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Does anybody here know about the lateness or ability to keep to schedule of the following services?
Southwest Chief
Lake Shore Limited
I have tickets for the Southwest Chief to Chicago and 4 hours after I arrive I am to be on the Lake Shore Limited. Does anybody know if the Chief is usually on time or late? And if it's usually late, is it likely to be more than 4 hours? What Do you think the odds are of me missing the connection?
Also is the Lake Shore Limited usually late? Again I have a 4 hour wait for the Adirondack and don't want to miss that one.
When I booked the trip, the thought of missing connections never entered my plans.
M190 Member # 3009
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Congrats on your trip. Pay particular attention to the scenery between Albuquerque and Trinidad, it's awesome! The Chief is usually pretty good, I've taken it three times in the past four years and the only times it was late was attributable to waiting for express cars on departure. Since that's no longer an issue as I understand it, you should be ok. Kudos to the BNSF. The LSL is another matter. It is habitually late from what I hear although the one time I did ride between Chicago and Rochester were we OT. As I understand, the CSX isn't very cooperative. I love Amtrak, but I never count on punctuality!
Rheboi Member # 2994
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Thanks M190, I really am looking forward to my trip! This is going to be awesome.
What is the CSX? And how late is the Lake Shore Limited "usualy" late by? Could you give me a % chance of getting or missing the Adirondack from the Lake Shore? It would be a disaster for me to miss the Adirondack, do you think I should get a plan B? And if so do you have any ideas for a plan B?
M190 Member # 3009
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Rheboi, that's just way too much to even speculate on. My advice would be to check Amtrak's policy on your connections. Some connections are "guaranteed", meaning that if you miss that connection for a qualifying reason, Amtrak will make other arrangements for you. I'm not sure what the details are and I know that not all connections are guaranteed so if it's really critical, find out. Also wouldn't hurt to have you own plan B in addition to any guarantee from Amtrak. CSX is the freight railroad over whose tracks the "Late-for-sure Limited" runs and is known as the "host railroad". Keep in mind that everything I say is heresay since I don't have any direct knowledge, but the general word seems to be that CSX doesn't do a very good job of running Amtrak trains on time. There has been much in the news lately about that and also about their corporate problems. As a side note, I've noticed that the new Amtrak National Timetable actually lists the host roads for their routes now.
coachclass Member # 2382
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You can also check on the train status part of amtrak.com and enter in dates for the past week or so to see how these trains are doing. I don't know when your trip is, but based on my experiences with these trains, you should make your SWC-LSL connection in Chicago OK, but the LSL-Adirondack could be questionable depending on the day.
Rheboi Member # 2994
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Thanks for the info, I'm sure I have guaranteed connections so hopefully I won't have to worry about it...
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