#98 in the woods for 20 hours

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No he posted in the other topic regarding this matter that he wasn't on board either 92 or 98.
 
20 hours, that's nothing.

Survivor: 01/27/04 89 Palmetto - 34 hours late!
 
AmtrakFan said:
Amtrak should of taken the Train back to Savannah and find Buses to take them to another train and turn it around. Was OBS working this train? If he is I'm sure he will have a enough to write a book on it.
How would they have done that when the train hadn't been to SAV? There was a freaght train derailed in front of it. Maybe you meant "take the train back to JAX." If that is what you meant, most likely it was anticipated the line would be clear before that time. And obviously it wasn't. Anyway, I was not on either train #98/#92/#91/#97 and darn glad not to be either. I have my reasons. One of them being is the fact most folks don't share my ways of thinking. Decisions are made with the best information one has at the time, and sometimes a decision has been made before better info comes along. Most folks don't deal with that or those types of situations very well I have noticed all my career. I believe in that old "be here now and learn to let it go philosephy." Most folks don't have a clue on how to do "that." Hence making my other reasons personal and glad not to have been a part of these trains' little saga in SAV area! OBS...
 
I believe that was exactly the case OBS. Thus the trains being held in JAX til 4 in the morning. Keep the crews off duty so they don't die on the road, save fuel, keep the people in a place where they have access to food, phones, the ability to smoke, ATM, etc. I'm guessing CSX gave the all clear to move north and there was a hang up. This stuff happens. No one wants or expects it to happen, but you have to figure out the situation and deal with it to the best of your ability, and that's all anyone can ask. The fact that Amtrak was smart enough to hold in JAX has to say something. Would I have approached the situation different, possibly. I might've decided to go ahead and bus people, but if CSX is telling me I'm clear, I probably woul've run it as they did, it's a lot cheaper that way.
 
Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee said:
I believe in that old "be here now and learn to let it go philosephy." Most folks don't have a clue on how to do "that."
Aloha

My saying "The show must go on, deal with it, the 2000 in the Audience are waiting.
 
It seems to me that to use lack of information as an excuse, "in this day and age" is almost a crime. It looks more like no one person taking control of the situation. It is true that some passengers expectations are unrealistic, while it is also the case that some passengers are given misleading information about the probably questionable reliability of train time keeping etc.

We only hear when things go wrong, and it will always be the case that the media wants "a story"...Reporters are not going to make a name for themselves with a quote like "Yes we are on a train which is delayed, the staff are looking after us well, although we are all naturally annoyed at the delay..."

It strikes me too that people's imagination makes problems worse than they are..surely a helicopter could be used in a real medical emergeny, for example.

Giving out FREE food after a long stoppage should be within the power of the train crew, at the very least too!

Ed

B)
 
GG-1 said:
Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee said:
I believe in that old "be here now and learn to let it go philosephy." Most folks don't have a clue on how to do "that."
Aloha

My saying "The show must go on, deal with it, the 2000 in the Audience are waiting.
I'm on 98 now in Virginia. We're stopped at Woodbridge since someone forgot their medicine and had to be removed. We felt the effects of this...98(30) was 3hrs late out of miami as a result. We've lost more time since then. Were there cancellations/DH moves? I remember an empty Silver Service set around 3:30 am. One interesting thing was seeing 53, 91, and 98 each within 9 mins of one another south of PKA.

The derailment was literally just south of SAV, it was something else seeing some of those cars tilting on their sides.

We're probably just behind yesterday's 98...thank god we weren't on that one!
 
I've been watching all the TV newscasts on the 98's delay and I'm puzzled by the attitude of passengers interviewed by phone that Amtrak should have provided alternate transportation because of this derailment. Can anyone tell me the last time you saw an airline provide alternate transportation or lodging when the runways are shutdown, or Greyhound providing another ride when stuck in traffic on the Interstate highway due to a bad wreck? It's not Amtrak's fault this derailment occured and should have no obligation to put the passengers on buses.
 
Just as an FYI, Amtrak did actually try to get buses for those passengers. However, due to the holidays they were unable to get enough long distance coach buses to carry all the pax. Therefore no bussing was done, since there would have been no fair and equitable way to pick which pax got on the bus and which pax got to hang out with the train.
 
Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee said:
AmtrakFan said:
Amtrak should of taken the Train back to Savannah and find Buses to take them to another train and turn it around.   Was OBS working this train?   If he is I'm sure he will have a enough to write a book on it.
How would they have done that when the train hadn't been to SAV? There was a freaght train derailed in front of it. Maybe you meant "take the train back to JAX." If that is what you meant, most likely it was anticipated the line would be clear before that time. And obviously it wasn't. Anyway, I was not on either train #98/#92/#91/#97 and darn glad not to be either. I have my reasons. One of them being is the fact most folks don't share my ways of thinking. Decisions are made with the best information one has at the time, and sometimes a decision has been made before better info comes along. Most folks don't deal with that or those types of situations very well I have noticed all my career. I believe in that old "be here now and learn to let it go philosephy." Most folks don't have a clue on how to do "that." Hence making my other reasons personal and glad not to have been a part of these trains' little saga in SAV area! OBS...
OBS,

I did mean Jacksonville thanks for pointing it out.
 
Another FYI, it would appear that Amtrak cancelled yesterday's Auto Train due to the derailment problems and issues. Here's their official release:

Service Alert: Auto Train - Auto Train canceled today 12/30/05 and other Florida Service trains continue to experience extensive delays due to CSX freight train derailment in Savannah, Ga.
December 30, 2005

A CSX freight train derailment in Savannah, Ga., yesterday blocked tracks until 7:00 a.m. today, causing severe delays to a total of eight Amtrak trains. While trains are now moving through Savannah, delays will continue throughout the day today to trains operating to and from points Savannah southward to Florida.

As a result of this major delay, Amtrak's Auto Train, which carries passengers and their automobiles between Lorton, Va. and Sanford, Fla., is canceled today. Auto Train will resume service Saturday, December 31, on its regular schedule.

Other Amtrak Florida Service trains, the Silver Meteor and Silver Star, will operate today, but are subject to delayed departures.
Ps. The full press release can be found here.
 
caravanman said:
It seems to me that to use lack of information as an excuse, "in this day and age" is almost a crime. It looks more like no one person taking control of the situation.
Ed you do have to remember something though, there's a lot of communication that has to happen for info to get from point A to point B. The Foreman on the ground in SAV is giving his managers and dispatchers in JAX status updates about conditions, estimated time of completion, etc. Then the CSX managers review the information and location of other trains with crews already on the road to determine how they're going to thread everyone through, and in what order. Obviously Amtrak is factored into those decisions. Once CSX has a game plan in place they talk to either CNOC or the Superintendents in JAX and let them know what their game plan is. Once they get the signals to roll out, they do, and there's not much that can be done about that.

Giving out FREE food after a long stoppage should be within the power of the train crew, at the very least too!
Well that would be dandy, except what warrants a stoppage long enough to give out revenue food. Accounting for revenue food vs. the same stuff that just went non revenue would be a pretty big pain in the butt for the LSA's. This is why the non-rev soda's come in the smaller 8 oz cans to make it easier to count everything. If non-rev food is going to be given out, it's going to come from an outside vendor, just as they've done in years past, with management making that decision.
 
You know it's interesting to read the different articles. Some of the organizations paint a very bleak picture of the situation, while others paint a prettier picture. Who's right? Who's sensationalizing or diluting the story? How often does this happen with the everyday news we watch and read. :unsure:
 
AmtrakFan said:
Arrived 28 Hours late into New York...
Well, that beats my 24 hour late arrival into MIA on #97 back in 2002 by a mere four hours!! :lol: OBS...
 
battalion51 said:
You know it's interesting to read the different articles. Some of the organizations paint a very bleak picture of the situation, while others paint a prettier picture. Who's right? Who's sensationalizing or diluting the story? How often does this happen with the everyday news we watch and read. :unsure:
All the time.

News is but one persons inturpretation of whatever the events were.
 
Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee said:
AmtrakFan said:
Arrived 28 Hours late into New York...
Well, that beats my 24 hour late arrival into MIA on #97 back in 2002 by a mere four hours!! :lol: OBS...
I think my record is a 15 hour 97 that I picked up when the crew died on the law.
 
Mine is 27 hrs. late on the Desert Wind(36)/Zephyr(6) into Chicago. We hit a boulder out in the Mohave, tore up one of the traction motors on the lead unit and punctured a hole in the fuel tank of the trailing unit. We all ended up spending the night in the Union Plaza and picked up the next train through. They combined the equipment and sent it east.
 
Don't hold me to this but what supposedly happened to cause the derailment, according to the conductor working 98(30) from FLO to WAS:

1) An individual operating a street cleaner for a Wal Mart parking lot fell asleep at the switch and ended up on the tracks

2) Believing that no serious damage had occured, the cleaner was simply removed from the track

3) In reality it through the gauge off causing the train to derail

Again this is what the conductor told me, so I am asking if anyone has heard this as the cause or whether this is in fact inaccurate. Under federal law the freight cars can't be put back into service and must be placed on the side of the tracks and scrapped there.
 
Well I guess we'll hear from the NTSB if that had anything to do with it. I didn't realize though that freight cars had to be scrapped after they went on the ground though. Learn something new everyday.
 
battalion51 said:
Well I guess we'll hear from the NTSB if that had anything to do with it. I didn't realize though that freight cars had to be scrapped after they went on the ground though. Learn something new everyday.
Aloha

In 1976 when I was on tour with Ice Capades when our special Bagage cars went on the ground outside of Chicago. We had to unload them to trucks as the cars had to be moved at speed less than 10 mph to an inspection facility to be "magafluxed" to find out if there were cracks in any part of the car. The Offical cause we were the first train on replacement tracks that were "over gage"

We got the cars back 3 weeks later, used them about 3 more weeks untill Salt Lake City where the Show went to trucks permanantly.
 
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