Seattle/Portland only.

Trains 8-3/28-3 will operate Seattle/Portland to Whitefish only with equipment protecting 7-3/27-3 west from Whitefish.

 

[guest]

Are trains 8/7 running today out of SEA and CHI? I see that the trains are listed as "sold out".

 

[greatcats]

Probably not 8. They only ran a stub to MSP yesterday from CHI.

 

[RalphCT]

When an avalanche blocks the tracks Amtrak does not run through that area for at least 48 hours and the tracks are inspected to insure safe passenger travel.

A Montanan who enjoys train travel.