Texas Trackwork

[Train Rider]

Hmm, I wonder why the private railroads rarely bustituted passengers before Amtrak. Back in the mid 1960s, I used to ride the MP/T&P trains from Little Rock through Marshall/ Longview to Dallas and other.Texas points. Also Little Rock through Alex to Shreveport, Marshall/Longview to Texas points. There were lots more trains. 3 or more each way to Ft. Worth depending if the Texas.Eagle had an extra section. 2 to San Antonio, 2 to Houston,.2 from New Orleans through Shreveport to Texas. I was never bussed. Sometimes, the section gangs would be working on tracks and trains would.slow until they passed the gang. Marshall/Longview was great place to watch both passenger & freight trains because of the junction and high frequecy. Cotton Belt freight only route also paralelled with high speed Blue Streak Merchandise Freights. Wonder why Amtrak has to bustitute for one lone paasenger train in each direction?.Probably UP anti-passenger MO.Io

Drastically different safety standards......greater mechanization of trackwork.......probably a bunch of other factors beyond the knee-jerk response of bias by freight railroads.

 

[City of Miami]

Now we know: Service Alert:

Texas Eagle Trains 21/421 and 22/422: Track Work Affects Service between Longview and San Antonio Effective on Select Dates Starting February 16 through March 9, 2013

Track work being performed by Union Pacific Railroad will affect Trains 21/421 and 22/422, as described below:

February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, 2013

• Westbound Train 21/421 - Bus Service between Longview and Fort Worth
  On February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, Train 21/421 will operate as scheduled from Chicago to Longview, where bus service will be provided directly to Mineola, Dallas and Fort Worth. At Fort Worth, passengers continuing west may board Train 21/421 to their destination.
• Eastbound Train 22/422 - Bus Service between Fort Worth and Longview
  On February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, Train 22/422 will operate to Fort Worth, where bus service will be provided to Dallas, Mineola and Longview. At Longview, passengers continuing east will board Train 22/422, operating to Chicago and all intermediate stations.

February 16 through March 9, 2013 (Daily) – Train 21/421 Schedule Change

• Westbound Train 21/421 Operates Later Between Fort Worth and San Antonio
  Starting February 16 through March 9, Train 21/421 will depart Fort Worth one hour later at 3:10 pm and operate one hour later to San Antonio and all intermediate stations. Train 421 will resume its normal schedule at San Antonio.

 

[June the Coach Rider]

Now we know: Service Alert:
Texas Eagle Trains 21/421 and 22/422: Track Work Affects Service between Longview and San Antonio Effective on Select Dates Starting February 16 through March 9, 2013

Track work being performed by Union Pacific Railroad will affect Trains 21/421 and 22/422, as described below:

February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, 2013

• Eastbound Train 22/422 - Bus Service between Fort Worth and LongviewOn February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, Train 22/422 will operate to Fort Worth, where bus service will be provided to Dallas, Mineola and Longview. At Longview, passengers continuing east will board Train 22/422, operating to Chicago and all intermediate stations.
  

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Thank you for posting this, I am on 422 out of LAX leaving on March1st, so knowing that I will have a bustitution is good to know ahead of time. I wish Amtrak would let us know this. I guess making sure I have little or no luggage for this trip might be the way to go for this one.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Oh Boy, I get to ride a Bus from Longview to Fort Worth on 3/02/13 missing Lunch in the Diner on #421! At least the Ride isnt as bad as a Bustittution down I35 from Ft. Worth to San Antonio!! Hope the Hot Dog Man is working in the Ft. Worth Station that Day! :help:

 

[George Harris]

Hmm, I wonder why the private railroads rarely bustituted passengers before Amtrak. Back in the mid 1960s, I used to ride the MP/T&P trains from Little Rock through Marshall/ Longview to Dallas and other.Texas points. Also Little Rock through Alex to Shreveport, Marshall/Longview to Texas points. There were lots more trains. 3 or more each way to Ft. Worth depending if the Texas.Eagle had an extra section. 2 to San Antonio, 2 to Houston,.2 from New Orleans through Shreveport to Texas. I was never bussed. Sometimes, the section gangs would be working on tracks and trains would.slow until they passed the gang. Marshall/Longview was great place to watch both passenger & freight trains because of the junction and high frequecy. Cotton Belt freight only route also paralelled with high speed Blue Streak Merchandise Freights. Wonder why Amtrak has to bustitute for one lone paasenger train in each direction?.Probably UP anti-passenger MO.Io

Drastically different safety standards......greater mechanization of trackwork.......probably a bunch of other factors beyond the knee-jerk response of bias by freight railroads.

Far more it is a recognition that with the former practice of clearing for all trains other than the lowest of priority local freights a lot of the maintennace force time was spent standing around doing nothing or getting set up on track and then clearaing for trains compared to the time spent actually doing work. Sometimes a shift would get no more than 2 to 3 hours of real work in a day because they had to do it in short work "windows" that could be little more than an hour each. Financial reality said that had to change and that the operating department could no longer have their way regardless of cost. This led to the current situation of half day and all day embargos and train detours where only the hottest of trains were allowed to interfere with the work that now prevails. It is not specifically disrespecting Amtrak, it is just dealing with the current business necessities. Plus, there are such thing as conversion to concrete ties that do require taking out the track in its entirity and replaceing it which would not be at all practical without having all day occupancy of the track.

 

[stntylr]

If they are going to be doing trackwork I might have to plan a round trip from TPL to FTW. Normally not a good idea because there is a good chance of missing the connection in FTW but if they are just sending the same train back there's not much chance of missing the connection.

 

[Nathanael]

Hmm, I wonder why the private railroads rarely bustituted passengers before Amtrak.

One reason? More detour routes. Well over half (some sources say over 80%) of the US railroad network was dismantled and ripped out from the 1960s through the present.

Then, you detoured over another line -- passengers at very small stations might have to take a bus to the other line, but passengers at major stations never lost service. Now, there's no redundancy; no alternate route from Lorton to Sanford.

We should never have allowed so many lines to be ripped out. Every major route should have at least one "backup" route.

 

[cirdan]

Hmm, I wonder why the private railroads rarely bustituted passengers before Amtrak.

One reason? More detour routes. Well over half (some sources say over 80%) of the US railroad network was dismantled and ripped out from the 1960s through the present.

Then, you detoured over another line -- passengers at very small stations might have to take a bus to the other line, but passengers at major stations never lost service. Now, there's no redundancy; no alternate route from Lorton to Sanford.

We should never have allowed so many lines to be ripped out. Every major route should have at least one "backup" route.

and we don't learn. Look at Raton Pass.

 

[Train Rider]

Now we know: Service Alert:

Texas Eagle Trains 21/421 and 22/422: Track Work Affects Service between Longview and San Antonio Effective on Select Dates Starting February 16 through March 9, 2013

Track work being performed by Union Pacific Railroad will affect Trains 21/421 and 22/422, as described below:

February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, 2013

• Westbound Train 21/421 - Bus Service between Longview and Fort WorthOn February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, Train 21/421 will operate as scheduled from Chicago to Longview, where bus service will be provided directly to Mineola, Dallas and Fort Worth. At Fort Worth, passengers continuing west may board Train 21/421 to their destination.
  
• Eastbound Train 22/422 - Bus Service between Fort Worth and LongviewOn February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, Train 22/422 will operate to Fort Worth, where bus service will be provided to Dallas, Mineola and Longview. At Longview, passengers continuing east will board Train 22/422, operating to Chicago and all intermediate stations.
  

February 16 through March 9, 2013 (Daily) – Train 21/421 Schedule Change

• Westbound Train 21/421 Operates Later Between Fort Worth and San AntonioStarting February 16 through March 9, Train 21/421 will depart Fort Worth one hour later at 3:10 pm and operate one hour later to San Antonio and all intermediate stations. Train 421 will resume its normal schedule at San Antonio.
  

Thanks for posting this. My TE trip is during those dates. I did call the Amtrak agent today and she said that my particular train had no alerts. We shall wait and see.

 

[Train Rider]

Now we know: Service Alert:

Texas Eagle Trains 21/421 and 22/422: Track Work Affects Service between Longview and San Antonio Effective on Select Dates Starting February 16 through March 9, 2013

Track work being performed by Union Pacific Railroad will affect Trains 21/421 and 22/422, as described below:

February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, 2013

• Westbound Train 21/421 - Bus Service between Longview and Fort WorthOn February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, Train 21/421 will operate as scheduled from Chicago to Longview, where bus service will be provided directly to Mineola, Dallas and Fort Worth. At Fort Worth, passengers continuing west may board Train 21/421 to their destination.
  
• Eastbound Train 22/422 - Bus Service between Fort Worth and LongviewOn February 16 - 22 and March 1 - 9, Train 22/422 will operate to Fort Worth, where bus service will be provided to Dallas, Mineola and Longview. At Longview, passengers continuing east will board Train 22/422, operating to Chicago and all intermediate stations.
  

February 16 through March 9, 2013 (Daily) – Train 21/421 Schedule Change

• Westbound Train 21/421 Operates Later Between Fort Worth and San AntonioStarting February 16 through March 9, Train 21/421 will depart Fort Worth one hour later at 3:10 pm and operate one hour later to San Antonio and all intermediate stations. Train 421 will resume its normal schedule at San Antonio.
  

Thanks for posting this. My TE trip is during those dates. I did call the Amtrak agent today and she said that my particular train had no alerts. We shall wait and see.

And, of course, about one hour after I post this I get an email saying I will be bustituted. I then called an agent for fun and she had no idea. Can Amtrak get on the same page please?

 

[Engine58]

Has there been any updates on the progress of the tracks? Ahead or behind schedule?

 

[Nathanael]

Hmm, I wonder why the private railroads rarely bustituted passengers before Amtrak.

Far, far, FAR more detour routes. The US has lost something like 80% of its trackage since the maximum extent of the track network. Back in the day, a NY-Chicago train could be detoured over something like 10 or more different routes (3 NYC, 2 Pennsy, 1 Erie, 1 DL&W, 1 B&O, 2 Lehigh Valley, etc.). Now there's basically only two where the tracks are fast enough for reasonable service.

Notice that from Dallas to Fort Worth there are still two routes, and so when there's track work the train takes the other route. But from Dalla to Longview... there aren't.