Empire Builder Summer Blues Started Early this year

[NW cannonball]

Found this fairly complete report.

Excerpt

The Empire Builder #8 east bound started moving again after relief engines arrived at 2:25 AM MDT, and took the #8 Amtrak train to Trenton using NS 8043, NS 8021, AMTK 21, and AMTK 91 for power.

According to the status map the train left Minot 11 hours and 12 minutes late.

The bulldozer operator (now deceased) was the only serious injury.

 

[Michael061282]

OK I know I had tooth pulled and I'm not really with it this morning.. but what??

"The accident was caused by the construction company not providing a flagger with the Amtrak train was coming around a corner and the engineer not seeing the bulldozer on the track ahead of him."

Maybe it'll make sense when I'm not flying on Codeine Air at 35,000 ft.

 

[fairviewroad]

OK I know I had tooth pulled and I'm not really with it this morning.. but what??
"The accident was caused by the construction company not providing a flagger with the Amtrak train was coming around a corner and the engineer not seeing the bulldozer on the track ahead of him."

Maybe it'll make sense when I'm not flying on Codeine Air at 35,000 ft.

First of all, I'm not sure how much stock I'd put into a news article on.... "Montana With Kids Dot Com" ... not exactly the Old Grey Lady

when it comes to definitive news coverage.

That said, it sounds to me as though possibly equipment operators in that area MAY have known this was an issue. A bulldozer does

not exactly RUSH across the tracks. It's possible that due to a curve in the track the bulldozer operator could not see an oncoming train...

and had no choice but to cross the tracks and hope nothing was coming 'round the bend. And if it was a "private" crossing it's possible

trains do not blow whistles there.

This problem would be solved by placing a spotter further up the track who was in radio contact with the bulldozer operator. Perhaps this

was something that had been requested but never implemented due to laziness and/or penny-pinching managers. Again, JUST speculating.

 

[afigg]

a quick snapshot of #8's lead loco.. doesn't look good. The fuel leak sounds like its coming from the trailing unit. So what does Amtrak do when both units get put out of commission in mid run? If there protecting somewhere up there?
http://www.ktvq.com/images/thumbnails/E41E3B4F557E0D72D7CDEF55D9B3AFBF_292_292.jpg

That is one banged up P-42. The same photo in the (early) KTVG article. That P-42 will be out of action for a while. Been a bad month or two for collisions for Amtrak, but it would make sense that more crossing collisions happen in summer.

 

[N.T.]

Found this fairly complete report.
Excerpt

The Empire Builder #8 east bound started moving again after relief engines arrived at 2:25 AM MDT, and took the #8 Amtrak train to Trenton using NS 8043, NS 8021, AMTK 21, and AMTK 91 for power.

According to the status map the train left Minot 11 hours and 12 minutes late.

The bulldozer operator (now deceased) was the only serious injury.

I think being deceased is waaaaay more than a serious injury!

 

[Agent]

Video of Amtrak #8 at Staples, Minnesota with a pair of freight locomotives. Interesting choice of power by BNSF if I say so myself.

 

[montana mike]

Well, I guess that's one way to get a couple NS engines back to the east!

 

[montana mike]

#8 arrived in CHI 14 hours late last evening-whew, that must have been one hectic of a journey. Today's #8 isn't doing that much better--having lost over 4 hours thru the construction areas of MT and ND. My BNSF folks say the construction activity has resumed, so I guess the somewhat improved arrival times in CHI may be a thing of the past for a while. This latest effort is supposed to wrap up in about 30 days.

 

[scoostraw]

Video of Amtrak #8 at Staples, Minnesota with a pair of freight locomotives.

Did the train have HEP I wonder? I had heard that the 2nd Amtrak unit was damaged in the collision and was leaking fuel.

 

[montana mike]

7(31) is now almost 5 hours behind as it treks thru ND--not looking good for a decent arrival in SEA tomorrow. 8(30) is about 3 1/2 hours late in MN now-likley a 3 hour arrival delay into CHI-town this evening.

 

[yarrow]

7(31) is now almost 5 hours behind as it treks thru ND--not looking good for a decent arrival in SEA tomorrow. 8(30) is about 3 1/2 hours late in MN now-likley a 3 hour arrival delay into CHI-town this evening.

the amtrak exhibit train (by the way for those who have seen it what is it like?) will be parked at the spk station for the weekend so might be a bad time to turn the eb in spk if it loses more time

 

[RRUserious]

When I went from Spokane to Portland, we made up a lot of time and arrived 45 minutes early there. I don't think I've ever continued on the train to Seattle, so I don't know how the trip between Spokane and Seattle normally goes in summer.

 

[NW cannonball]

Video of Amtrak #8 at Staples, Minnesota with a pair of freight locomotives.

Did the train have HEP I wonder? I had heard that the 2nd Amtrak unit was damaged in the collision and was leaking fuel.

First news reports quoted an "Amtrak representative" who said that there was power and food. Later reports said no HEP while the train was waiting for rescue power. At least from Williston eastward, they did have HEP.

 

[yarrow]

i see 7/27 into sea/pdx have dropped off the status maps again so i assume the eb will turn in spk. we need a sign at the station "welcome to spokane-the new sea/pdx"

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

I arrived yesterday(8/1) on #8 from Seattle into Chicago. We arrived at 7:38pm a little under 4 hours late. Yesterday, Amtrak held all the connecting trains in Chicago including the Capitol Limited so all connections were met. We were actually just ahead of time all the way to Williston, ND, including arriving at Spokane 1 hour early at 11:30pm. I guess we were the lucky train and the Seattle crew were great. I had Tanner as my SCA.

 

[RRUserious]

You were lucky to have the connections held. I guess 4 hours is below the limit of lateness. A bit more and they let all the trains go. But I do understand those trains have connections, too. It is easy for one bad route to hemmorhage the whole system.

 

[montana mike]

A terrible day for the Builders: #7 chugging along in WA is over 8 hours late and #7 in WI is just under 6 hours late. BNSF says the construction will continue at the current pace thru the end of October btw. Also, additional energy trains are coming on line shortly as well--he would not give a timeframe on that item, just that this freight traffic will increase further. This effects the portion of the EB route from eastern MT to the east mostly.

:-((

 

[RRUserious]

Lots and LOTS of missed trains in Chicago. The hotels are feasting on Amtrak!

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

With "Lalapoloosa" in Chicago this weekend maybe there are no hotels available for Amtrak thus forcing the holding of eastbound LD train connections. Chicago was my destination yesterday so I was not concerned about the connections.

 

[fairviewroad]

With "Lalapoloosa" in Chicago this weekend maybe there are no hotels available for Amtrak thus forcing the holding of eastbound LD train connections.

Interesting. Of course, if Amtrak was thinking outside the box they could probably have stashed people in Milwaukee and put them on a Hiawatha

train the next morning in plenty of time to catch their connection in Chicago.

 

[ATXEagle]

At what point would they consider breaking the connections to the eastbound trains? If not to the LSL, then at least not letting people book guaranteed reservations connecting to the CL or the Card. It must be very expensive for them to put people up in hotels so often.

 

[yarrow]

anyone know why the eb wasn't turned in spokane? unless they have an extra trainset in sea/pdx or unless they cancel today's departures it will be a very late start for 8/28

 

[montana mike]

Very good question--as of right now the estimated departure time out of SEA for #8 is 4 hours late--BUT #7 hasn't even arrived yet!!! Amazing. Meanwhile #8 in WI is going to be close to 8 hours late arriving in CHI-likely very early in the AM Saturday morning.

At what point do these enormous delays start impacting the entire route???

I have asked my BNSF folks if this is something just anomalous for today or will be be seeing more very tardy EBs in the coming days--haven't heard back yet.

:-(

 

[RRUserious]

I will say this. My messed up trip to Toronto via LSL did acquaint me to how the other half lives when they put me up in a very close hotel, the kind I'd never book on Orbitz. Saw one of their places the other day and thought "Oh, yeh, that was the high class place I stayed while waiting the 24 hours for my next train to leave". Still don't think I'd ever pay their prices. Guess my needs and that of some richer people just aren't the same. Frankly size is unimportant. Bugs are unacceptable. Strong smells of any kind don't do it. General cleanliness counts no matter what the price. But the place that Amtrak chooses? Wasted on me.

 

[Linda T]

A terrible day for the Builders: #7 chugging along in WA is over 8 hours late and #7 in WI is just under 6 hours late. BNSF says the construction will continue at the current pace thru the end of October btw. Also, additional energy trains are coming on line shortly as well--he would not give a timeframe on that item, just that this freight traffic will increase further. This effects the portion of the EB route from eastern MT to the east mostly. :-((

Well, that's a bummer, since I'll be doing the #8 in mid September. Guess I'll probably miss my Cardinal connection? Will they put me up for two nights? They did in 2011.