Empire Builders are several hours late over the last few days

[Maglev]

At least number 7 is on time at MSP tonight (image from St. Paul Union Depot webcam):

 

[fredevad]

Tonight's 27 out of Portland was 3:20 min late leaving Vancouver due to waiting on 14 stuck across the river due to a malfunctioning bridge, then police activity to apprehend a suspect on the Willamette bridge, then a Columbia River bridge lift, and now we're stopping in Camas to drop a passenger at a grade crossing that wants to get off (in the pouring rain).

 

[montanamike]

#8 in MT is now almost 4 hours behind. #28 scheduled to arrive in SPK about 2 1/2 hours behind, so #8 will have to wait and the combined 8/28 will likely be running at least 90 minutes late when they leave. Meanwhile #8/28 still north of CHI, should arrive in Union Station hopefully before midnight. A long day indeed for the Builders. On the plus side both #7's are close to schedule as of Sunday evening!

 

[west point]

Although BNSF did a lot of work on the EB route the past two years network theory will have the weakest link be the new delay point(s).

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

*slow clap* #8 has arrived into CHI at 11:06 CT!

#11 is 4.5 hrs late in Eugene, #14 is 4.5 hrs late in Kelso, and #8 is 4 hrs late into Stanley.

You can say that the delays *cascade*d across the system

Oh, and one more:

"Empire Builder, can we fix it?! Empire Builder, yes we can!"

 

[Palmetto]

Yep, saw 7 and 8 close to each other in Montana (track a train)

I wonder what happened in such a remote part of the country. I gotta look it up!

Edit: I found an article from the "Flathead Beacon" about the incident: http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/10/06/man-run-train-lincoln-county/

Montana is a big state. They are supposed to pass each other in Montana every day. Around Malta, IINM.

 

[montanamike]

#8, still around 2 1/2 hours late this AM somewhere in ID, will likely not make up much time, if any, going thru western MT this AM due to heavy snow and strong winds in our area. Up to 12" of snow has fallen at pass level, so the going will likely be even slower than normal as #8 traverses Glacier National park and Marias Pass some time today.

 

[RalphCT]

And westbound 7 hit a truck in North Dakota last night. Another delayed Empire Builder.

 

[fredevad]

#8 was about 3 hours late leaving Whitefish this morning. We are now stopped just a bit inside the HiLine subdivision waiting on traffic siting switch and signal issues on the mountain. They are saying it will be very slow over the mountain due to the snow.

 

[the_traveler]

Yep, saw 7 and 8 close to each other in Montana (track a train)

I wonder what happened in such a remote part of the country. I gotta look it up!

Edit: I found an article from the "Flathead Beacon" about the incident: http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/10/06/man-run-train-lincoln-county/

Montana is a big state. They are supposed to pass each other in Montana every day. Around Malta, IINM.

Yes, near Malta.

 

[fairviewroad]

, and now we're stopping in Camas to drop a passenger at a grade crossing that wants to get off (in the pouring rain).

Wait....what?

Can you just do that? Request a stop at any old grade crossing? Even on a very late train, that's seems a bit off the mark, protocol-wise.

 

[Royal Blue]

Sitting on a siding on 8 just outside of LaCrosse, WI. We sideswiped a trailer next to the tracks. Apparently we now need a new engineer, who wii not arrive until around 5:15 pm. The dining car is prepping the Amstew for tonight.

 

[montanamike]

Wow, they couldn't have scripted this mess any better in Hollywood! We are going to be traveling on #7 in a few weeks. I hope all of the bad "Karma" is long gone by this time!

Looks like another very late (11 PM or so) arrival for #8, still stuck in WI. Meanwhile, back in MT the other #8, now almost 5 hours behind, is losing more time trying to work its way slowly thru the new snow in NW Montana. Looks like the good old days........

:-(

 

[rtabern]

This weekend we worked a private rail excursion -- up on #7 on Friday (October 7) and back on #8 Sunday (October 9) with Iowa Pacific Prairie View full dome.

Minnesota Commercial was responsible for atleast an hour of the delay on #8 on Sunday. They forgot to "wye" out the private car -- even though it was sitting at Midway all day on Saturday. We knew #8 was getting closer and closer and were getting concerned because they didn't have us hooked up yet. No excuse for that because #8 was already over 6 hours down! So #8 arrives next to us and sits... Minnesota Commercial scrambles to find an engine. Then they have problems with several components on the private car. The whole process added an hour to the delay for #8. Guess it doesn't matter since it was going to miss all of the Chicago connections anyway. I heard there were some pissed off folks on Amtrak because of this though.

Nice ride though with Zephyr Route tours and us (the APRHF Rail Rangers).

 

[fredevad]

, and now we're stopping in Camas to drop a passenger at a grade crossing that wants to get off (in the pouring rain).

Wait....what?

Can you just do that? Request a stop at any old grade crossing? Even on a very late train, that's seems a bit off the mark, protocol-wise.

From what I could gather on the radio, the pax was irate about the delays and was supposed to detrain at Vancouver but was waiting at a door that didn't open. Sounded like they were happy to get rid of her.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

So this is amazingly 5 Empire Builders #8s that are 7 hrs late in a row, a #7 that is 6 hrs late, 2 Coast Starlights (11 and 14) that are both 4 hours late, and now a SWC #4 that is 7 hrs late. It's one thing when a couple trains are 7 hours late in a week, but another thing when 7 trains are 7 hours late each, 2 that are 4 hours late, a bunch of reroutes through Wyoming and a hurricane cancelling even more trains, all still in the span of a week!

Good luck Amtrak.

 

[montanamike]

One would certainly hope all of these incidents and delays are purely coincidental, one would hope........

 

[dlagrua]

IMO, the EB schedule is heavily dependent on oil train traffic that clogs the tracks in the Bakkan region of No Dakota. As the price of oil rises so does the amount of oil trains. When we took our Seattle trip three years ago the EB was 6 hrs late getting into Seattle and on the return trip arrived back in CHI at 3 AM ( 12 hrs late) When the price of oil went down and the oil fields either cut production or were put in mothballs the EB was on or close to schedule. The problem with that route is too many trains and not enough track.

 

[montanamike]

According to local BNSF sources the oil car traffic is down 20% over the peak of a couple of years ago, so I do not think this is the catalyst for the latest EB delays.

The Hi-Line was functioning reasonably well for months, with both freight and passenger trains running close to schedule. While there is usually a modest uptick in agricultural shipments in the late summer and fall this increase should not have caused the major meltdown in lack of timekeeping that has occurred recently. Other freight traffic on this route, according the BNSF is mostly unchanged as well. Meanwhile poor #8, still in ND this AM, is now well over 9 hours behind. Could be a very late arrival (after midnight) in CHI-town. Bummer

 

[TamarackTom]

http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/4133293-two-men-injured-after-train-chops-truck-half

Hoping this is just a run of bad luck for the EB. Riding it next week with a transfer in Chicago to Capital Limited same day. I was genuinely surprised they allowed that sort of reservation with only 3 hours between trains given the EB's history. I tend to agree with MontanaMike, I am in St Cloud, MN regularly and the oil trains continue to be in much few numbers than they were in 2013.

 

[TamarackTom]

Looks like the #8 of the 10th is having a better trip... (so far)

 

[pianocat]

I'm currently on the #8 that left on the 10th from Seattle. All was well until Montana happened. By recent standards we're really not that late -only about an hour and a half now but we are sitting on the siding just shy of Glasgow Montana waiting for several freight to pass. I'm hoping it's nothing like the last two #8s but who knows the evening is young. I'm just thrilled that the outlets and the toilets work.

 

[pianocat]

Moving again.... for how long is anyone's guess. There has been some apparent flooding in this area and we had slow orders coming out and definitely coming back.

 

[TamarackTom]

Thanks for the updates, pianocat!

 

[pianocat]

Went to dinner and basically we sat on the siding for another half hour or so who knows how behind we are at the moment! Moving but for who knows how long!