As you may or may not know, the potential exists for a major snowstorm to affect the Northeast Corridor and Keystone Corridor this Friday and Saturday. Some forecasts (which may be overhyped) call for blizzard conditions and 1-2 feet of snow. How does Amtrak deal with this type of weather? I have a trip scheduled from Elizabethtown, PA to New York Saturday, returning Sunday afternoon. Should I be concerned?
Jan 2016 NEC/East Blizzard (was How does Amtrak handle snowstorms?)
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Ryan
Court Jester
Can you leave early?
Up to a point, the snow is ok. The weakest link is the catenary wires that power the train. If they come down, that's the end of it.
Up to a point, the snow is ok. The weakest link is the catenary wires that power the train. If they come down, that's the end of it.
Amtrak is at the "mercy" of the host railroad they are traveling over. If the host RR shuts the line down, its shut down.
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OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
It is the Host Railroad that makes the call on this, and I would imagine Amtrak is also quick to shut down the Northeast Corridor if conditions get dangerous.
Then Amtrak makes the call.
I can only speak to the NEC between Washington and New York. If the snow gets bad they'll run about a half schedule. However they haven't completely shutdown for snow. I'm not sure about the Keystone corridor but they might cancel a train.
Acela150
Super Buff
I'll put it this way. Last year pretty much this time too, I was traveling RTE-PHL. I got word my original train was axed. I took a one hour earlier train. There was a foot of snow that day and my Acela was running track speed.
On top of that the weather forecasters here are saying that the forecast is very unpredictable currently. It will either be rain or snow in the Philly to NY corridor. Right now I would take it as it comes and pay attention to the forecasts.
On top of that the weather forecasters here are saying that the forecast is very unpredictable currently. It will either be rain or snow in the Philly to NY corridor. Right now I would take it as it comes and pay attention to the forecasts.
west point
Engineer
Believe that Amtrak reduces its schedule so there is not as much over the road switching. That way it can concentrate its signal maintainers at those points where crossovers essential for dispatch.
JoeBas
Conductor
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You do understand the definition of the word "could", right? :huh: :giggle:
JoeBas
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For this storm, it doesn't look like rain is very likely. It's going to be snow, only question is how much. It's much more likely that the storm track far enough south/east that it misses entirely than it track north/west enough to give rain instead of snow for the corridor.
JoeBas
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The simple fact is, snow USED to be a lot less of an issue, because the railroads had the staffing to deal with it.
Now, they don't, and it's a much bigger issue. Not as bad as the airlines, but still bad enough.
west point
Engineer
Loss of passengers unable to get to trains due to snow may also be reason to cancel some trains. Why run a train with 20% load factor ?
VentureForth
Engineer
If there was only the origin and the terminal, you may have a point. But 1-2 feet of snow isn't debilitating. Not to mention, there are more stops in between, and also let's not forget the proper positioning of the equipment for the next run.
Acela150
Super Buff
Right now as the weather is on, on the local ABC channel their models are looking between 6-18 inches and they said that it could change again up to 9 times. So I wouldn't expect a major shut down. More so as people will be trying to fly and those flights could get cancelled and Amtrak would be the only decent option.
OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
My philosophy is always Expect the Worst and Prepare For The Worst. That way you minimize your chances of getting caught short in a worst case scenario and increase your chances of surviving.
JoeBas
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Its a snow storm, in a climatologically usual region for a winter snowstorm, in a country that most people consider to be fairly civilized. Regardless of whether he stays or goes, I highly doubt he's going to run into a situation where Shackleton meets the passengers from Alive...
I'm also watching and taking a wait and see approach. As of now I'm planning my usual trip home to Baltimore this weekend but I'm slightly concerned that I'll have problems getting back to NY Sunday evening. I'll decide later this week, I guess.
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