Request for possible contingency plans to use in the event of late or cancelled Trains

[Eric in East County]

In our ten previous trips on the Southwest Chief, we’ve never been in a situation where we arrived at Chicago Union Station to learn that our SWC No. 3 sleeping car had just been removed from the consist, that the No. 3 train itself had just been cancelled, or that, despite having a guaranteed connection, we missed No. 3 because our Capitol Limited No. 29 train from Toledo to Chicago was cancelled or seriously delayed. (Actually, we never imaged that any of the above was even a possibility, until just recently.)

Hopefully, we’ll never be in any of these situations. However, looking ahead to our trip on SWC No. 3 in early October, we would like to have one or more contingency plans to fall back on in the event that we find ourselves stranded in Chicago Union Station due to some emergency of mischance or the elements. (For various reasons, we are no longer up to making the trip from Chicago to Los Angeles in coach or a roomette.)

Judging from the posts we read here on a daily basis, there are many clever and resourceful AU members who can undoubtedly provide us with valuable tips and suggestions based on their own experiences and which we can consider following.

 

[zephyr17]

First off, make sure you are in car 330 on the Chief. If you aren't already, call up and get moved. That one won't be removed. Same thing applies to 2900 versus 2901, on the Capitol, too.

If you are connecting from 29, just depend on the guarantee. I've never been late enough traveling westward on an eastern LD with a connection in Chicago to be worried. If it is a miss, they'll put you up in a hotel and send you out the next day. Hopefully, in October, they won't be so booked up that you can't be reaccommodated in a sleeper on the next day's train. You might land in a roomette, though. If you are, try to get them to give you two. You'll likely have to argue, but I think you can make a case being downgraded from a Bedroom as long as there is plenty of space. If they'd have to bump another reaccommodated passenger out of a sleeper entirely for you to get two, they almost certainly wouldn't do it.

At the end of the day, not laying over is always a calculated risk if you want to be sure of a sleeper, especially a specific room type. If you absolutely have to have your preferred accommodation, lay over. That way you virtually eliminate the risk of a downgrade. 2022 addition to the rule, also make sure you are in a "base" (my term, not Amtrak's) sleeper. That'd be 30 on the Builder or SW Chief, 31 on the Zephyr, and 00 on the Capitol. If you want to make a better estimation of the calculation, run the connection in ASMAD to see the history. I always put in a 10 minute minimum between trains at Chicago, due to the fact they close the gates 5 minutes before departure.

I've been covered by the guarantee connecting in Chicago eastbound several times, although never with an onward sleeper connection to worry about. If I have a sleeper on the eastern train, I will almost lay over in Chicago going east. They have always taken good care of me, with a good hotel room, cash for meals and cab fare.

 

[Eric in East County]

First off, make sure you are in car 330 on the Chief. If you aren't already, call up and get moved. That one won't be removed. Same thing applies to 2900 versus 2901, on the Capitol, too.

If you are connecting from 29, just depend on the guarantee. I've never been late enough traveling westward on an eastern LD with a connection in Chicago to be worried. If it is a miss, they'll put you up in a hotel and send you out the next day. Hopefully, in October, they won't be so booked up that you can't be reaccommodated in a sleeper on the next day's train. You might land in a roomette, though. If you are, try to get them to give you two. You'll likely have to argue, but I think you can make a case being downgraded from a Bedroom as long as there is plenty of space. If they'd have to bump another reaccommodated passenger out of a sleeper entirely for you to get two, they almost certainly wouldn't do it.

At the end of the day, not laying over is always a calculated risk if you want to be sure of a sleeper, especially a specific room type. If you absolutely have to have your preferred accommodation, lay over. That way you virtually eliminate the risk of a downgrade. 2022 addition to the rule, also make sure you are in a "base" (my term, not Amtrak's) sleeper. That'd be 30 on the Builder or SW Chief, 31 on the Zephyr, and 00 on the Capitol. If you want to make a better estimation of the calculation, run the connection in ASMAD to see the history. I always put in a 10 minute minimum between trains at Chicago, due to the fact they close the gates 5 minutes before departure.

I've been covered by the guarantee connecting in Chicago eastbound several times, although never with an onward sleeper connection to worry about. If I have a sleeper on the eastern train, I will almost lay over in Chicago going east. They have always taken good care of me, with a good hotel room, cash for meals and cab fare.

We know only too well what can happen to those with bedroom reservations in the 331 and 431 cars. Our original reservations made last December assigned us to those cars. When they were dropped from the consist, our summer travel plans fell apart when we couldn’t be downgraded due to our eastbound SWC No. 4 train being sold out.

Our new reservations for the fall again assigned us to the 331 and 431 cars. (In one case, we got the last bedroom still available.)

We are assuming that, between now when we plan to leave in late September, one or more bedrooms in the 330 and 430 cars could become available due to cancellations.

Is there some means of requesting an automatic reassignment to bedrooms in the 330 and 430 cars should an opening occur? (Such a request might be something that Amtrak Customer Relations would be better equipped to handle.)

 

[GAT]

I may have missed it somewhere, either in this post or elsewhere, so I apologize if this has already been explained, but how does the car numbering system work such that you can be sure one car won't be removed when another one might? Is it simply a way of prioritizing which cars get dropped first? Is this the practice on all LD trains, or only certain ones? If the latter, which ones? Does this numbering rule also apply to coach cars on LD and/or shorter routes?

Thanks. I guess I need to take Amtrak 101 again.

 

[Eric in East County]

I may have missed it somewhere, either in this post or elsewhere, so I apologize if this has already been explained, but how does the car numbering system work such that you can be sure one car won't be removed when another one might? Is it simply a way of prioritizing which cars get dropped first? Is this the practice on all LD trains, or only certain ones? If the latter, which ones? Does this numbering rule also apply to coach cars on LD and/or shorter routes?

Thanks. I guess I need to take Amtrak 101 again.

See the thread Bedroom downgraded to Coach a week before departure, which has more information on why the second sleeper was removed from the SWC consist for the summer.

 

[MARC Rider]

I've never actually missed a connection or had the train cancelled, but on my last few trips through Chicago, I just bite the bullet and schedule in a layover night. That actually worked very well for me on one recent trip where I developed Bell's Palsy and spent my layover day in Chicago at the emergency room of Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I shudder to think what would have happened if I was riding the Eagle through the Ozarks at night and I realized I needed a doctor.

 

[zephyr17]

I may have missed it somewhere, either in this post or elsewhere, so I apologize if this has already been explained, but how does the car numbering system work such that you can be sure one car won't be removed when another one might? Is it simply a way of prioritizing which cars get dropped first? Is this the practice on all LD trains, or only certain ones? If the latter, which ones? Does this numbering rule also apply to coach cars on LD and/or shorter routes?

Thanks. I guess I need to take Amtrak 101 again.

There is always at least one sleeper on sleeper trains and car line number of that one will run if sleepers run at all.

There are some general rules, though with many exceptions.

On Superliner trains the "base" sleeper is usually the 30 car line but with these exceptions:
The California Zephyr's base sleeper is car line 31.
The Capitol Limited uses 00 as the first sleeper line number to avoid confusion since the eastward train number is 30.
The Empire Builder uses 32 as the car line for the transdorm and should be pretty safe as well as the 30 car line. Other trains generally use 40 as the car line for the transdorm.

On Viewliners, generally the 10 car line is the base sleeper with the following exceptions. Note that since I live on the West Coast I have less experience with the eastern LDs so take the following with grain of salt.
The New York section of the Lake Shore it is the 11 car line.
I think the base sleeper car line for the Boston section is 20 (I've only ridden it once).

As to coaches, since seating isn't pre-assigned, it really doesn't matter. On Superliner trains the coaches have 1x car line numbers IIRC.