Amtrak - Do something about the Sunset NOW

[Guest_Fan_Trains]

Amtrak absolutely has to stop abusing the people on this route. There are two options: Scrap the whole thing or try to piece together an alternative route.

One possibility is to keep the train on its current east of Houston. This still subjects it to some UP abuse in Texas--maybe throw in some padding. West of Houston run it up to Temple on the BNSF and west through Sweetwater, Lubbock, Clovis and Belen; thence onto the Southwest Chief route. You might be able to serve Albuquerque if there is some way to turn the train. I figure that even on padded schedule you could get #1 into L.A. in the early afternoon, better.

The point is: HELLO?! Amtrak? DO SOMETHING. NOW.

 

[Anthony]

Well, I don't think it's Amtrak abusing the passengers, as much as it is those in charge of the factors delaying the train (e.g., freight railroads)... :lol:

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Funny thing, I just checked and the current westbound left New Orleans on time(I almost fell out of my chair) and the current teastbound, heading toward El Paso, is about four hours late, which for the SL is basicailly on time.

Of course that train that left NOL on time was probably from about a week ago .

 

[haolerider]

The reality is that the passengers don't care who is at fault.....all they know is that they are late, missing connecitons, meetings, events, etc. They bought their tickets from Amtrak and expect to fulfill their expectations - without excuses.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

If Amtrak knows they can't deliver those pax where and when they promised , (that's what pax consider the timetable to be, give or take some REASONABLE delays) then they should cancel the route or do whatever it takes to modify it so that they CAN deliver at least approximate OTP. Current Sunset performance is a pure disaster. Yes, sure, there's lots of caveats stated in timetables and so forth about trains not necessarily arriving on time. There's still an expectation by pax that if you show a schedule, you imply that you will at least come close to meeting it. And Sunset doesn't. If it's faster half the time (or better), to go LAX-CHI-NOL, than in it is LAX-NOL, and nothing you can do on the current route can even remedy it a little, it's time for something drastic. What, I dunno. The current situation can't do anything but alienate the pax. Do that enough and that's death to Amtrak.

 

[Musicians4Trains]

If Amtrak knows they can't deliver those pax where and when they promised , (that's what pax consider the timetable to be, give or take some REASONABLE delays) then they should cancel the route or do whatever it takes to modify it so that they CAN deliver at least approximate OTP.  Current Sunset performance is a pure disaster. Yes, sure, there's lots of caveats stated in timetables and so forth about trains not necessarily arriving on time. There's still an expectation by pax that if you show a schedule, you imply that you will at least come close to meeting it.  And Sunset doesn't.  If it's faster half the time (or better), to go LAX-CHI-NOL, than in it is LAX-NOL, and nothing you can do on the current route can even remedy it a little, it's time for something drastic.  What, I dunno.  The current situation can't do anything but alienate the pax.  Do that enough and that's death to Amtrak.

I agree with Amtrak. I have learned to NEVER take the Sunset Ltd going east. I do take it going from NOL to LAX. Whenever I go to ATL now, I always take the Chief to CHO then the City of New Orleans.

 

[Guest]

Why not the easiest fix? Change the timetables to reflect a true normal trip on the Sunset. That way people know going into it what times to expect. That may be a bandaid, but I can't see a quick way to fix the wound, and something should be done fast.

 

[engine999]

Im thinking a temporary suspension of service east of nol. The sunset runs with average delays (less then 3 hours normally) on csx's trackage so it would be a waste to cancel the whole route.

Another option is have service from orl-nol and the Sas-LAX leg. Have a bus bridge between the trains for now. This could eleviate some of the magor problems around the huston area.

 

[Trogdor]

First of all, cancelling any service, or rerouting any service, would require a 180-day train-off notice.

Secondly, by cancelling/rerouting the route, it would tell anti-passenger freight roads that all they have to do to get rid of Amtrak is to massively delay the trains.

Amtrak management knows there is a problem, but there's not much they can do. Adding tons of schedule padding is impractical, because the delays occur at different points along the route, and even then, trains can get massively delayed. What are you going to do, add an extra 24 hours of padding onto the end and hope that's enough?

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Why not the easiest fix? Change the timetables to reflect a true normal trip on the Sunset. That way people know going into it what times to expect. That may be a bandaid, but I can't see a quick way to fix the wound, and something should be done fast.

Guest, actually I think this has already been done, I thnk the schedule has already been significantly slowed down.

Note, for example, the padding of about an hour westbound from Pomona into LA.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

Open your eyes the blame on these delays are from no other then th UP RR until they get there act togather the Sunset Ltd will have these delays.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Well, let's see. If they adjusted the schedule for the average number of hours spent on each siding, maybe they should just augment the kind of nature talks by the park rangers they already have sometimes in the national park program, and have some actual field trips, based on the sidings most often used, for an hour or two, exploring the countryside in the vicinity of the siding. Market Sunset as a rail-based safari. The motto, of course would have to be:

What UP?!

:lol:

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

There is a thread entitled "It Has Been A Long Summer" here on the forum. It contains a link to the letter David Gunn wrote to us (employees) in the latest issue of "Amtrak Ink." Those who are intersted should read it when they get a chance.

Mr Gunn is already doing something about the "Sunset Limited" as well as other trains when problems arise. I noticed he specified the "Sunset Limited's" OTP as well as the general OTP for long distance trains. In other words he has made it clear (to me at least), Amtrak will do whatever is necessary where the situation is under it's control. Expect more cancellations/annullments to that particular train in the future. I expect that scenario to be the "route" the company will take in order to take some control in the situation which exists (extreme poor OTP). It is not necessarily a great option, but if there are no passengers to be involved in the situation, then that part of the problem is solved at least. A train isn't late if it didn't operate. Now as far as operating the service itself, I don't foresee any 180 day cancelation notices of service on that route. I just expect some annullments every so often to control situations such as equipment placement, OTP (possibly) etc. Anyway the wind blows, it is a very sad situation as a whole.

Now in the long run I have a feeling the "Sunset" route will be broken into two sections with NOL the terminating station for both directions. Florida to NOL and LAX to NOL. But that remains to be seen as this is just my opinion. I, as a Floridian, hope the jobs remain in Florida instead of NOL or LAX. The "Silver Service" trains are all staffed with Florida OBS crews. The "Auto Train" is staffed with Lorton OBS crews. And currently, the Sunset Limited is staffed with LAX OBS crews. And T&E crews are a different story, but I don't particularly want to see any reduction of them either. We'll see what happens whan it does! h34r:

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

So to your quote, Guest_Fan_Trains,

"The point is: HELLO?! Amtrak? DO SOMETHING. NOW."

I hope the preceding illustrates to you Amtrak "IS" doing something! David Gunn has responded, and I already see action being taken. And it is not necessarly good for Amtrak nor the passengers! At this point in time, what other choice(s) does Mr Gunn have where he has control? We'll see what else happens later down the line!

h34r:

 

[AlanB]

Amtrak Obs,

Thanks for that post. You correctly pointed out that Amtrak is doing what little they can do to try and fix the Sunset problem. Sadly there really isn't a whole lot that they can do, and cancelling the train forever, only gives the freight RR's more reason to delay Amtrak so that further train off's occur.

The real answer here, is that Congress must step up to the plate and give David Gunn some real ammunition to fire at the RR's. Like heavy fines for failure to keep Amtrak on time. Then Amtrak can use that money to compensate the passengers that were delayed.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Well Alan, I mentioned that in a previous thread earlier in the week. So again, great point you make! It directly proves what I had previously mentioned, that in the long run, Amtraks future will be entirely up to Congress! Otherwise, David Gunn will shut it down. He has made that clear to us employees. He won't do that without going down fighting, though! I just pray the Lord will bless us accordingly within His will ( I'll throw my faith in here a little..... LOL)!

 

[battalion51]

I personally think the true answer is for the Feds to takeover dispatching the same way the FAA does for the airlines. There's no prejudice for one airline over another, and the same should hold true on the rails.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

I personally think the true answer is for the Feds to takeover dispatching the same way the FAA does for the airlines. There's no prejudice for one airline over another, and the same should hold true on the rails.

Please elaborate!

I, personally, don't agree with that statement! But I may be missing something in the point you make.

 

[engine999]

I personally think the true answer is for the Feds to takeover dispatching the same way the FAA does for the airlines. There's no prejudice for one airline over another, and the same should hold true on the rails.

Thats tricky, amtrak aside shouldnt the railroad have the right to dispatch the tracks it owns. The airlines do not own the skies, but it is in US airspace, so the feds dispatch them. I know we want amtrak on time but at some point giving priority to another companies run through(freight) on your mainline dose not seem fair. The freight railroads should give amtrak priority because afterall amtrak saves them alot of money, because they dont have to provide pax service.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

I personally think the true answer is for the Feds to takeover dispatching the same way the FAA does for the airlines. There's no prejudice for one airline over another, and the same should hold true on the rails.

Thats tricky, amtrak aside shouldnt the railroad have the right to dispatch the tracks it owns. The airlines do not own the skies, but it is in US airspace, so the feds dispatch them. I know we want amtrak on time but at some point giving priority to another companies run through(freight) on your mainline dose not seem fair. The freight railroads should give amtrak priority because afterall amtrak saves them alot of money, because they dont have to provide pax service.

Well, this is more on the lines of my thinking, too. But I would like Bat51 to elaborate a little more with the point he is tryin' to make. If he is exactly making the point "the Feds should take over," then I can't go along with that. I wouldn't want someone coming in to tell me how I can dispatch the trains which run on "my" tracks either. For instance, why should CSXT have to give that right to dispatch their trains on their own tracks?

 

[Amfleet]

IMHO, it's not so much the dispatching. It's more of a problem of capacity and how to get all trains (freight and passenger) over the road efficently and on schedule. The problems experienced by the UP and CSX is that they've got a deteriating infrastructure of signals and tracks. On many lines there's just not enough room to get the demand of trains through.

 

[engine999]

The problem is/was that the csx and up never expected a sharp increase in rail traffic 10 years ago. Even knowing up if they knew there would be a dramatic rail traffic increase they would probably increase capacity on key lines. Railroads are deregulated so they were free to downsize their system over the years due to higher mantence costs. Now they pay for what seemed like a good decision at the time. Look at up it has unhappy customers and lost revenues.