CS to EB no longer bookable after April 1

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Was there ever an answer to the question about making this connection with an overnight on your own dime with AGR points?
 
If Amtrak does not resolve EB issues of freight tankers, then the ridership will drop to the point of discontinued service. Remember that train didn't run daily for a time. Do Glacier Park tourist want to return to Chicago at midnight with their children, then they are on their on to get to hotel at that time of night in order to continue to anywhere else in the US. Travel agencies trips to Glacier will have added expense going back east as it now requires overnight stays to get out of Chicago to anywhere. Again I say everyone should contact their US Rep or Senator Amtrak supporters and contact Sen Durbin. He fixed City of New Orleans few years back. How he did it I'm not sure, but somehow freight railroad got the point. No more dispatching freights in front of that train. It will run late sometimes, but due to other causes.
 
jebr said:
Just-Thinking-51 said:
It is reported on trainorders that a new timetable for the east bound Empire Builder is in the works that will break the connection from the North bound Coast Starlight. The posting is by Gene Poole, so it pretty high level of confidence.
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Will it restore connections to the trains in Chicago? If so, it'd be a decent tradeoff and one that I would approve of (assuming Amtrak has a clause to go back to the old schedule at a defined point in time.)
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As mentioned previously you can be certain that Amtrak will insist on the right to resume the current average delay in the future before they consider allowing any changes on behalf of BNSF.

tonys96 said:
Was there ever an answer to the question about making this connection with an overnight on your own dime with AGR points?
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Presumably on the days when the Empire Builder still runs the option to spend the night while connecting to or from another train on your own dime will remain. That being said it sounds like any long term resolutions that may be coming are probably several years away at this point.
 
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EB_OBS said:
As to the reason for breaking the CS to EB connections in Portland, the only thing I know is that the UPRR has an extensive bridge replacement plan and work going on throughout the month of April. This is causing busing between EUG and PDX and multi-hour delays. I've tried to get a solid reason for the break and this is all I could find out.
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Yup they did that this week on Mon & Tues for the CS.
 
I'm looking for Ottawa, Ontario or Montreal, Quebec to Lexington, Kentucky on April 3 to 9 for return back home 9th
 
Well here it is folks.

Amtrak is currently planning to adjust the schedule of the Empire Builder #8 & #28 three hours earlier from Seattle and Portland.

This is planned for April 15th - May 31st as of now.
 
EB_OBS said:
Well here it is folks.

Amtrak is currently planning to adjust the schedule of the Empire Builder #8 & #28 three hours earlier from Seattle and Portland.

This is planned for April 15th - May 31st as of now.
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Out of curiousity: is the entire schedule changing, or are they simply changing the schedule up to MSP (where they hand off to CP and eventually Metra) or some other point?
 
I don't have all the specifics yet but yes they are going to change the schedule to three hours earlier all the way to CHI.

Also, not mentioned in my first post is that #7 will depart MOT 90 minutes later. Will still leave CHI at the current time.
 
EB_OBS said:
Well here it is folks.

Amtrak is currently planning to adjust the schedule of the Empire Builder #8 & #28 three hours earlier from Seattle and Portland.

This is planned for April 15th - May 31st as of now.
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I have a scheduled trip Chicago-Los Angeles-Portland-Glacier Park trip planned for August. I hope the "as of now" means just that, from April 15th to May 31st only. We shall see, I guess.
 
Interesting. First thought is that this will make SEA-SPK and PDX-SPK much more appealing, for what that's worth.

OTOH, SEA/PDX-WFH means arriving into WFH at 0430, assuming the train is still running on time by that point (which it frequently is,

even under the current conditions). Not so nice for the vacation crowd. However, at this time of year you'd still mostly get a daylight

run over the Rockies eastbound.

It also makes for a very early morning departure (in theory) for MSP-CHI passengers, but since the train is generally running quite

late by that point, Amtrak probably doesn't even need to bother informing people with MSP-CHI reservations about the change, LOL.
 
And at the end of May, assuming both 8 and 28 are on time, it will still be light enough in Spokane that those of us who have longed for scheduled daylight service for Spokane will finally get our wish. :lol:
 
If this is accurate then #8 will ONLY be about 3 hours late into CHI on average (arriving around 7 PM). Not sure how that helps with any connections, other than the LSL and perhaps the CONO as well. They would still be too late for other connections.

Oh, well, I guess it's better than nothing as it means getting into CHI town at a fairly reasonable hour vs the midnight arrivals seen so often lately. Ugh, that means I have to get up really, really early to meet the train in WFH-bummer.....no more nice morning rides thru GNP while eating my breakfast.

:-(
 
JayPea said:
And at the end of May, assuming both 8 and 28 are on time, it will still be light enough in Spokane that those of us who have longed for scheduled daylight service for Spokane will finally get our wish. :lol:
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Well, you got a nice daylight run on 7/27 out of Spokane today!!! Only problem is that it wasn't supposed to be a daylight run.
 
I wish someone would notify me. Our trip (HOS-LAX-PDX-WFH) falls right in the middle of that window, but no one has notified me at all. I have a prepaid condo booked and airplane reservations for the return trip, both nonrefundable.
 
ehbowen said:
I wish someone would notify me. Our trip (HOS-LAX-PDX-WFH) falls right in the middle of that window, but no one has notified me at all. I have a prepaid condo booked and airplane reservations for the return trip, both nonrefundable.
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I don't think I would be waiting to be notified if you have a reservation coming up that quickly. I would contact AGR (if a member) or Amtrak right away. They may not have an answer but I would let them know that you are aware of the break in the same-day connection at PDX and the possible schedule change.
 
Empire Builder schedule:

Code: 
Westbound	Now             4/15 and after			
CHI	Dp	2:15 PM		2:15 PM	
MKE	Dp	3:55 PM		3:55 PM	
MSP	Dp	11:15 PM	11:15 PM	
FAR	Dp	3:55 AM		3:55 AM	
WTN	Dp	11:07 AM	11:42 AM	
WFH	Dp	9:16 PM		10:46 PM	
SPK	Ar	1:40 AM		3:10 AM	
PDX	Ar	10:10 AM	11:40 AM	
SEA	Ar	10:25 AM	11:55 AM	
				
Eastbound       Now             4/15 and after
SEA	Dp	4:40 PM		1:40 PM	
PDX	Dp	4:45 PM		1:40 PM	
SPK	Dp	1:30 AM		10:30 PM	
WFH	Dp	7:46 AM		4:46 AM	
WTN	Dp	7:09 PM		4:09 PM	
FAR	Dp	2:13 AM		1:43 AM	
MSP	Dp	7:50 AM		7:50 AM	
MKE	Ar	2:07 PM		2:07 PM	
CHI	Ar	3:55 PM		3:55 PM
 
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we are returning sfc-spk today. we had to spend a night in pdx on the way to sfc which was just extra expense and if we were returning after 4/1 and had to spend a second night in pdx we would have cancelled the trip. we are kind of stranded in spk as far as west coast or trips to the southwest as we won't do two forced layover days
 
ehbowen said:
I wish someone would notify me. Our trip (HOS-LAX-PDX-WFH) falls right in the middle of that window, but no one has notified me at all. I have a prepaid condo booked and airplane reservations for the return trip, both nonrefundable.
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I would imagine you should get an email today--I did first thing this AM with the new times...
 
Just got this for my reservations in April.

Our records indicate that your upcoming travel on reservation XXXXXX has been impacted by one or more schedule changes with the following details:

You will depart on Amtrak train number 1028 from Portland-OREGON on Tuesday April 15 at 1:40PM and arrive in Chicago-ILLINOIS on Thursday April 17 at 3:55PM.

Also received a recorded voice mail when I was out with the same information.
 
ehbowen said:
I wish someone would notify me. Our trip (HOS-LAX-PDX-WFH) falls right in the middle of that window, but no one has notified me at all. I have a prepaid condo booked and airplane reservations for the return trip, both nonrefundable.
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Check your spam folder.

If you still haven't received something by this evening, I'd call.
 
So who wants to backfit the new schedule to the last month's worth of timekeeping and see what we can expect for OTP under the new schedule?

I'm sure that's something that someone with a few spare moments can whip together. :D
 
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