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Am heading west on the Empire Builder from Chicago to Portland in early May.
Have heard that BNSF is doing trackwork between the general area of Spokane and Portland. From what I understand , the Builder has a very narrow "window of opportunity" to traverse that segment of track or passengers will be bussed either between Pasco and Portland or Spokane and Portland. Yikes !!
Does anyone know when that track project will be complete ? Should get into that area May 7 th and 8th.
Evidently if the Builder is running "on time" , or near so , it is dispatched on through. But if it is running behind schedule , "bus-titution" is used.
There is a long wait to link to this, but hang in there.
If it doesn't work, basically it says the disruption is only scheduled to last thru April 12 and that it is M-F daytime hours. Lateness more than 1 hour will cause bussing and the #27 equipment will go to Seattle, not PDX. This also means no #28 the next day. There appears to be an option to go to Seattle and take the Talgo for no additional cost.
hookedup Member # 1691
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So is it safe to say that if your departing on a Sunday from PDX there should not be this concern (because no work on Sat?) I am leaving on EB from PDX next Sunday and this is the first I have heard about it so I am bummed out. I am traveling with 2 small kids and being on a bus instead of our sleeper is not the way I was wanting to start our vacation!
mr williams Member # 1928
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First I've heard of this as well, and I've been keeping a close watch for anything of this nature as I'm on the westbound EB CHI-PDX on April 17th, and it's a long and expensive way to come just to be bussed overnight from Spokane. Hopefully, the service will be back to normal by then, but if it does overrun I've got the problem that I'm connecting with the Starlight at Portland so I presume that the Seattle option won't apply as that section arrives too late to connect with the CS (especially if it's running late)?
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