Empire Builder Summer Blues Started Early this year

[JayPea]

I will be on 27 in a week and a half, Spokane to Portland, the first leg of a four train, five day trip to Washington DC. I will connect with the CS in Portland, and I'm not too concerned with that connection since if it is too late into Spokane I will be bussed to Portland. Not ideal but I can think of worse places to be bustituted than through the Columbia Gorge at sunrise.

 

[yarrow]

7 (27) is fine now. It's in Tomah and still roughly on-time. No disruption.

i don't know. i was told it would operate only to havre and that air cond problems exist. we shall see

 

[JayPea]

7 (27) is fine now. It's in Tomah and still roughly on-time. No disruption.

i don't know. i was told it would operate only to havre and that air cond problems exist. we shall see

I read about that on that "other forum". Apparently it is 7(26) with the air conditioning problems. And, for some odd, as yet unexplained reason, only those passengers bound for Glacier Park were bussed from Havre. Guess they figure those going past Glacier Park are going to be traveling at night and will be asleep???? Who knows????? Seems odd to me.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

7 (27) is fine now. It's in Tomah and still roughly on-time. No disruption.

i don't know. i was told it would operate only to havre and that air cond problems exist. we shall see

I read about that on that "other forum". Apparently it is 7(26) with the air conditioning problems. And, for some odd, as yet unexplained reason, only those passengers bound for Glacier Park were bussed from Havre. Guess they figure those going past Glacier Park are going to be traveling at night and will be asleep???? Who knows????? Seems odd to me.

Why didn't they fix the problems in Chicago after the 8 had come in with the rpoblems? They just sent it right back out with no maintainence? The yard shops in SEA aren't as good as CHI, so they should have done it already. Why is Amtrak acting like the bus companies?

 

[montana mike]

Strange--I see #7/27 disappears from the charts at GPK with another Service Disruption. This train has had mega troubles.

:-(

 

[Steve4031]

I'm wondering what happened too.

 

[JayPea]

I'm guessing that 7 is still running but 27 wasn't run this morning. According to the Amtrak website 7 has gotten as far as Leavenworth (albeit over 3 1/2 hours late) while there is no train status west of Spokane. So it looks like a bustitution was in order for Portland-bound folks.

 

[UncleRobin]

7 (28) left CHI 40 minutes late due to some locomotive issues. We got to Milwaukee an hour late and 8 pulled in just after we did.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Train 7 of 27 August experienced a Serivice Disruption, but is stilling running right now from Harve, departing only 1:53 late, but getting worse. This trains seems to be following a freight, it's just losing a bit more time at every next stop.

 

[CHamilton]

Via the Yahoo Empire Builder group, BNSF has filed the appropriate paperwork with the Army Corps of Engineers to double-track 12 miles of main line. This is not news, but it would suggest that the construction is proceeding as planned.

PUBLIC NOTICE NWO-2013-0948-BIS BNSF RR Ray to Tioga Double Track

PROJECT PURPOSE. The applicants stated project purpose is “provided needed capacity to
accommodate the growing demand for passenger train service, along with the shipment of
freight and commodities, in the Glasgow subdivision.” The Corps determined that the overall
project purpose is railway expansion.
PROJECT LOCATION. The project is located [west of Minot along route 2]... in Williams County, North Dakota
PROJECT DESCRIPTION. BNSF Railway’s proposed project would involve the construction of
approximately 12 miles of new mainline track directly adjacent to an existing mainline track
within existing BNSF right-of-way (ROW). Along with the construction of the new mainline, rail
switching equipment would be constructed at both the east and west ends of the new track in
order to facilitate switching operations.

 

[CHamilton]

Also via the Yahoo Empire Builder group.
Today at 04:13 PM

This from the "All Aboard" list:
A passenger aboard the Empire Builder, Train 7(26) reports no air
conditioning all day in four of the train's coaches; the cars have been hot
since St. Paul, where he boarded.

Outside temperatures were around 90°F
in North Dakota, dropping at night to the mid-70s.

A tour group to
Glacier Park, which had been booked on the train, was handled instead on nice,
cool, air conditioned buses. The regular passengers, however, have to ride in
the heat.

Apparently the train's engines are generating HEP, but the
coaches' air conditioning is broken.

This has been confirmed with another source. The train(s) continued
to operate through to destination (hoping the problem could be fixed?).
Trains 7 and 27 were showing as service interruptions because the space was
blacked out (didn't want to sell tickets on a hot train). No buses were
available at Havre, so some were given the option of staying overnight there (on
Amtrak's dime) until the next day's train.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

What about air-con on the rest of train? Is it working in the Diner, Sightseer, and Sleepers?

#7 (27) has apprently passed the freight or whatever problem it was, because now it's making up time through western Montana. Those passenger will miss Glacier Park, but they'll get some nice scenery next morning in Washington.

 

[montana mike]

I see #8, which was supposed to depart from SEA at 4:40 PM today appears to be at least 4 hours late leaving SEA. Fixing the AC??

 

[EB_OBS]

I see #8, which was supposed to depart from SEA at 4:40 PM today appears to be at least 4 hours late leaving SEA. Fixing the AC??

Yep

 

[EB_OBS]

Also via the Yahoo Empire Builder group.

Today at 04:13 PM

This from the "All Aboard" list:A passenger aboard the Empire Builder, Train 7(26) reports no air

conditioning all day in four of the train's coaches; the cars have been hot

since St. Paul, where he boarded.

Outside temperatures were around 90°F

in North Dakota, dropping at night to the mid-70s.

A tour group to

Glacier Park, which had been booked on the train, was handled instead on nice,

cool, air conditioned buses. The regular passengers, however, have to ride in

the heat.

Apparently the train's engines are generating HEP, but the

coaches' air conditioning is broken.

This has been confirmed with another source. The train(s) continued

to operate through to destination (hoping the problem could be fixed?).

Trains 7 and 27 were showing as service interruptions because the space was

blacked out (didn't want to sell tickets on a hot train). No buses were

available at Havre, so some were given the option of staying overnight there (on

Amtrak's dime) until the next day's train.

Actually, this isn't 100% accurate. There were up to 4 buses available at Havre and every passenger on the train was offered the opportunity to ride a bus if they wanted. Only three buses were needed though. One bus took the group of 40+ passengers directly to GPK. Another bus ran from Havre to WGL and WFH. There was also a bus sent from Havre to SPK. This bus arrived into SPK at 2:05am and passengers continuing on to SEA and PDX or other destinations were transfered to buses at SPK. At WFH two more buses were offered to passengers who wanted to.

Leaving SPK there were two on-time buses at 2:15AM and 2:45AM. Then there were six more buses available when the train arrived. Three buses were used to bus train #27 passengers to their final destinations and there were three buses for any #7 passengers onboard the train that wanted to take a bus. Conductors canvased the train but nobody wanted to get off and take a bus so all three of those buses were released.

 

[montana mike]

Just curious, is the AC fixed then on #8 chugging thru WA this AM (about 3 1/2 hours behind)? The other #8, still in ND, will likely arrive in MSP about 5 hours behind around noon. What a summer run this has been for the EB. Sorry to see this happen.

:-(

 

[RRUserious]

I sure hope on top of everything else they didn't have environment problems on the train. Nasty year to have something fail.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Status Maps shows that 7 (28) appears to have the same problems as the previous train of being stuck behind a freight. Delays have gotten worse and worse with no good sign of improvement.

 

[Empire Builder tracker]

Eastbound Empire Builder is 6 1/2 hours late leaving Devils Lake!

I feel that Amtrak should probably change the Empire Builder's schedule if this is the new normal.

 

[montana mike]

#8 in ND now just about 7 hours behind--ouch. And I see #7 in WA this AM is also 6 hours behind, with what appears to be another bustitution out of Spokane for the PDX folks. Which means a very late start for this PM's departure from SEA. The delays keep perpetuating the problems. What an absolutely brutal summer this has been.

:-(

 

[Steve4031]

Hopefully this mess clears up by October when I am schedule to ride 7 from Chicago to Seattle.

 

[yarrow]

What an absolutely brutal summer this has been.

:-(

same as last summer although last year things started to improve not long after labor day and this year we are aiming for improvement by halloween

 

[CHamilton]

Finally, a Service Alert on the Amtrak website.

Empire Builder Trains 7/27 and 8/28: Temporary Service Delays
Please be advised the Empire Builder has been experiencing delays of two hours or more while operating in North Dakota and Montana.

This is primarily due to temporary speed restrictions imposed by BNSF Railway Co. while it carries out track improvement work. We expect these issues to continue through the construction season this November.

Largely unaffected are Empire Builder trains westbound from Chicago to Fargo, ND, via St. Paul, and Empire Builder trains eastbound from Seattle and Portland to Shelby, MT, via Spokane.

 

[fairviewroad]

Unlike last summer's service alert, this one makes no mention of CHI connections. It appears that

Amtrak is still offering guaranteed connections to LD and Midwest corridor trains in Chicago.

 

[JayPea]

Too bad they couldn't have come up with the service alert a few months ago. Better late than never I guess.