The effect of the potential rail strike on Amtrak

[jis]

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Gentle nudge back to discussing effect of the potential strike on Amtrak service

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

 

[daybeers]

I am supposed to take 49 ALB-CHI on Thurs 9/23 with family to get to a wedding. Paid for a room with my girlfriend with the 40% off points sale. If not for the sale, we probably wouldn't be going, at least not by train but probably not anyway with the airplane fares. Have to fly back to get back to work, but other family is taking 48 back.

This would be a major disruption to our plans and would require last-minute plane tickets. Any advice on what we should do? Just sit tight? Don't want any backup options to sell out.

 

[trimetbusfan]

I am supposed to take 49 ALB-CHI on Thurs 9/23 with family to get to a wedding. Paid for a room with my girlfriend with the 40% off points sale. If not for the sale, we probably wouldn't be going, at least not by train but probably not anyway with the airplane fares. Have to fly back to get back to work, but other family is taking 48 back.

This would be a major disruption to our plans and would require last-minute plane tickets. Any advice on what we should do? Just sit tight? Don't want any backup options to sell out.

The strike might end by the 23rd. I would book a refundable flight just in case though.

 

[Qapla]

Back when there was a trucker strike - many drivers parked their rigs wherever they were and that is where the load sat until the strike ended. Perhaps, something similar may be expected by the freight trains - thus blocking mainlines and sidings - keeping Amtrak from using those lines even if they wanted to ... not to mention that there may be no one manning the switches.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Back when there was a trucker strike - many drivers parked their rigs wherever they were and that is where the load sat until the strike ended. Perhaps, something similar may be expected by the freight trains - thus blocking mainlines and sidings - keeping Amtrak from using those lines even if they wanted to ... not to mention that there may be no one manning the switches.

And no dispatchers.

 

[chubbycat]

The NEC is owned, maintained, and dispatched by Amtrak. No Class I Freight Railroads are involved. So it should run.

Does NEC cover Lake Shore and Cardinal?

 

[daybeers]

Does NEC cover Lake Shore and Cardinal?

NEC stands for Northeast Corridor, the 457-mile line between Boston and Washington, so no.

 

[chubbycat]

The strike might end by the 23rd. I would book a refundable flight just in case though.

I am going to NYC on 24th via Lake Shore, hopefully I can make it!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Does NEC cover Lake Shore and Cardinal?

Cardinal only from NYP to WAS

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Well the Amtrak shut down is making the national news. This would be good. The underlying issues of been on call forever will not be a easy fix. The freight crew are limited on a monthly number of hours it seem. To get it to a guarantee day off each week going to be a heavy lift. The freight railroads are make huge amounts of money right now, so they can give out hiring bonus, but they culture of “do what we say” need to change.

Work schedule that would work.
10 days on, 4 days off.
5 days on, 2 days off.
1 month on, 1 month off.
6 month on, 6 months off.

These are common shifts available in other transportation business.

 

[amy1277]

Silver Star was just canceled for tomorrow. Today’s was canceled around this time yesterday, so it appears Amtrak is just taking it day by day. Like the rest of us, ha.

 

[jis]

MODERATOR'S NOTE: A number of general strike and labor related posts have been moved to a general US railroad labor issues thread:

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/us-railroad-labor-issues.83167/
Please post general railroad labor and strike related posts in that thread and keep this thread for discussing effect on Amtrak service as in cancellations, refunds etc.

Than you for your understanding, cooperation and participation.

 

[joelkfla]

Silver Star was just canceled for tomorrow. Today’s was canceled around this time yesterday, so it appears Amtrak is just taking it day by day. Like the rest of us, ha.

They're hoping something develops — like the rest of us.

 

[amy1277]

They're hoping something develops — like the rest of us.

Absolutely. I’m booked on SS the 17th so I’m definitely glad they’re taking this day by day approach.
Fingers are crossed for everyone’s sake!

 

[zephyr17]

Long distance cancellation status as of 9/13 11:00 am PT

 All long distance departures cancelled for 9/14.

NO long distance departures cancelled for 9/15

They are clearly taking this a day at a time.

Strange situation for today:
I use the "schedules" tab on Amtrak.com for this and, oddly, 11 shows as still operating there. Since it is the only one, I decided to dive deeper and try a phantom reservation SEA-LAX and that resulted in seven train 11s, one "sold out" and six cancelled .

So I am taking that as cancelled.

Kudos to Amtrak IT for that moment of entertainment. Most of their comedy has some adverse real world effects, but this one is pretty harmless.

 

[thully]

Looks like all LD trains for tomorrow have been cancelled, along with some corridor trains. No announcement from Amtrak, though it does seem they’ve contacted those with tickets (and the affected trains show as “cancelled” when trying to book a ticket). I noticed that the Wolverine 354 is among the cancellations - 351/352/353 will run (350 was already cancelled for equipment/staffing reasons), though 354 reaches its endpoint after midnight so that makes sense. Though I thought they may run 354 since it would be off Norfolk Southern by 8pm. Also, you’ll end up with equipment out of place with an odd number of trains.

 

[thully]

Also, it looks like there is no contingency plans for the Wolverines at this time. Seems like they could do something like the Surfliners and bus from New Buffalo or some other point in western Michigan to Chicago, but that doesn’t seem to be under consideration.

 

[zephyr17]

Taking a cue from @thully and checking my local service, the Cascades. Tomorrow (9/15), the last pair, 507/508 are cancelled, but the other two pairs are running. Makes sense as both 507 and 508 arrive after the 9 pm (PT) strike deadline and the others arrive hours before it.

Going to strand the only operating Talgo, on 503, in Eugene, though. It returns as 508. Going to be interesting how they manage that on the restart.

 

[Qapla]

On the Amtrak site

 

[beatles78]

Presumably all Amtrak services that are hosted on freight railroads that are struck will cease to run for the duration of the strike.

I have a trip on the City of New Orleans Amtrak on September 30th - I see this line is hosted by the CN railroad -- would this line be safe from the strike?

 

[PRR 60]

If the strike occurs Friday morning, Amtrak crew bases and other facilities may be subject to picketing by the striking workers. Even though Amtrak is not involved in these negotiations and Amtrak's represented workers will not be striking, spreading the pain to as large an audience as possible is a common tactic to raise public awareness, regardless of legality. This so-called "secondary boycott" action would not be legal and would pretty quickly be halted by injunction. However, until that happens and the picket lines are removed (maybe several hours), Amtrak represented workers (from the same unions as the strikers) would likely refuse to cross the picket lines and service even on the NEC may be temporarily disrupted. It is not certain that this will happen, but I would not 100% count on any Amtrak service anywhere first thing Friday morning.

 

[zephyr17]

I have a trip on the City of New Orleans Amtrak on September 30th - I see this line is hosted by the CN railroad -- would this line be safe from the strike?

No, CN is one of the Class Is involved in this. The CONO is already being cancelled as part of the rolling daily cancellations in anticipation of the strike.

However, by 9/30 this episode of the saga should be over, likely by Congressional action. They can't let it go on for long, the economic damage would be too deep.

 

[MARC Rider]

I saw the Silver Star was cancelled today, per the Departure Board in Washington. As we were leaving Washington, I saw them backing a set of Superliners, presumably the Capitol Limited, into the Station.

 

[trimetbusfan]

Taking a cue from @thully and checking my local service, the Cascades. Tomorrow (9/15), the last pair, 507/508 are cancelled, but the other two pairs are running. Makes sense as both 507 and 508 arrive after the 9 pm (PT) strike deadline and the others arrive hours before it.

Going to strand the only operating Talgo, on 503, in Eugene, though. It returns as 508. Going to be interesting how they manage that on the restart.

WSDOT posted an alert as well.

https://wsdotblog.blogspot.com/2022...bwzKK4iuUIYArlZfG8sArbRWN1nZwa247rormQ4i8&m=1

 

[coalman]

I'm waiting for a return call to change reservation due to the impending strike. It said it would be 30 minutes. It's been 2 hours. Should I try calling again or would that make phone wait worse? Is the phone line down due to being swamped is what I'm trying to find out also? I have a 40% off miles CS trip leaving friday morning 9/16. Hoping I can change to later and keep discount.