Empire Builder 3/22 (8 & 28) Cancelled?

[montana mike]

I see train 8/28 of 3/22 was totally cancelled? First time I have seen that in a long time. What happened? Mudslides in Washington again?

 

[montana mike]

No one out there knows what has happened?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I see train 8/28 of 3/22 was totally cancelled? First time I have seen that in a long time. What happened? Mudslides in Washington again?

7/27 were also cancelled (or today’s) due to the storm that’s hitting ND.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[montana mike]

Gee, while I see they are expecting some snow in the Dakotas by their standards it's not a big storm by any means. We are taking the EB next month. I hope these cancellations don't become more common place.

 

[Lonestar648]

The Host railroads control the flow of trains in bad weather, so Amtrak has to cancel if the Host is not allowing trains due to the weather, or the host has told Amtrak they do not want passenger traffic during a storm.

 

[oregon pioneer]

First time I have seen that in a long time.

They did it only a month ago. I arrived on 7(2/22), which was 13 hours late. I was really surprised there was no bustitution from SPK westward, because we were so late. I guess the reason was that they had already decided to cancel 8(2/25). I believe they cancelled the EB in both directions that day, and offered passengers the alternative of going on the CS/CZ, or waiting till the next day.

 

[montana mike]

I checked with my BNSF contact here in MT and they said no significant delays along the Hi-Line reported today and that the snow in ND was nothing unusual for this time of the year. I think something else is going on here. Just don't know what.

 

[merkelman06]

They cancelled the Crescent a few weeks back in anticipation of a snow storm that only saw a few inches in Virginia.

I don't understand why you cancel an entire route when only a small segment is affected.

So there was no crescent service for two days in either directions from New Orleans through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and southern Virginia where the weather was sunny with blue skies. All because a few inches of snow fell in northern Virginia.

Same with the Empire Builder cancellation. Only a small portion of the route is affected so somebody traveling from SEA/PDX to SPK or WFH gets there trip cancelled because of a minor snowstorm in North Dakota.

Amtrak is not an airline and should not be treated as such. I am sure modified service in the northeast would be fine where you have multiple departures, but it doesn't make much since to cancel a single daily LD train where there is no other alternative. So I could not travel from BHM to NOL or ATL to CLT because of a snow storm in the northeast. That doesn't make much since to most of the traveling public just trying to get to their destination.

So this has to go squarely against Anderson because I have never seen this many cancellations before. Especially LD service. Only after he arrived.

 

[Thirdrail7]

It is a new day. No more run and rescue in inclement weather. Additionally, it isnt always feasible to run a long distance train part of the route, particularly if it costs way more to operate than your normal loss.

 

[tricia]

Used to be you could often count on trains to run when weather shut down other means of transit, and I don't recall that safety was chronically compromised by that. Lately, Amtrak seems to be cancelling trains even when car and air travel are still functioning. Not good for either profitability or customer relations, especially in our time of increasing weather volatility driven by climate change.

 

[JoeBas]

It is a new day. No more run and rescue in inclement weather. Additionally, it isnt always feasible to run a long distance train part of the route, particularly if it costs way more to operate than your normal loss.

Yet another example of Entropy leading us to inevitable heat death.

 

[Thirdrail7]

. If your train hits a snow covered tree and the HEP drops out, there is risk involved. There is risk to the passengers on the train. There is risk to the employees that will have to brave the elements to rescue you. There is risk involved with the equipment. There is risk to your brand and reputation.

Years ago, railroads were willing to take the risk. It was the perfect time to showcase your operations. Were still running while others are shut down. However, things have changed. Passengers used to be more forgiving in bad weather. That is no longer the case. Railroads used to have forces to combat the conditions. However, that equals costs and all of it equals liability.

Railroads are business operations. What are the costs? Can people actually get to us or did the state shut down the roads? As such, there is less incentive to take risks.

It isnt just an Amtrak issue. This is commonplace. Personally, If youre that concerned about costs, shut the place down. Thats cheap and you no longer have risks.

 

[merkelman06]

I understand fully the liability issue. What I dont understand is canceling the Empire Builder for nothing more than a normal winter snow storm in North Dakota. Or canceling the crescent for a normal snow storm in Virginia. Both cases the weather was nothing out of the ordinary for the area.

If that is the case why even risk running at all in the winter? Just close it all down until the summer. If you can cancel a train that travels for thousands of miles over the course of a route for a storm that only affects a hundred or so miles, then where does it end?

What about rain? wind? lighting? dust? Where does end.?

 

[PVD]

Time of service rules are an important factor. You have to have legal crews to run trains or planes, and when it is hazardous to drive, crews may not be able to get to a base, and if trains are running with heavy delays, it may not be possible to get a crew on a van to the train where it is parked. You want your crews and equipment in position for when the situation improves.Also, for both trains and planes, it is much more common for a crew member to travel a long distance to get to work, deadheading airline crews arriving late and screwing up their assigned flights is not uncommon. If a train crawls through an area where signals are down, with flagging, and the crew runs out the clock, and you can't do anything maybe you shouldn't have run the trip. Maybe the freight in front of you is dead on time and you just sit and the same thing happens to you, and it cascades. and then equipment isn't where it needs to be for tom'w or the day after. That's why airlines cancel hundreds or even thousands of flights (almost 5000 for last week's storm) My crews and planes are in a better situation to recover, and I don't have to worry about stranding planes and crews and passengers in a location where I can not properly support them. If I cancel a day in advance, I don't have to put you in a hotel or feed you.

 

[merkelman06]

Amtrak has managed to figure it out for almost 50 years with very few issues. But Anderson arrives and there are all sorts of reasons not too. It seems like he tries to find reasons not to run the train.

 

[montana mike]

I just heard back from my BNSF contacts again, and he mentioned that they were surprised to hear of Amtrak's cancellation, especially since most of the winter weather was to be well south of the Hi-Line route (eg. Minot had indeed received several inches of snow during the day today, with perhaps another inch or two in the forecast before ending early this evening, long before the EB from either direction would have arrived, with a temperature in the low 30's), but this weather event was nothing compared to the normal winter storms that North Dakota experiences. Gosh, I have been on the EB in Minot in the winter on perhaps a half dozen occasions, when it was below zero, the wind howling at 40 mph and heavy snow coming down and the EB arrived on time! He reiterated that BNSF trains were moving close to normal along the entire route and they were not anticipating any significant issues. In fact he said along about 90% of the entire route it was either dry or just wet, with only parts of ND and a small area in the Cascades seeing snow.

Oh, well, I wonder if this is going to be the new norm for Amtrak, to cancel trains when ANY winter event is forecasted along a LD route. If this is the case the EBs will be cancelled quite often in the winter. Footnote: We received 120 inches of snow in Whitefish this winter with 4 blockbuster bone fide Blizzards and during each one, the Empire Builders arrived and departed (yes, some were several hours late), but all made it to the ultimate destinations with decent timekeeping.

PS: #7 made it thru all of the supposed "bad weather" today without any significant issues and is scheduled to arrived in WFH almost on time this evening!

 

[Thirdrail7]

I understand fully the liability issue. What I dont understand is canceling the Empire Builder for nothing more than a normal winter snow storm in North Dakota. Or canceling the crescent for a normal snow storm in Virginia. Both cases the weather was nothing out of the ordinary for the area.

If that is the case why even risk running at all in the winter? Just close it all down until the summer. If you can cancel a train that travels for thousands of miles over the course of a route for a storm that only affects a hundred or so miles, then where does it end?

What about rain? wind? lighting? dust? Where does end.?

They've canceled for rain and wind as well. Wind is more dangerous than the snow. Hundreds of trains were cancelled in the Northeast a few days ago before the first snow flake fell from the sky.

Amtrak has managed to figure it out for almost 50 years with very few issues. But Anderson arrives and there are all sorts of reasons not too. It seems like he tries to find reasons not to run the train.

That's not true at all. They've operated and left people stranded, held trains in stations, canceled them en route. This was just as recent as a few weeks ago. So, it is far from figured out. The difference is you have a for profit CEO that has basically stated enough is enough. We are not going to continue to lose the limited money we have attempting to operate a train in these conditions for a small number of people, that we'll ultimately end up giving vouchers to anyway.

For all of the comments, do any of you have the actual passenger counts for these trains?

.

I just heard back from my BNSF contacts again, and he mentioned that they were surprised to hear of Amtrak's cancellation, especially since most of the winter weather was to be well south of the Hi-Line route (eg. Minot had indeed received several inches of snow during the day today, with perhaps another inch or two in the forecast before ending early this evening, long before the EB from either direction would have arrived, with a temperature in the low 30's), but this weather event was nothing compared to the normal winter storms that North Dakota experiences. Gosh, I have been on the EB in Minot in the winter on perhaps a half dozen occasions, when it was below zero, the wind howling at 40 mph and heavy snow coming down and the EB arrived on time! He reiterated that BNSF trains were moving close to normal along the entire route and they were not anticipating any significant issues. In fact he said along about 90% of the entire route it was either dry or just wet, with only parts of ND and a small area in the Cascades seeing snow.

Oh, well, I wonder if this is going to be the new norm for Amtrak, to cancel trains when ANY winter event is forecasted along a LD route. If this is the case the EBs will be cancelled quite often in the winter. Footnote: We received 120 inches of snow in Whitefish this winter with 4 blockbuster bone fide Blizzards and during each one, the Empire Builders arrived and departed (yes, some were several hours late), but all made it to the ultimate destinations with decent timekeeping.

PS: #7 made it thru all of the supposed "bad weather" today without any significant issues and is scheduled to arrived in WFH almost on time this evening!

That is why 7(22) was not canceled. It was anticipated to push through. Did your "contact" volunteer to send and finance the extra engines that BNSF requests(and when I say requests, it is actually a demand) during certain weather events? Did your contact offer to reimburse Amtrak for the delays if BNSF can't get them through? Did your contact offer to reimburse the passengers when they state they were delayed and they want vouchers? Did your contact offer to split the costs of the crew overtime or the recrews if the trains are delayed? You see, all of those costs go against the train and Amtrak's bottom line. As much as I don't like it, i don't see anyone ponying up more to compensate for these issues. When the money is out, the money is out and it doesn't seem like Congress will help.

As much as I don't like it, maybe Mr. Anderson thinks the resources are better spent on other services and is tired of paying through the nose for 87 passengers (of which half will want refunds or credits), without any receiving anything from the hosts that butcher the trains and drives up costs. After all, he is a for profit (remember, that was part of PRIIA and Amtrak's original mandate) CEO. There is no room for nostalgia in his mind. It is strictly business and what are the numbers going to say?

Perhaps his continued terminations will either cause the affected ridership base to complain to their representatives and they will demand funding and penalties against the hosts, (a la Kay Hutchinson) or will prove what some already suspect: No one really cares about long distance service and it will end.

We'll find out soon enough.

 

[Bob Dylan]

We still miss having Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Senate from Texas!( out current Senators are the Grey Ghost and the Ghost of Joe McCarthy!)

 

[west point]

Before Amtrak and thru the first few years freight crews were qualified on passenger equipment. That is no longer the case so that form of rescue is no longer available. Also HOS rules were more relaxed and was even 16 hours post WW-2.

 

[willem]

(Quoted posts are edited for brevity. I believe no meaning has been changed.)

Oh, well, I wonder if this is going to be the new norm for Amtrak, to cancel trains when ANY winter event is forecasted along a LD route. If this is the case the EBs will be cancelled quite often in the winter. Footnote: We received 120 inches of snow in Whitefish this winter with 4 blockbuster bone fide Blizzards and during each one, the Empire Builders arrived and departed (yes, some were several hours late), but all made it to the ultimate destinations with decent timekeeping.

As much as I don't like it, maybe Mr. Anderson thinks the resources are better spent on other services and is tired of paying through the nose for 87 passengers (of which half will want refunds or credits), without any receiving anything from the hosts that butcher the trains and drives up costs. After all, he is a for profit (remember, that was part of PRIIA and Amtrak's original mandate) CEO. There is no room for nostalgia in his mind. It is strictly business and what are the numbers going to say?

Perhaps his continued terminations will either cause the affected ridership base to complain to their representatives and they will demand funding and penalties against the hosts, (a la Kay Hutchinson) or will prove what some already suspect: No one really cares about long distance service and it will end.

It might be that 87 passengers are affected when the train is canceled. But in the future, it could that 29 passengers are affected, because 2/3 of passengers decide to use other transportation. Yes, other forms of transportation get canceled, but that's when conditions are bad or are almost sure to get bad, not when conditions might get bad or have a chance of getting bad. If Mr Anderson is thinking as Thirdrail7 suggests, he could be putting the long distance trains on a path to a self-fulfilling prophecy of no one caring about long distance service.

There is another thread about Canadian timekeeping and how the prudent passenger might want to plan on two nights after scheduled arrival at an endpoint before further travel because the train could actually be that late. If an Amtrak passenger plans winter travel to an important event, it looks like he or she might need to plan on arriving at the final destination two days early in order to reduce the chance of missing it.

 

[montana mike]

I understand fully the liability issue. What I dont understand is canceling the Empire Builder for nothing more than a normal winter snow storm in North Dakota. Or canceling the crescent for a normal snow storm in Virginia. Both cases the weather was nothing out of the ordinary for the area.

If that is the case why even risk running at all in the winter? Just close it all down until the summer. If you can cancel a train that travels for thousands of miles over the course of a route for a storm that only affects a hundred or so miles, then where does it end?

What about rain? wind? lighting? dust? Where does end.?

They've canceled for rain and wind as well. Wind is more dangerous than the snow. Hundreds of trains were cancelled in the Northeast a few days ago before the first snow flake fell from the sky.

Amtrak has managed to figure it out for almost 50 years with very few issues. But Anderson arrives and there are all sorts of reasons not too. It seems like he tries to find reasons not to run the train.

That's not true at all. They've operated and left people stranded, held trains in stations, canceled them en route. This was just as recent as a few weeks ago. So, it is far from figured out. The difference is you have a for profit CEO that has basically stated enough is enough. We are not going to continue to lose the limited money we have attempting to operate a train in these conditions for a small number of people, that we'll ultimately end up giving vouchers to anyway.

For all of the comments, do any of you have the actual passenger counts for these trains?

.

I just heard back from my BNSF contacts again, and he mentioned that they were surprised to hear of Amtrak's cancellation, especially since most of the winter weather was to be well south of the Hi-Line route (eg. Minot had indeed received several inches of snow during the day today, with perhaps another inch or two in the forecast before ending early this evening, long before the EB from either direction would have arrived, with a temperature in the low 30's), but this weather event was nothing compared to the normal winter storms that North Dakota experiences. Gosh, I have been on the EB in Minot in the winter on perhaps a half dozen occasions, when it was below zero, the wind howling at 40 mph and heavy snow coming down and the EB arrived on time! He reiterated that BNSF trains were moving close to normal along the entire route and they were not anticipating any significant issues. In fact he said along about 90% of the entire route it was either dry or just wet, with only parts of ND and a small area in the Cascades seeing snow.

Oh, well, I wonder if this is going to be the new norm for Amtrak, to cancel trains when ANY winter event is forecasted along a LD route. If this is the case the EBs will be cancelled quite often in the winter. Footnote: We received 120 inches of snow in Whitefish this winter with 4 blockbuster bone fide Blizzards and during each one, the Empire Builders arrived and departed (yes, some were several hours late), but all made it to the ultimate destinations with decent timekeeping.

PS: #7 made it thru all of the supposed "bad weather" today without any significant issues and is scheduled to arrived in WFH almost on time this evening!

That is why 7(22) was not canceled. It was anticipated to push through. Did your "contact" volunteer to send and finance the extra engines that BNSF requests(and when I say requests, it is actually a demand) during certain weather events? Did your contact offer to reimburse Amtrak for the delays if BNSF can't get them through? Did your contact offer to reimburse the passengers when they state they were delayed and they want vouchers? Did your contact offer to split the costs of the crew overtime or the recrews if the trains are delayed? You see, all of those costs go against the train and Amtrak's bottom line. As much as I don't like it, i don't see anyone ponying up more to compensate for these issues. When the money is out, the money is out and it doesn't seem like Congress will help.

As much as I don't like it, maybe Mr. Anderson thinks the resources are better spent on other services and is tired of paying through the nose for 87 passengers (of which half will want refunds or credits), without any receiving anything from the hosts that butcher the trains and drives up costs. After all, he is a for profit (remember, that was part of PRIIA and Amtrak's original mandate) CEO. There is no room for nostalgia in his mind. It is strictly business and what are the numbers going to say?

Perhaps his continued terminations will either cause the affected ridership base to complain to their representatives and they will demand funding and penalties against the hosts, (a la Kay Hutchinson) or will prove what some already suspect: No one really cares about long distance service and it will end.

We'll find out soon enough.

If we had been talking about the storm of the century, or even the season, your points would have been valid, but snowfall amounts ranged from nothing along almost all of the route of the EB to 6" in a few parts of ND. BNSF freights operated normally. I was a very frequent flier of NW Airlines when I lived in Michigan and Mr. Anderson was President of that airline during part of that time. One of his polices was to use weather conditions or "mechanical" issues to cancel flights that were "light loads" (ie. not many pax booked on the flight) and rebook them on later flights. This of course made good economic sense for the airline, but it wreaked havoc on peoples' travel plans. I suspect these EBs may have suffered the same fate, since they were weekday runs in the off season and were lightly booked. Assuming Amtrak could accommodate most of the LD pax on these two trains on later runs, Amtrak would save some $$ to just cancel the trains. This snow event may just have been a catalyst for them to do so.

 

[PaTrainFan]

I haven't a clue how Amtrak management works but I am hard pressed to believe that the CEO micromanages to the degree of deciding whether trains are canceled, unless there has been a change in overall policy or operating rules, and I can't imagine it has happened this quickly under new leadership. Just my thoughts, which I'm willing to confess could be out of line with reality.

Amtrak has managed to figure it out for almost 50 years with very few issues. But Anderson arrives and there are all sorts of reasons not too. It seems like he tries to find reasons not to run the train.

 

[PaTrainFan]

Then again, much of this could also be true.

I understand fully the liability issue. What I dont understand is canceling the Empire Builder for nothing more than a normal winter snow storm in North Dakota. Or canceling the crescent for a normal snow storm in Virginia. Both cases the weather was nothing out of the ordinary for the area.

If that is the case why even risk running at all in the winter? Just close it all down until the summer. If you can cancel a train that travels for thousands of miles over the course of a route for a storm that only affects a hundred or so miles, then where does it end?

What about rain? wind? lighting? dust? Where does end.?

They've canceled for rain and wind as well. Wind is more dangerous than the snow. Hundreds of trains were cancelled in the Northeast a few days ago before the first snow flake fell from the sky.

Amtrak has managed to figure it out for almost 50 years with very few issues. But Anderson arrives and there are all sorts of reasons not too. It seems like he tries to find reasons not to run the train.

That's not true at all. They've operated and left people stranded, held trains in stations, canceled them en route. This was just as recent as a few weeks ago. So, it is far from figured out. The difference is you have a for profit CEO that has basically stated enough is enough. We are not going to continue to lose the limited money we have attempting to operate a train in these conditions for a small number of people, that we'll ultimately end up giving vouchers to anyway.

For all of the comments, do any of you have the actual passenger counts for these trains?

.

I just heard back from my BNSF contacts again, and he mentioned that they were surprised to hear of Amtrak's cancellation, especially since most of the winter weather was to be well south of the Hi-Line route (eg. Minot had indeed received several inches of snow during the day today, with perhaps another inch or two in the forecast before ending early this evening, long before the EB from either direction would have arrived, with a temperature in the low 30's), but this weather event was nothing compared to the normal winter storms that North Dakota experiences. Gosh, I have been on the EB in Minot in the winter on perhaps a half dozen occasions, when it was below zero, the wind howling at 40 mph and heavy snow coming down and the EB arrived on time! He reiterated that BNSF trains were moving close to normal along the entire route and they were not anticipating any significant issues. In fact he said along about 90% of the entire route it was either dry or just wet, with only parts of ND and a small area in the Cascades seeing snow.

Oh, well, I wonder if this is going to be the new norm for Amtrak, to cancel trains when ANY winter event is forecasted along a LD route. If this is the case the EBs will be cancelled quite often in the winter. Footnote: We received 120 inches of snow in Whitefish this winter with 4 blockbuster bone fide Blizzards and during each one, the Empire Builders arrived and departed (yes, some were several hours late), but all made it to the ultimate destinations with decent timekeeping.

PS: #7 made it thru all of the supposed "bad weather" today without any significant issues and is scheduled to arrived in WFH almost on time this evening!

That is why 7(22) was not canceled. It was anticipated to push through. Did your "contact" volunteer to send and finance the extra engines that BNSF requests(and when I say requests, it is actually a demand) during certain weather events? Did your contact offer to reimburse Amtrak for the delays if BNSF can't get them through? Did your contact offer to reimburse the passengers when they state they were delayed and they want vouchers? Did your contact offer to split the costs of the crew overtime or the recrews if the trains are delayed? You see, all of those costs go against the train and Amtrak's bottom line. As much as I don't like it, i don't see anyone ponying up more to compensate for these issues. When the money is out, the money is out and it doesn't seem like Congress will help.

As much as I don't like it, maybe Mr. Anderson thinks the resources are better spent on other services and is tired of paying through the nose for 87 passengers (of which half will want refunds or credits), without any receiving anything from the hosts that butcher the trains and drives up costs. After all, he is a for profit (remember, that was part of PRIIA and Amtrak's original mandate) CEO. There is no room for nostalgia in his mind. It is strictly business and what are the numbers going to say?

Perhaps his continued terminations will either cause the affected ridership base to complain to their representatives and they will demand funding and penalties against the hosts, (a la Kay Hutchinson) or will prove what some already suspect: No one really cares about long distance service and it will end.

We'll find out soon enough.

If we had been talking about the storm of the century, or even the season, your points would have been valid, but snowfall amounts ranged from nothing along almost all of the route of the EB to 6" in a few parts of ND. BNSF freights operated normally. I was a very frequent flier of NW Airlines when I lived in Michigan and Mr. Anderson was President of that airline during part of that time. One of his polices was to use weather conditions or "mechanical" issues to cancel flights that were "light loads" (ie. not many pax booked on the flight) and rebook them on later flights. This of course made good economic sense for the airline, but it wreaked havoc on peoples' travel plans. I suspect these EBs may have suffered the same fate, since they were weekday runs in the off season and were lightly booked. Assuming Amtrak could accommodate most of the LD pax on these two trains on later runs, Amtrak would save some $$ to just cancel the trains. This snow event may just have been a catalyst for them to do so.

 

[Thirdrail7]

If we had been talking about the storm of the century, or even the season, your points would have been valid, but snowfall amounts ranged from nothing along almost all of the route of the EB to 6" in a few parts of ND. BNSF freights operated normally. I was a very frequent flier of NW Airlines when I lived in Michigan and Mr. Anderson was President of that airline during part of that time. One of his polices was to use weather conditions or "mechanical" issues to cancel flights that were "light loads" (ie. not many pax booked on the flight) and rebook them on later flights. This of course made good economic sense for the airline, but it wreaked havoc on peoples' travel plans. I suspect these EBs may have suffered the same fate, since they were weekday runs in the off season and were lightly booked. Assuming Amtrak could accommodate most of the LD pax on these two trains on later runs, Amtrak would save some $$ to just cancel the trains. This snow event may just have been a catalyst for them to do so.
.

None of which answers the questions I listed above and wind is just as dangerous as snow. Remember, it was the 40-60mph wind gusts with rain that wrecked havoc on the rails a few weeks ago. it left trains littered all over the eastern system. So, snowfall is not the end all, be all. AS for BNSF operating normally, do they give delayed customers vouchers when their shipments are late? I do recall BNSF running normally after mudslides but yet they place a 48 hour moratorium on passenger service!!

BNSF running normally means nothing since they'll stick a freight train on a siding for a few days.

What is entertaining about this thread is of all the people in the various threads regarding trains cancellation are probably complaining here....and yet probably haven't written their representatives or Amtrak to obtain anything but a refund or a voucher.

Montana Mike, were you scheduled on this train? Were you planning on taking it? If not, and you suspect Anderson is up to something, what are you going to do about it other than whine here and try to make it into a conspiracy about canceling trains) You may be on to something. Maybe this is the final attack on LD service but it will only work if it is allowed.

if you really are interested and really care for something other than watching yourselves type, you'll start using the energy you expend here and send this to your representatives......just in case you ARE 100% correct.

While you're writing, you should demand that if your train is altered in anyway, the states served by the NEC service should have to pay 100% of their costs as well and ask why was 450million of YOUR money spent to save 4 minutes in New Jersey!

 

[montana mike]

I would wager I have written my Congresspersons and Amtrak more than you over the years. I am a frequent Amtrak traveler and put my money and my words where my mouth is. Senator Tester, Montana's senior senator for example, has gotten a number of emails and letters from me on Amtrak for a variety of issues. I have also written directly to Amtrak on issues. Sadly, if I do get a reply, it's almost always a "form" letter that doesn't address the issue(s) raised. That is one BIG frustration I have with the new Amtrak. They have focused on cutting costs instead of building ridership. I owned a nationwide marketing agency for 15 years and know what it takes to get "butts in seats" for clients, and Amtrak has done just about everything the opposite of what an organization should do to make that happen.

I am scheduled to be on the EB in 3 weeks, but I know several people who were scheduled on this train from our area. All were more than a little upset. Two were able to grab last minute flights out of Kalispell (they could not wait for Amtrak to try to accommodate them), another was able to be booked on today's train.