Sunset Limited service disruption?

[Shanson]

Did anyone else get a text from Amtrak stating that the Sunset Limited would not be stopping at Palm Springs due to sand piles?

I didn't plan to detrain there, but my train isn't until next Wednesday from Austin, so...how do they know that far ahead that there still will be a problem? Psychic readings?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Did anyone else get a text from Amtrak stating that the Sunset Limited would not be stopping at Palm Springs due to sand piles?

I didn't plan to detrain there, but my train isn't until next Wednesday from Austin, so...how do they know that far ahead that there still will be a problem? Psychic readings?

I may be wrong, but I think that’s been the case for some months now. A car derailed due to the sand a while back and I think that was when they stopped stopping there.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

https://www.amtraktrains.com/thread...-sunset-limited-last-car-derailed-4-21.78749/

 

[zephyr17]

Service had resumed to Palm Springs after the April 2021 incident and has for a while. Don't know if there has been another incident, but it was closed for months after the April 2021 incident . Don't know what, if anything, UP and Amtrak did to remediate the situation. It is showing as an active station (which it wasn't while the stop was suspended) and is bookable for tomorrows departure from New Orleans, although only in a room. It isn't blocked/sold out, which generally means they are intending to stop there. It isn't on the Amtrak Twitter feed. Of course, only those booked would get a text alert, the rest of us can only look at the generally published info, and that is showing everything appears ok.

In any case, if there is a known problem on the station track, they will suspend the stop but the train will get through. If you aren't getting off at PSN, don't worry about it. UP will keep the Sunset Route mainlines clear for their own reasons. It isn't exactly light on freight traffic.

PS, the derailment in April 2021 was at least partly cause by the train backing up into blown sand. A sleeper car is much lighter than an engine and a lot easier to get derailed if the tracks are covered in sand. Apparently there was an issue with the east switch from the station siding and they had to back up to get out.

 

[TinCan782]

Amtrak Status Maps shows #2 arriving PSN 9 times in May, the latest on 5/27.
Train #1 three times with the latest being 5/25.
https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/a...t=d_dp&sort_dir=DESC&co=gt&limit_mins=&dfon=1

 

[zephyr17]

ASMAD also shows the 6/1 departure from New Orleans in Service Disruption, last entry was a Houston departure 1:28 late on on 6/1. Have no idea if sand at PSN had anything to do with it, but doubt they'd annul it in Houston for that, it is probably just the normal no data feed from Amtrak on performance when in disruption.

 

[TinCan782]

ASMAD also shows the 6/1 departure from New Orleans in Service Disruption, last entry was a Houston departure 1:28 late on on 6/1. Have no idea if sand at PSN had anything to do with it, but doubt they'd annul it in Houston for that, it is probably just the normal no data feed from Amtrak on performance when in disruption.

Both #1 and #2 were affected
#1 terminated:
#2 originated in San Antonio:

 

[zephyr17]

Thanks, didn't look at the twitter feed, just ASMAD and service disruptions can be anything and do not necessarily mean annulled. At least it wasn't sand at PSN.

Suddenly, I am thinking of the sand dialog in Star Wars Attack of the Clones.

 

[Mark P]

Holy cow, what weather could have been severe enough to cancel the entire route between LA and San Antonio? I was on the Sunset Limited departing LAX on 5/29 and got to New Orleans just fine, uninterrupted.

 

[zephyr17]

Well, the problem is there isn't any place Amtrak is equipped to turn and service a train between San Antonio and LA. If they had to annul because, say, 20 miles of the route were affected by weather so severe they could not just wait it out and be late, they really don't have a choice but to terminate as SAS. Once they decided to annul it, it had to be SAS. The question in my mind was what was the weather? Potential flooding is the first thing that comes to my mind.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I fail to see a meaningful difference at this point. Thousands of miles of lost service due to "storms in the area" or "inability to turn a train" is equally absurd.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Holy cow, what weather could have been severe enough to cancel the entire route between LA and San Antonio? I was on the Sunset Limited departing LAX on 5/29 and got to New Orleans just fine, uninterrupted.

Someone on #1, which turned for #2 in SAS, said it was due to flooding.

 

[Mark P]

Someone on #1, which turned for #2 in SAS, said it was due to flooding.

Flooding where? The land between LA and San Antonio is dry as a bone.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Flooding where? The land between LA and San Antonio is dry as a bone.

No idea, that's all the rider said.

 

[Shanson]

Flash flooding in west Texas is quite possible. Sanderson (once a crew change location, now seldom used) got a lot of damage some years back:
https://cbbs.sulross.edu/cbbs-publication/sanderson-flood/

 

[CCC1007]

Flooding where? The land between LA and San Antonio is dry as a bone.

Dry, yes. Hydrophobic also, so rain runs right off, rather than mostly draining into the soil.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Dry, yes. Hydrophobic also, so rain runs right off, rather than mostly draining into the soil.

Yeah, they shut down I-10 all the time for sand drifts, sun kinks, and rain.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Yeah, they shut down I-10 all the time for sand drifts, sun kinks, and rain.

Chris, Flash flooding in West Texas is a real threat to the Tracks on which the Sunset Runs ( UP, ex SP).

When my Grandfather was the Superintendent of the SP Alpine to Valentine District , he was called out frequently for Flash floods that washed out Trestles and Tracks.

It can be dry as a bone( like the Great Draught of the 1950s) and a Thunderstorm can blow through and the Dry Creeks become Wild Raging Rivers within Minutes.

Railroads no.longer .have Section Crews , so such storms can quickly cause damage in the middle of Nowhere ( aka West Texas)as I suspect happened here.( Burning Wooden Trestles are another problem in the West and Southwest as a previous thread about the Sunset Route discussed).

 

[Devil's Advocate]

West Texas does seem to have a problem with spontaneous combustion of wooden trestles (aka arson) so maybe UP should replace them with more modern designs that are a better fit for today's understaffed maintenance teams. Since the Sunset Route enjoys passenger service (on days when it still runs) they could probably find some matching funds to help defray the cost. I just think it's crazy how often Amtrak shuts down a thousand miles or more and figure it's either a lack of recovery staffing or a refusal to dispatch on behalf of the host. Either way it's a sad state of affairs.