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I've been monitoring the performance of the Capitol Limited over the last couple of weeks and it seems to be late by hours pulling into Washington every day. It tends to leave Chicago on time, but is a good hour to an hour and a half late by the time it hits South Bend, Indiana and is even further behind by the time it finishes in Washington.
Does anyone know what's causing the problem?
Thanks
train lady Member # 3920
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Having ridden the Capital for many years I will hazard a guesss and say either the weather or freight tie ups. Many is the time we have sat in the yards outside of Chicago waiting for freight to go by. This made us very late into Chi or DC. then there is CSX which owns the tracks outside DC. I can't count the times we were on time only to havem a major delay because they were fixing the track, or a slow mode because of weather or who knows what else.
MDRR Member # 2992
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Based on personal experience, when the weather is bad NS likes to operate their busy freight section between Elkhart and Chicago like a 2 lane highway, to avoid problems with frozen switches etc. Thus the capital loses some time on the run there. Also yesterday for example it lost 1.5-2.0 hours outside of Cumberland waiting for broken rail to be repaired.
cdnfan32 Member # 4674
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Thanks - that's good information. I wondered if there was a weather related aspect to it, because all of a sudden all the Capitol Limiteds have been running late every day, it seems.
Thanks again
notelvis Member # 3071
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quote:Originally posted by cdnfan32: Thanks - that's good information. I wondered if there was a weather related aspect to it, because all of a sudden all the Capitol Limiteds have been running late every day, it seems.
Thanks again
CSX (and NS) just don't do as good of a job moving trains in heavy snow as Canadian National does!
cdnfan32 Member # 4674
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Well, not entirely. Last week the train which runs from Winnipeg to Churchill, Manitoba (on Hudson Bay) couldn't make it through the snow and when they went to reverse the snow had blown in behind them, so they were stuck for a few days. It was a freight train, so not a lot of people were affected except that the southbound Via train from Churchill was stuck and couldn't move. They had to fly their passengers half way back to Winnipeg and resume from there.
notelvis Member # 3071
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quote:Originally posted by cdnfan32: Well, not entirely. Last week the train which runs from Winnipeg to Churchill, Manitoba (on Hudson Bay) couldn't make it through the snow and when they went to reverse the snow had blown in behind them, so they were stuck for a few days. It was a freight train, so not a lot of people were affected except that the southbound Via train from Churchill was stuck and couldn't move. They had to fly their passengers half way back to Winnipeg and resume from there.
Wow.
OK - So my dream trip to Churchill will be scheduled in July or not at all!
cdnfan32 Member # 4674
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You'll miss the polar bears! But apparently you see lots of Beluga whales in Churchill harbour in July.
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