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From Trains.com: "Owing to icy conditions on CSX-owned track between South Carolina and Washington, D.C., Amtrak was advising that its Silver Meteor, Silver Star, and Palmetto trains, all operating between New York City and Miami, Fla., as well as the Crescent between New York City and New Orleans, will be experiencing significant delays until the winter storm hitting the southeastern part of the U.S. subsides.
Citing commercial power outages, frozen track switches, and widespread signal problems on CSX, Amtrak said today’s northbound Silver Star, train 92 from Miami to New York and today’s southbound Silver Meteor, train 97 from New York to Miami, have been canceled, as has the Auto Train in both directions between Lortan, Va. and Sanford, Fla."
Wow what a shame what has happened to our rail system? Use to be like the post office operating in any kind of weather but today things just don't happen. I remember traveling from Trenton to West Palm Beach sometime back in the 70's - it could of been during Hurricane Agnes. Departing on the Silver Meteor I awoke somewhere in Virginia and peering out my window I could see the reflection of lights on water which was only inches away from the bottom of my window and we were moving so slow, like very slow. Anyway even though it was scary we got through it and eventually got into WPB about 12 hours late. Things like that would never happen in todays world - except being that late of course.
[This message has been edited by jefffromark (edited 01-27-2004).]
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Yes ice ain't pleasant but ICE has been around forever - to my knowledge growing up near the NE Corridor it(ice) never shut down the system. Yes sometimes there would be problems with the GG1's but management would work through it - not just shut it down like they do today.
The rain issue is just an example of a major problem but they didn't cancel the train because of a little flood danger - I just closed my eyes and went to sleep.
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The ice might be the cause, but it's not the problem. Switches operate electronically, and if there's no power, then switches don't operate. You might note that the electronic switches don't have a way to switch it manually (unless my memory is defective). {Yes, that is a possibility}
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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Is icy track actually a problem? Sure, I realize that if the switches are frozen shut, or if they are electronic switches with no manual override system and there is a power outage, that would be a MAJOR problem. But ice on the rails itself? Trains do not "skid" or "slide" like a car or a truck would.....
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Well that wasn't all that was posted in travel delays - last night it was posted that about 10 Acela Express trains would be canceled, three or so regional trains on the NEC and nearly all the metroliners. So much for rail being an all weather operation. Granted, there are more travel options on the NEC than the rest of the Amtrak system, but this seemed execessive, when the storm hadn't even hit yet (and there was already one storm this winter in the NE that was a dud). And cancelling so many of the premium service trains? Still mad about the elimination of all the Acela Express equipment on the weekends. The airports were a mess today, and Amtrak was certainly a better option - or could have been. The Acela Express trains I saw on my morning and evening commute were certainly not empty. And the regional I took home this evening at 7:35 p.m. out of Penn was pretty full.
Losing my patience with Amtrak this winter - and scared to death to book a long distance trip with Amtrak. Aside from equipment failures, the East Coast Amtrak staff (I've only been dealing with East Coast trains lately) needs some PR and customer service classes. And perhaps training only how to handle problems effectively, which seem to balloon into a crisis (ala the Lake Shore Limited).
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rrrich: Ice on the power lines is the problem, not ice on the tracks. Too much ice buildup on the power lines snaps them, and too much ice on the trees around the power lines snaps tree limbs and they fall on power lines.
No power to the signals or no power to the switches causes tremendous delays for the trains.
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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i remember when we had a all weather train system as the railroads genrated there own power. but as electric genratetors got worn out and EPA regulations kicked in they were not replaced. too bad they were not replaced. they could have helped in the northeast as "peaker" plants and sold power when electric energey is in short suppy
Posts: 193 | From: illinois | Registered: Jan 2004
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