Emp Serv to GCT, LSL NYP Suspended, Other NYP Changes 2018

[cpotisch]

Add the Cardinal into the discussion.

Starting with 50(29MAR2018) & 51(01APR2018), the Cardnial will not operate North of Washington until further notice.

Here come the Superliners.....(again)?

The booking page says Viewliners. If that was the plan but not finalized, would they keep it listed as Viewliner/Amfleet on that page?

 

[OBS]

Add the Cardinal into the discussion.

Starting with 50(29MAR2018) & 51(01APR2018), the Cardnial will not operate North of Washington until further notice.

Here come the Superliners.....(again)?

The booking page says Viewliners. If that was the plan but not finalized, would they keep it listed as Viewliner/Amfleet on that page?

You are probably right....I was just speculating...

 

[KnightRail]

Add the Cardinal into the discussion.

Starting with 50(29MAR2018) & 51(01APR2018), the Cardnial will not operate North of Washington until further notice.

Here come the Superliners.....(again)?

The booking page says Viewliners. If that was the plan but not finalized, would they keep it listed as Viewliner/Amfleet on that page?

Just because the website says something doesnt mean its a fact. It may hold true or it may not. There has been a lot going on lately and updating the website to say whether the Cardinal is running with Superliners or Viewliners is far from priority #1.

 

[KnightRail]

Add the Cardinal into the discussion.

Starting with 50(29MAR2018) & 51(01APR2018), the Cardnial will not operate North of Washington until further notice.

As predicted and eluded to:

I don't see this as a good move for Amtrak. The LSL is one of Amtrak's most crowded trains and the New York-Chicago passengers will be left with the 3 day Cardinal as the only choice. Problem is that the Cardinal is a small train with one or two sleepers, a cafe car and maybe three coaches. That train could not possibly take the additional passenger load. Moving the LSL temporarily to Grand Central station makes the most sense.

Exactly! The tiny, 3-day, frequently sold out Cardinal, would take on the passenger load of a LONG, DAILY, frequently sold out train. There are a lot of people who want a one-seat ride from NYC to Chicago. This will interfere with all of them.

If this pans out, hopefully someone at Amtrak will figure out how to beef up the consists on the Cardinal and Cap to get pax to Washington and then run them on up to NYC via Regional or Acela.

And what makes you so sure the Cardinal will still operate to NYP during this outage?

I see it will not have connections, which is what plagued the CHI-NYP via WAS operation in the past. Once the decimation of the popular city pairs is complete, PhillyAmtrakFan may have his wish....by the end of the summer.

Apologies. Havent been following this one too closely since there seems to be much uncertainty and fluidity.

 

[west point]

Check reservations and your can get at least a 60% probability of what will operate. Now if still single level maybe there will be cut off cars in WASH for Silvers and Crescent ?

 

[jis]

Check reservations and your can get at least a 60% probability of what will operate. Now if still single level maybe there will be cut off cars in WASH for Silvers and Crescent ?

You are quite the dreamer, aren’t you? [emoji57]

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[greatcats]

Within the last hour I read the above posts that starting in April the Cardinal will not operate north of Washington. I have a reservation for 2 in a roomette PHL-Chi on May 16. The booking page shows no connection from PHL. To Was. Called Amtrak- it seems this just came out and nobody has an answer as to how this is going to be handled and to call back Tues. in my opinion, they should put us on an Acela to DC.

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[daybeers]

Within the last hour I read the above posts that starting in April the Cardinal will not operate north of Washington. I have a reservation for 2 in a roomette PHL-Chi on May 16. The booking page shows no connection from PHL. To Was. Called Amtrak- it seems this just came out and nobody has an answer as to how this is going to be handled and to call back Tues. in my opinion, they should put us on an Acela to DC.

That would be a great PR and customer service move, but in reality you'll probably get put on a Regional from PHL to WAS.

 

[cpotisch]

Within the last hour I read the above posts that starting in April the Cardinal will not operate north of Washington. I have a reservation for 2 in a roomette PHL-Chi on May 16. The booking page shows no connection from PHL. To Was. Called Amtrak- it seems this just came out and nobody has an answer as to how this is going to be handled and to call back Tues. in my opinion, they should put us on an Acela to DC.

That would be a great PR and customer service move, but in reality you'll probably get put on a Regional from PHL to WAS.

That would be pretty ridiculous. Someone pays for first class and a direct ride, and in turn gets coach on an NER. Greatcats, if that happens call Amtrak as many times as is necessary to get them to comp you and put you on Acela (try for First Class). If the agent refuses, talk to a manager and explain that you paid for a roomette on the Card and will not accept coach on an inferior train.

 

[PVD]

Getting credit may not be a problem, but Acela FC may not be the best option. Generally, on trips I've taken using CL to Chicago, the system prices differently for a WAS connection vs the PGH connection because of the decreased sleeper time. For connection in WAS Acela, NER BC, or Coach, can be selected at different pricepoints. NYP to WAS or vice versa on an NER may be more than adequate. They may just offer the connection with choices, and refund the balance. That is way more likely than them not making an adjustment. You paid for a roomette to NY, and regardless of the way they you get from WAS to NY, you are entitled to the difference if any.

 

[greatcats]

Thank you for your input about our Cardinal trip. Yes, they may balk at putting us on an Acela, but I might settle for Business Class on the regional. While the lady I spoke with last night was nice enough, I was annoyed that they made these changes and did not yet arrange a connection and nobody seemed to know what to do with it.

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[greatcats]

Another alternative is to take 43 to Pittsburgh, which is a nice ride, but I would not care for getting on 29 at midnight. If they can’t provide me a satisfactory arrangement, then I will tell them to put me on the Capitol from DC. Not really a big deal- I am preceding this with a cultural river cruise in France!

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[PVD]

Are you on the Cardinal for the experience, or was there some anomaly that led it to price better than the CL? The CL arrival/departure in WAS certainly presents more options in terms of potentially switching trains towards NYP in Club Acela to an earlier one. It would likely get you to NYC much earlier. CL usually prices better, although that is not 100% foolproof. Of course, if you are checking bags, the time to pick it up or drop it off now has to be considered.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I is my suspicion that Amtrak is not providing a connection to NYP. The pax will be responsible to book their own.

My 50 was truncated at WAS after the Philly accident. I was notified that it would terminate at WAS. I called and they put me on a regional at no extra cost.

They may do the same for pax who already booked to NYP or from NYP when the call.

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[PVD]

When this occurred last year, appropriate arrangements were made. In this case, they have much more lead time to do it. I don't think they have an official list of what will be cancelled, truncated, or combined yet. There is a lot going on because of the need to shift some services to Grand Central....

 

[niemi24s]

The following Service alert was seen today on a query for CHI to BAL departing 3 April 2018:



A little fiddling with Arrow shows the Eastbound Cardinal truncated at WAS through 10 Nov 2018. That's about 7 months. Didn't check the Westbound Cardinal. Have a current sleeper reservation from CHI to BAL on the 22 May 2018 Cardinal but have yet to receive any change notice from Amtrak.

 

[PVD]

Looks like they are starting to make things "official"

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

I would suggest a new thread for this topic to keep it separate from the Empire Service/Lake Shore.

 

[cpotisch]

I would suggest a new thread for this topic to keep it separate from the Empire Service/Lake Shore.

I very much agree.

 

[Thirdrail7]

A Moderator or Administrator has changed the title to accurately reflect the impact of the various track projects that will impact the NYT district. That being said, we might as well throw in the cancellation of train 153 and 152. 127 and 110 will likely remain off the schedule until November.

I is my suspicion that Amtrak is not providing a connection to NYP. The pax will be responsible to book their own.

My 50 was truncated at WAS after the Philly accident. I was notified that it would terminate at WAS. I called and they put me on a regional at no extra cost.
They may do the same for pax who already booked to NYP or from NYP when the call.


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While I suspect connecting service at WAS is off the table, I am interested in seeing how they will accommodate the passengers with existing reservations.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Even though the Cardinal is now temporarily truncated at Washington, it's still operating using Viewliners, right?

 

[Triley]

Even though the Cardinal is now temporarily truncated at Washington, it's still operating using Viewliners, right?

No one knows. Nothing has been said either way, and has been covered in this thread.
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[cpotisch]

Wouldn't the only benefit of converting the Card to Superliners be to increase capacity? 'Cause it's not a very popular or high demand train, and capacity wouldn't DRASTICALLY increase by using Superliners. Additionally, switching Cardinal equipment and therefore accommodation types just adds to list of possible customer complaints (for those already booked). While most people probably won't care about it, some might complain and ask for some kind of compensation if the equipment is different: "I DON"T HAVE A WINDOW FOR MY ROOMETTE UPPER BUNK! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!". That example would be ridiculous and Amtrak obviously wouldn't do that, but my point is that the more stuff they change, the more complaints and hassle Amtrak has to deal with.

 

[Ryan]

1) Depends on how many cars you use.

2) They absolutely would do that if there were operational benefits to doing that (see: the fact that they have done so in the past).

 

[Anderson]

...wow, I stumbled into this discussion.

Serious question: The LSL clearly ran NYG-CHI back in the 70s/80s/early 90s. I know NYS isn't easily accessible from NYG (it's doable, but it involves a messy tangle of connections), so how was the LSL serviced back then? I am presuming at some facility that doesn't accommodate Amtrak equipment regularly now, but beyond that I have no idea.