Empire Builder flood disruptions
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Russell
Guest
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I am taking the EB Builder from Pasco to Chicago, and have a connecting train to St Louis at 5:15pm on May 21, so hopefully the Train is not delayed too bad then, though I am not keeping my hopes up at this point based on what I have been reading about on time performance in the last few months. BTW, does anyone know why the EB empire builder scheduled to depart Pasco at 5:30am on May 3 was delayed by three hours, took it between Pasco and Portland, and it was my first train ride, while the trip was enjoyable, this was just a bad way to start my train riding experience, don't ya think?
oh well, no harm, no foul, had plenty of time still to do stuff in Portland b4 heading back to PSC
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Bob
Guest
Really hope it all clears up by May 18, I am scheduled on the EB Builder into Chi that day, and don't wanna miss my connecting train. BTW what happens if I do, does Amtrak put me on a later train, or would it be a busituation to my Final destination, St Louis.
HoosierStater
Service Attendant
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2010
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- 119
Unfortunately, in the situation given, there isn't a later direct train from CHI-WAS. The only trains running this directly are the Cardinal and the Capitol Limited, and the Cap is the later train. The options would seem to be either waiting until the next day's train(s), or taking the Lake Shore Limited (departing at 930P) and a NEC train from Penn Station to WAS.
I'm pretty much resigned to missing our connection from Empire Builder to Capitol Limited on 19 May in Chicago. We have only a 2 1/2 hour window to make the connection, and with North Dakota flooding and slow-orders in place, EB is very late now getting into Chicago. I don't see this improving anytime soon. We booked a roomette on CL, so someone will get our reserved roomette that we won't make. My thought is next day's EB will probably be late too, so we might get a roomette on the CL originally booked (hopefully) for someone coming on that day's (and late?) inbound EB. Happy Train Day to all.
Okay we are due on the Empire Builder May 23rd from Seattle to Chicago. Then a two hour wait (hopefully a wait - not a miss) on the train to Galesburg. If the Empire is late, what does Amtrak do with us? Is there any other trains going that way? Maybe in the morning? If we have to stay overnight, do they put you up in a hotel? If not, what hotels are close?
If you miss a connection because your train arrived late, go immediately to the Amtrak service desk and tell them. Depending on where you are traveling, Amtrak will look at options of busing, next available train, or refund. If no options exist for that day/night Amtrak will find lodging for you at their expense, including cab fair. Don't know where in Chicago, however.
The Cardinal
Train Attendant
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2007
- Messages
- 21
Last fall I was connecting from the EB to the CL. EB was 4 hours late, so I missed my connection to the CL. AMTRAK put all of us up at the Hyatt Regency McCormick place. Gave us cab fare, food allowance and ticketed us for the next day's CL. The hotel was even nice enough to let me check out at around 2 p.m the next day. All in all AMTRAK did what they could to make it as pleasant as possible. I have no complaints as to how they handled things.
PaulM
Engineer
If you miss the last train to Galesburg, the 5:55PM IZ, my money is on a van or even a limo.
If for some reason, they don't put you in a van, they will give you a voucher for a hotel in the loop, plus food money and cab fare. The Carl Sandurg heads out to GBB and QCY around 7:30AM.
If you miss the Galesburg connection put your money on a white Ford van that rides really rough for 2 1/2 hours. I was on the EB on Apr 30th and we arrived about 2 hrs late missing our connection. It was somewhere just past Milwaukee when they made an announcement onboard explaining what was going to happen with missed connections and they had vans and buses going all sorts of directions that night. In Chicago they will have you wait by the customer service office until the van gets there. Overall we arrived at GBB about 45min later than we would of on the train, the only issue was that no one from CHI called the station agent in GBB to tell him a van was coming so the doors to the station were locked when we got there and he was kind of unfriendly until he called someone in Chicago and figured out what was going on.
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davel
Guest
I am also travelling 23rd may chicago to seattle on empire builder. What is the likelihood of it going ahead as scheduled ?
TraneMan
Conductor
The train has been running, but just behind schedule. Today it been be around hour and half behind so far.
My wife and I will board the Empire Builder (EB) this Wednesday, 18 May at Malta, MT bound for Chicago. We will return same route at month's end. I am taking my hand-held Garmin GPS to record EB times and speed throughout the trip to Chicago. I will report what I find. We transfer to the Capitol Limited to Washington D.C. same day in Chicago and we have only 2 hours and 15 minutes to make the transfer from the time EB is supposed to arrive and the time Capitol Limited departs. It's going to be close. If EB is late and we don't make the transfer, we'll do a day in Chicago on Amtrak's dime. Wish us luck!
I just took the EB from Chicago arriving in Seattle today (Monday the 16th). The train ran slowly thru the Devils lake are it cost us about an hour, but we made up the time and arrived in Seattle exactly on time.
Had a great time and the crew was fantastic, the best I've ever had on Amtrak.
Had a great time and the crew was fantastic, the best I've ever had on Amtrak.
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David Gilmour
Guest
Hi, I just got switched from train number 305 on friday from Chicago to St Louis, to a bus instead, now they didn't tell me this on the phone, so do I exchange my ticket for the bus ticket, or is the train ticket good for the bus?
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