Sooooo -- has all this snow in the East and Northeast had a significant effect on AMTRAK trains lately? Have many trains been delayed or canceled? I heard there were a lot of power outages in the NE the last day or so -- what about the electric caternaries used by passenger trains? Were they out too?
Just curious from my vantage point here in warm (usually) sunny Florida.........
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
A few days back trains that go through western NY (Buffalo/Niagara Falls area) were canceled or curtailed to avoid that area, because of the huge lake-effect snowfall there recently; however, those trains seem to have been running on Tuesday, before this new wave of storms hit. I imagine they were among the cancellations yesterday (Wednesday), along with many other trains in the NE (and most planes).
I also expect that some trains going through the Midwest were canceled or curtailed on Tuesday, since this latest storm began earlier there, but I did not see any details on such cancellations.
Today (Thursday), trains are running again except between Albany and New York City this morning, according to Amtrak's phone recording. I imagine that means any morning train through western NY is canceled too, since it has to go through Albany--though that is not what the Amtrak recording said. But anyway, these trains are expected to resume operation at noon.
I have no info on late arrivals but imagine there were plenty.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
We just returned from a quick trip to NYC to check on our granddaughter and see the *** show. Believe me, yesterday was a travel day from hell. We were booked on a nonstop from Newark to Charlotte at 11am. We arrived home at 2am on a flight from Philly.
I called before we took the train from NY-Penn to Newark airport station and was told our flight was cancelled and rebooked us on a 4pm flight. So about noon we went to the station.
A few Amtrak trains were cancelled (including all west of Albany) and others were 1-2 hours late. Apparently there were some sporadic signal problems around Wilmington. We got NJT to the airport with no problem. The airtrain from the station to the terminal was out of service so a very poorly organized substitute bus was used. An hour later we got to the airport. And, you guessed it, then we were told our 4pm was cancelled and no more flights to Charlotte.
Thinking Amtrak, I made a reservation for the last flight of the day from Philly to Charlotte. I figured 8 hours was enough time to negotiate the trip down. You should have heard the pilots outraged at walking between the terminals at the airport. Could not believe a system was installed that did not account for snow and ice as the Airtrain could not handle the slight grades in slippery weather (they said the system was designed after one in Florida)
It took us another 2 hours to get back to the EWR station. But then things improved. There was an Amtrak agent there who efficiently took care of the crowds. Our 2:30 train was on time into 30th st. I saw several Acelas whipping through the snow and it was very relaxing to settle into the seat and enjoy a wintry day.
It is always inspiring to walk through the great 30th st. station - too bad NY Penn is such a depressing place. We walked to the upper level SEPTA terminal and were on our way to airport within 10 minutes.
I have never seen such incompetence as demonstrated at the Philly airport. The line for US Airways was huge with screaming babies, irate business travelers. It seemed the quick service kiosks couldn't recognize all the rebooked reservations and all the knowledeable ticket agents had been replaced by rent an agents that could only stick your baggage tag on the bag. There was no organization or information, nor any supervisor in sight. My wife wondered if the U.S was becomming more like a 3rd world country. Many people told us they had been there 24 hours.
By 6pm we had negotiated that and collapsed in the restaurant to wait for our 8:15 flight. Fortunately we boarded on time - but did not take off until 10PM after waiting for connecting passengers, bags and then parked to wait for a slot at the de-iceing stations.
We landed about 11:45 and I know that next time I'll take the train.
Posted by Liberty Limited (Member # 4300) on :
Definitely sounds like the Carolinian or Crescent would have been a lot less stressful and taxing than what you went through to get to Charlotte.
Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :
Take heart rail friends and fans. This will absolutely the last year of such terrible winter weather. Climate change will alleviate all such problems, but now we will have to move all of the tracks near to ocean views because they will soon be inudated. Good bye Surfliner.
As one who grew up in Colorado and has lived in Chicago and Kansas I have seen many bad winter storms but we always perservered. Likewise in the drouth and dust bowl days of the 1930's. And in my college days I studied the Ice Ages and other events which for short periods (100-200 years some times) produced dramatic changes in the earths climate. I am always skeptical when many who have little or no specific knowledge, like news reporters and oped columnists, immediately jump on information which has, by admition, been exagerated.
Anyway, these events will be stories we transmit to our grandchildren, perhaps with a little embellishment of our own.
Posted by rresor (Member # 128) on :
I'm happy to report that, at least sometimes, Amtrak is still "all weather transportation". I boarded train 111 yesterday morning at 30th Street, PHL, and I'm proud to report that the train was exactly on time arriving from NYP, despite the sleet and freezing rain.
We remained on time through Wilmington to "Davis" interlocking just north of Newark, DE, where signal power was failing intermittently. A NB Acela Express and a regional with an HHP8 were stopped on track 2 south of the plant. We did the "stop and proceed" thing all the way to "Prince", where we finally got a clear signal southbound and another AE was waiting to go north on 2. A few minutes later we tripped a dragging equipment detector and the crew had to walk the train -- probably an ice buildup on the air lines.
Finally, at "Port" north of Perryville we got another high green southbound. Again, a NB Acela Express was stopped at the home board. For the rest of the trip we ran at track speed, arriving WAS about 45 minutes late. Not a bad performance, compared to what I would have experienced by car or plane.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
I'm thinking the Palmetto from Florence or even the Silver Star right to Camden.
My wife and I had a really unpleasant flight experience with US Air from Charlotte to Orlando back in October. Given that we were traveling with an infant, we booked seats TOGETHER well in advance. However, when we checked in at the airport two hours before flight time there were no seats TOGETHER available on our flight. Each of us were assigned the dreaded middle seat. We were told that at the time of purchase we had merely REQUESTED those seats and that the airline was under no obligation to actually seat us together. (I'm thinking "then what is the point of asking where we would like to sit at the time they are selling us the tickets.....why waste your time and mine."
We're generally reasonable people and have endured a number of travel indignities inflicted by Amtrak....but I was really annoyed with US Air for pulling a bait and switch on the seats like that. Several single parents with children in the 5-8 age range also arrived to find that the Charlotte ticket counter only had seats in different places to offer.
Sooo.......Southwest Airlines with the priority boarding but no assigned seats looks pretty good. US Air, Delta, et. al. continue to sink down the list.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
quote:Originally posted by notelvis: I'm thinking the Palmetto from Florence or even the Silver Star right to Camden.
You are so right. The Carolinian left NY at 0715 - when we were eating breakfast in the hotel a block away. It arrived Charlotte at 9:53pm, 1'40" late, when we had not yet taken off from Philly.
Even the old Silver Star would have been better, arrived Camden 0215, about 1'20" late and only 45 minutes after pulled into our drive. A roomette and dinner in the diner would have certainly been finer.
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Palmland, I don't know who dreamed up the Newark train to airport people mover. I will not say "designed" because that implies the use of thought processes that were apparently absent. We had the experience of riding it in mid-summer a couple of years ago, first airport to train, later train to airport and the most polite thing I can think to say about it is, "lame" I am curious what "system in Florida" it copied. First thing I noticed, aside from an almost toy like ambience, was that you slow way down for curves because they are all sharp and have not superelevation at all. I could say more, but it gets worse from there.
George
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Well, things are just like I thought they'd be!! It looks like AMTRAK did better overall than the airlines the last few days -- no surprise there. Yes, Palmland, you should have taken AMTRAK rather than "U.S. Scare."
We flew from Orlando to Chicago a couple years ago for Christmas on U.S. Air through Philly, and they lost our baggage until the day before we left to come home.
Posted by Amtrak207 (Member # 1307) on :
I wish my review could be as sunny as yours, but it's not. I will also do my best to keep this from turning into an anti-CSX tirade, but you have to admit they deserve it sometimes. On wednesday, the last train west was something resembling 63, the westbound Maple Leaf, running around an hour ten late when I saw it. This was before and during the worst of the snow. After that, the Lakeshores ran that night, then were the only thing running on thursday. Keep in mind that the snow was not above the rails, and that switch heaters are supposed to keep the turnouts from freezing shut. It's a really difficult concept to master. Imagine an element from an electric range formed out in a straight line attached to the outside of the rails in a turnout in the point area. Unfortunately, more than half of them don't work west of Hoffmans, something about their not being maintained since CSX ate up Conrail in 1998. So the issues it boiled down to were inoperative turnouts, dead signals (crossing and block signals), and iced up grade crossings. That killed the Empire Corridor for three days. When things get cold, rails contract, putting increased stresses on the occasional joint bolts found in continuously-welded rail. In the days of jointed rail, this was not a problem because the track had a place to expand or contract every 40 feet. Now they are every mile or so, so the rails contract and the bolts shear off. Hmmmmm, can your engineering department put a joint in for the heck of it every quarter mile or so? Yes, you would have to actually maintain it instead of just waiting for the bolts to shear through and toss a few (hopefully freight) cars off an overpass. This is bean-counting to the extreme. The next time you think the reheated meal in your dining car is bad, think about some kind of replacement program for rail joint bolts. Remember that steel tends to fatigue after so many cyclic loadings. Simple science: replace the bolts every x number of tons that go over them, maybe do some sort of analysis to fine-tune when to replace them, fix the controls for your crossovers and wire the heaters back up, and your railroad may keep running for a change. Most of what is going on has been one day's cancellation because of the weather or whatever the disruption was, and then another two days to wait for CSX to get themselves in gear again. The cancellations beginning on February 4 were not due entirely to the weather. A derailment (on the other side of Buffalo, no less) made everybody between there and Rome park their trains and outlaw, and since none of the switches worked and there were tracks out of service everywhere, Amtrak could not thread through the mess. Maybe some sort of "outlaw siding" every 20 miles would help. You've got the right of way, why not use it? That would make sense. There has been another (not altogether unexpected) twist to this story: apparently the dual-mode genesissies have had "problems" with fine-particulate snow ingestion. Can anyone do some research on the subject, maybe using the keywords "GG1" and "1958" and figure this out? Maybe that's why I've seen 704 and 708 and 710 and 711 literally drooling black lubricating oil down their sides two-thirds of the way back. Maybe that's why they haven't run alone since last tuesday, always doubled up with a 100-series P42 now. And the Lakeshore was canceled today because of "equipment shortages." I guess they didn't have enough superliners. One of these days they're going to lose more than one major corridor and realize some sort of funding may actually keep the trains running. Or we can just run superliners on the LSL permanently, maybe create an Albany-New York "spur train" like the Boston section has been for years now. No baggage car? No problem! Put it downstairs in the fire exit! No crew car? No problem! I'm sorry we don't have enough space for you to book a sleeper room anymore, and it would cost you $360 off-peak anyway. Recent experiences in Illinois has made Amtrak very touchy about weather-related cancellations, almost like they don't want to run the trains if there is an excuse. Since New York doesn't pick up the tab for any of the Empire Service trains, I can't exactly blame them. This climate change thing that people are suddenly believing in works both ways. Watch the video. Yes, it's getting warmer, but the transition from extreme warm and extreme cold is getting steeper. When this happens in weather, it turns into a front, and the fronts are separating areas of greater and lesser energy now than before, so extreme weather events are what are getting worse. Yes, there was no winter this year until last week, but look at the forecast. Today, low 3 high 22. Tomorrow, similar. Tuesday, low 10 high 31. Wednesday, back to 3 to 22 again. The differences are what are getting worse due to destabilization in the atmosphere.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
Just to concur with Amtrak 207's info: I was at the station Saturday picking up tickets for a future trip, and the Empire Service was still running at least 1-1/2 hours late, according to the ticket agent. Also, the Lakeshore Ltd was canceled; however, I believe it is running normally today (Monday).
Also, RRChina, my info also says that climate change is as Amtrak 207 describes--more severe weather conditions. And, in spite of the severity of winter storms, there is no question winters overall are getting warmer on average in my area--you can tell from the birds. We now have mockingbirds!
But, Amtrak 207, I'm confused about your saying New York does not pick up any of the tab for the Empire Service trains. I was under the impression New York gave a fair amount to that service (though maybe not to the Lakeshore Ltd). I recall a few years back when the legislature was slow on voting some moneys, there was talk that the service to Montreal was in jeopardy--until, in the end, they did vote the money and there was no service disruption. And at my train station and in others I've seen, there is a brochure touting the service, with lots of plugs for New York State places to visit--looks like a joint production involving the NY State Dept of Tourism to me!
Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :
All who are interested: I did not say that there was not an occurance of climate change. What I am saying is that these events have occured many times previously. We are in a mode where instant answers and gratifacation are expected and our news media types, mostly, are willing to jump aboard without investigation. They are now expected to fill our lives with info 24 hours a day and so too many take the easy way and just pass along what any loud group are saying (selling). A friend faciously says " it would seem that when we eliminated SUV's and heavy industry because the glaciers were receeding from Iowa we should have learned to never allow them to come back."
Some of the loud voices have agendas which they will not display because they know they would be rejected. News persons used to investigate and present without bias other science, historical data of similar occurances and other points of view; but with the 24 hour committment they now, too frequently, just pass along what is handed to them.
Posted by Amtrak207 (Member # 1307) on :
At first, I need to apologize because my previous information is obsolete. New York used to pay for the Adirondack north of Rensselaer only. Now, New York only pays for the Adirondack over its entire route (assumed within the US). There are three corridor trains each direction each day (Leaves to Toronto and previously-named trains from Niagara Falls) and around fourteen trains south of Rensselaer every day that are not getting any support for operating costs. No wonder the ticket prices are inflated. This has been going on for ages, and thanks to the extremely frustrating lawsuit between the Department of Transportation and Amtrak, nothing is getting done while Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maine, Oregon, Washington, North Carolina, Maryland, did I miss any? and Wisconsin continue to blow New York out of the water. Those states have faster trains. Those states have (by far) more reliable trains. Those states have more attractive trains with lower fares. The Empire corridor was one of the first state corridors operated by Amtrak, and since then is the ONLY one to remain entirely stagnant. These were the last trains in the country to run behind non-overhauled F40s and, when they quit operating reliably in PAIRS, P40s (which didn't last much longer) and truly ancient FL-9s. The turboliners were pulled out of service after they started lighting themselves on fire in Penn Station. Now it costs more for me to take a train back to visit my parents for the weekend, the station is 30 miles from their house, and last time my train was canceled and I took a bus back after missing a day of work. New York wants their turbos back. Come on, three out of seven trainsets were overhauled, and two of them even saw service! (for three months). Amtrak wants some kind of guarantee that they aren't going to have to foot the bill for outrageous operating costs, and no, they don't have the money. They didn't have money for the original agreement when they signed it, and that's why they are in court. They didn't have the money because Congress promised them funds in 1997 that they never provided. I have a copy of the 1994 High Speed Rail Master Plan and can assure you that (besides the turbos rusting to the rails in Deleware) NOTHING in that plan has been implemented. Take a look at the Empire Corridor schedule. A new express train from Rensselaer to Penn Station! Awesome! "Service to begin on a date to be determined." Like never. That one fell victim to the two parties being unable to work out their differences. So given a spot of bad weather and the usual clusterfrell with CSX, the proverbial plug gets pulled on the corridor trains very easily. Amtrak doesn't have to pay for the trains those days, in effect, cutting their losses. Amtrak can't afford to run the service (no Albany-New York corridor trains have even had food service since spring 2005) and New York doesn't consider it a priority (our new Governor has a long, long list of things to do before this) so nothing happens, still.
In defense of the 21000-series Amfleet I cars, when I rode in 21089 in November, aside from the upholstery I had no idea it was 30 years old. The car rode beautifully, the toilets actually worked, the temperature was actually comfortable, and it was clean. I believe that when the miracle-workers at Bear overhauled the other cars, they stockpiled the usable pieces for the older interior and applied those pieces to the remaining 21000s. Smart.
So what I'm saying is you get what you pay for. I think it's high time that Amtrak and New York kissed and made up. We have now lost three decades.