Amtrak, train #30, Capital Limited delays

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DairyStateDad

DairyStateDad

Mumbling in the corner
Thursday I will board a train in Chicago and ride to Washington, D.C., where I'll change to a train up to Wilmington, DE, to make a brief visit to family and take in my high school reunion over the weekend.

Well, Amtrak has told me (in 2 emails and 2 phone calls, at least) today that the train and its opposite-directionm counterpart have been running 4+ hours late lately because of freight traffic congestion. (NS and CSX, as I understand it.)

I see (at the Amtrak Train Status site) the train due in to DC today was 6 hours late.

It is what it is. I thought about heading out there a day early, but to do so would have cost me $100 more AND I would have had to cancel one class meeting in the class I teach. Decided it wasn't worth it.

This is *NOT* a "what shall I do" post. Like I say, it is what it is. I doubt anything I did now could improve things. I'll just simply be prepared -- physically as well as otherwise...:rolleyes: :)

I'm just curious if anyone has inside dope as to what has been causing all this "freight traffic congestion" on which the delays are being blamed.
 
DairyStateDad said:
I'm just curious if anyone has inside dope as to what has been causing all this "freight traffic congestion" on which the delays are being blamed.
Click to expand...
I don't know about any immediate reasons, but in the bigger picture; during the merger mania when they were having problems finding any freight to haul, many parallel routes were shut down, abandon, sold off, ripped up for scrap. Now with traffic, mostly from China to Walmart :p, the routes are all clogged up. Classic example was the Illinois Central that had a double double track (former Illinois Central double track and former Gulf Mobile & Ohio double track) main line from Chicago to New Orleans. In the 1990s(? I think) they converted it to a single track mainline. Oops.
 


Well...today the train got in to D.C. only 2 hours late! I hope that's a sign of progress, but I won't count on it
 
In North Dakota Amtrak and the farmers are blaming oil trains for the delays. BNSF says they are adding 55 miles of track in ND, turning single track into double track, and they really are doing that. In essence, what the BNSF has to do is replace what was done in the 1970s-replace what was ripped out. Well, if the traffic wasn't there then that used to be, why have it? No one could foresee the oil boom back then. It takes time and money to replace, and I kinda notice that the state of North Dakota and all these farmers and elevators aren't putting money into track improvements.....
 
I am not sure how our issues here around the Twin Ports and throughout Minnesota effect the eastern traffic, but there are major congestion issues going on. We have iron ore piled up and waiting to move, we have coal fired power plants shutting down because no coal supply, we have grain piled up from two years ago.

The narrative is that the oil is causing backups throughout the system. Maintenance is scheduled, expected, and should be built into the plans.

When I was taking the Empire Builder regularly, back in 2012, a 2 hour wait would have been welcome. On one trip the train was 11 hours late.
 
Passenger service sure isn't what it was years ago. Progress I guess. Back in the 50's and early 60's we rode the rails quite a bit from Montana towards Chicago and points east as there was no interstate highway system at the time, plus roads weren't anywhere as good as out crumbling highways are today. Not a lot of choice. We rode on both the Northern Pacifics North Coast Limited and the Milwaukee Roads Hiawatha. We were also luck as we always rode first class as we had relatives working on both railroads.

Back then the passenger train was king of the rails and it was a big issue with the railroad to BE ON TIME. Also the amenities, although not as modern as they are today, were top notch and the food was fantastic. I do remember that. (I managed to come across a cook book with meals served on the Northern Pacific, and we use it a lot). We no longer have passenger rail service through our area. AmTrack dropped the route across southern Montana that the North Coast Limited ran in favor of the high line route of the Great Northerns Empire Builder.

I have seen a few posts on different forums on different trips on AmTrack. They were interesting and had a lot of pictures. The service was good, but in some cases the food wasn't quite as good as the from scratch meals served years ago, but again, there were some delays and the train did not keep the on time schedule as passenger trains did years ago.

Keep us posted on tour trip. Thanks
 
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Tonight and tomorrow will be the real thing. I am in Chicago Union Station now, waiting to board yesterday and the day before, the delays into DC diminished considerably. Today, though, it crept up some (I have been checking the train status each day, mostly out of curiosity. We're boarding about 30 minutes from now....

Sent from the DairyStatePhone. Typoes and bad auto corrects included at no extra charge.
 


Montanan, I rode the train most semesters back and forth between eastern PA and Chicago from 1974 to 1978 when I attended college in Wisconsin. Delays were more common than on-time arrivals in those days. On the other hand, the Slumbercoach was only a little more expensive than coach. I didn't care much about being late.

Sent from the DairyStatePhone. Typoes and bad auto corrects included at no extra charge.
 
A friend of mine works for the BNSF, and he says they can't hire enough people fast enough and get them trained. So, rested crews would be one source of congestion-trains stack up in terminals for lack of rested crews.

I've heard the BNSF can't get locos fast enough, and is supposed to be leasing power. However, I haven't seen much in the way of leased power where I am, so I don't know where they would be using it.

Concerning the Twin Ports area, weren't there three railroads running from there to the Twin Cities at the time of the BN merger in 1970, Soo, GN and NP? Isn't the BNSF line, made up of parts of the GN and the NP lines put together, the only railroad now running between Duluth and the Twin Cities? Didn't the Soo's line get abandoned and turned into a bike trail? How much capacity was lost with the elimination of these two lines?

Crews, power, car supply and loss of trackage are the big reasons why there are capacity problems today.
 
Well we are now some two hours late already. But we can't blame freight congestion just yet. We had just left Chicago Union Station when the engineer reportedly encountered trouble with the locomotive. They spent nearly 2 hours fussing over it before deciding to bring in another engine instead. Now we are underway at last. Amtrak says we'll be about two hours late into Toledo. But only 3 minutes late into DC. Yeah, right. Even without any more delays, I don't see us making up that kind of time.

Sent from the DairyStatePhone. Typoes and bad auto corrects included at no extra charge.
 
I should be clear, though. I am not particularly cranky, personally, over this. I got a 1,000-word column written for a trade publication while waiting. I have been resigned to arriving late tomorrow, so I am just going to enjoy the ride. For now, off to the club car to see what kind of craft beer they have.

Sent from the DairyStatePhone. Typoes and bad auto corrects included at no extra charge.
 
Good morning, everyone. Approaching Pittsburgh in 35 minutes or so, about 3 hours behind schedule. Amtrak thinks we'll make up 45 minutes and get into DC only 2 hrs 15 minutes late. We'll see...

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The 4G network is intermittent here. So I don't know when this update will post. Had a nice breakfast of coffee and French toast. Dozed a bit. We're past Pittsburgh now, about 2 hrs West of Cumberland, MD. I should be grading student papers from the feature / magazine writing class I teach. In a bit...

Sent from the DairyStatePhone. Typoes and bad auto corrects included at no extra charge.
 
Just pulled out of Martinsburg, WV. about 1:45 from DC. Amtrak says we'll get there just before 4 pm. The conductor says 4:15. So I will go with the conductor's forecast. I missed the northeast regional train I was booked for up to Wilmington, DE, but there are plenty more. Most important, I will be able to get to Buckley's Tavern for tonight's class reunion bash, as well as tomorrow night's dinner.

Earlier today we went through amazing western Maryland scenery - - ravines, rock cuts, tunnels, and trees everywhere. That's the kind of thing I like about traveling this way.

Sent from the DairyStatePhone. Typoes and bad auto corrects included at no extra charge.
 


I wonder how much more it would cost to upgrade to the Acela

Sent from the DairyStatePhone. Typoes and bad auto corrects included at no extra charge.
 
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