Bridge Collapse Outside of Indy

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Nothing like getting to wake up in CIN at 2-3 AM to get on a bus!
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What is really scary is that this kind of thing is likely to continue to occur, since we are falling farther and farther behind in infrastructure maintenance in this country.

Congress: are you paying attention?
 
((sigh)) In addition to dealing with whether or not my trip on the EB will happen I now have to worry about middle of the night bustitution on the Cardinal to get to the EB in two weeks.

Anyone want to take a guess at how long this will disrupt service? Are there alternate routes between Cinci and Indy that the Card could take?
 
The railroads actually do a pretty good job of keeping up their own infrastructure.
 
Trogdor said:
The railroads actually do a pretty good job of keeping up their own infrastructure.
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Point taken, Trogdor. I saw the news piece and jumped to the conclusion that the bridge was a municipal or state maintained right of way, but it makes sense if it is rail only then it is maintained by the railroad.

I am still concerned about our infrastructure, because of reading about decaying systems of roads and bridges. I do hoppe we can maintain things rather than continuing to think of the bottom line on short term time-lines, i.e. fiscal quarter-years.
 
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jb64 said:
((sigh)) In addition to dealing with whether or not my trip on the EB will happen I now have to worry about middle of the night bustitution on the Cardinal to get to the EB in two weeks.

Anyone want to take a guess at how long this will disrupt service? Are there alternate routes between Cinci and Indy that the Card could take?
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It is reported at Trainorders that the bus bridge around the derailment site in Indiana will be suspended starting this week with no alternate transportation. Westbound trains will terminate at Cincinnati. Eastbound trains will terminate at Indianapolis. Nothing will run between CIN and IND. This will eliminate through service on the Cardinal. The service suspension will be at least through the end of the month.

A check of Amtrak.com supports this report. Starting with the July 13 departure from New York and through to the end of the month, the Cardinal is shown as "sold out" for through trips, but has availability for trips westbound to CIN and eastbound to IND.
 
I hope that they can get that fixed soon!

I had planned my first trip on the Cardinal in a sleeper from CHI to NYP for the 19th of July, but then I saw a bedroom open on the Coast Starlight (which had been my first choice for a July trip) and I changed plans. Now I'm especially glad that I did! (Although with the streak of bad luck Amtrak's had, there's no route that doesn't seem at risk of a service disruption in the next few weeks!)
 
The former B&O/CH&D route that Amtrak uses from Indianapolis to Cincinnati had not seen pasenger train service for many years when Amtrak started using this line. The more direct route, former New York Central/Big Four line through Shelbyville, Greensburg and Batesville which was used by Amtrak in the early to mid 1970s has been abandoned in various places. Its unfortunate that the entire line from Kankakee through Indianapolis to Cincinnati was not purchased by a public entity as it would have been perfect for a highspeed rail line. The NYC fast trains made the 302 mile run from Chicago to Cincinnati in less than 6 hours in the 1950s. The line was flat and trains could travel at a fairly high speed.
 
I called Amtrak to inquire about the bus-bridge and agent confirmed that since we were already booked, we would be accomodated. I don't believe that they are selling any more seats/rooms but existing reservations will be accomodated by the bus bridge. I asked about changing my reservation to take NER or Crescent from Charlottesville to WAS and then Cap Ltd, but they did not have enough rooms for us on the Cap Ltd. I also asked about some kind of refund since we would not be sleeping in a bed for most of the night but riding a bus and she said someone would be contacting me about that. Guess it will be a long night.
 
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The bus ride from Cincinnati to Indianapolis can't be longer than two hour. If they let you in your sleeper in Indianapolis you will have two and a half to three hours until the train departs, unless you wait in Cincinnati.
 
spot1181 said:
The bus ride from Cincinnati to Indianapolis can't be longer than two hour. If they let you in your sleeper in Indianapolis you will have two and a half to three hours until the train departs, unless you wait in Cincinnati.
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Alas, Amtrak isn't running sleepers on the Indy side of things. It's coach only between Indianapolis & Chicago.

Sleepers are running on the NY to Cinci side however.
 
AlanB said:
spot1181 said:
The bus ride from Cincinnati to Indianapolis can't be longer than two hour. If they let you in your sleeper in Indianapolis you will have two and a half to three hours until the train departs, unless you wait in Cincinnati.
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Alas, Amtrak isn't running sleepers on the Indy side of things. It's coach only between Indianapolis & Chicago.

Sleepers are running on the NY to Cinci side however.
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Hmmm, she didn't tell me that part. I was hoping to be able to crawl back into bed. Also, what will they do about breakfast? Will I now be paying for a breakfast out of the cafe car?
 
jb64 said:
Hmmm, she didn't tell me that part. I was hoping to be able to crawl back into bed. Also, what will they do about breakfast? Will I now be paying for a breakfast out of the cafe car?
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Sorry, I don't have any info on what they're doing about breakfast. My guess & hope would be that they'll have you show your ticket stub and that you'd still get something for free. But I just don't know, much less do I know if will be the normal breakfast that a sleeping car pax would get or just standard cafe items.
 
How about testing the market during this service interruption for a different (civilized) schedule to from Cinci. For instance, C&O's George Washington left NY at 1:30pm, Wash at 6:00pm and arrived Cinci at 8:00am. Yes I know this would be middle of the night for WV points, but I do believe the Cincinnati area has a far bigger population. While it would not be possible to connect to Chicago, that appears to be a moot point if the report above is accurate that no alternate transportation would be provided starting next week.
 
palmland said:
How about testing the market during this service interruption for a different (civilized) schedule to from Cinci. For instance, C&O's George Washington left NY at 1:30pm, Wash at 6:00pm and arrived Cinci at 8:00am. Yes I know this would be middle of the night for WV points, but I do believe the Cincinnati area has a far bigger population. While it would not be possible to connect to Chicago, that appears to be a moot point if the report above is accurate that no alternate transportation would be provided starting next week.
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It's not that easy to change a train's schedule, especially for a limited period of time. Also I believe the Cardinal operates under a piece of legislation that requires the West Virginia towns be served at reasonable hours of the day.
 
I had planned on taking this train from Philly to Indy in mid August, guess I won't now as I can't see them repairing the tracks and completely rebuilding a bridge that quickly. The derailment really must be hurting Amtrak.
 
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