According to the Amtrak Train Status page, No. 3 departed from CHI today (7/30) on time and No. 4 departed from LAX 14 minutes late. Apparently, the derailment will be cleared and the tracks open by tomorrow when these two trains arrive there.3 and 4 are cancelled between Albuquerque and Kansas City today due to a freight derailment.
If this is the case, and for the sake of those passengers already on or expecting to be on the Nos. 3 & 4 that were cancelled, wouldn’t it have been better if those two trains had waited on a siding until the line was open again? True, they would have arrived 12 or more hours late, but at least passengers would have gotten to where they wanted to go rather than finding themselves stranded with no alternate transportation available. We’d gladly eat Amstew, pizza or KFC if we know that we’d eventually reach our destination.