Round trip to Springfield, Illinois

[Steve4031]

I booked a rt to Galesburg on Tuesday when my gf informed me she had plans for Saturday. I scheduled a dinner with her on Friday and booked a rt to GBB. This morning I woke up to a service disruption notice for the trip back. The train had been cancelled for unforeseen reasons.

I rebooked and snagged a rt on 21 to Springfield and back on 306. I snagged a roomette on 21. The total round trip fare was 165 dollars.

Drove down and parked at Union Station because third world countries don’t have commuter service on Saturdays and Sundays.

The agent at the metropolitan lounge used an iPhone to scan my ticket and track my entry into the lounge and issued me a red tag with nothing written on it. He was courteous And professional. I noted the new procedure and he wished that some of the money spent on iPhones had been spent on raises for employees. He was amicable during the discussion.

 

[drdumont]

I have done a couple of "EIther I get an AMTRAK trip or someone is gonna get hurt" day trips DAL-SPI. Very relaxing. Spent the day at the Lincoln Library, couple of used book stores, and a nice lunch. Nice little town. Arrive in the morning, leave in the late afternoon. Nice folks at the depot.

 

[Steve4031]

I’ve had those days to. Happily today is not that serious.

Amtrak just announced that 21 is delayed due to mechanical issues.

 

[Steve4031]

5 is now delayed too. The metropolitan lounge is packed. People do. Ride trains.

 

[Steve4031]

5 called for boarding before 21. If 21 can get out by 2:45 I’ll keep with my plan. If not I’ll cut bait.

 

[Steve4031]

21 delayed 2 hours. Got a push notification on the app. I just cut bait and canceled. I'm pissed.

 

[Steve4031]

As I was leaving Union Station I saw a bomb dog crapping on the floor of of the great hall. A perfect metaphor for today. I think I’m going to cancel my trip on the coast starlight in December because I don’t need to fly out to California and get disappointed again.

 

[John Bredin]

I rebooked and snagged a rt on 21 to Springfield and back on 306. I snagged a roomette on 21. The total round trip fare was 165 dollars.

Drove down and parked at Union Station because third world countries don’t have commuter service on Saturdays and Sundays.

Not to nitpick, but where (generally) in metropolitan Chicago are you that there's no Metra on the weekends to get downtown in time for the 1:45pm Texas Eagle and get home after 11:05pm from 306? All the lines but Heritage, North Central, and Southwest have weekend service from morning until after midnight.

Metra's got issues with weekend service for sure. Only BNSF, Electric, and UP North can get you downtown before 7am Sat. and only Electric gets you down before 7am Sun. From elsewhere, you'd have to drive downtown to catch 301 at 7:15am. But I don't want to overexaggerate its shortcomings either.

 

[Steve4031]

The southwest line to orland park and Manhattan. I use the Palos Park line.

 

[John Bredin]

The southwest line to orland park and Manhattan. I use the Palos Park line.

Yep, no weekend service on that line. Pre-covid, I think Metra ran an experimental handful (3 comes to mind) of Saturday round-trips but no Sunday service.

(Edited to add: I recalled wrongly that the Saturday service was experimental. Wikipedia says it ran from 2009.)

 

[Steve4031]

The only acceptable service pattern IMHO is 30-minute headways off-peak on all days plus the rush hour schedules. It cost money, but the expressways in and out of Chicago are routinely jammed on weekends.