EB * Delays West of Devil's Lake

[jmbgeg]

GFK * * 2 452A * 639A Departed: 1 hour and 47 minutes late.

* DVL * * 2 613A * 844A Departed: 2 hours and 31 minutes late.

* RUG * * 2 707A * 1001A Departed: 2 hours and 54 minutes late.

* MOT 2 834A 2 906A 1113A 1212P Departed: 3 hours and 6 minutes late.

* STN * * 2 957A * 102P Departed: 3 hours and 5 minutes late.

* WTN * * 2 1107A * 220P Departed: 3 hours and 13 minutes late.

* WPT * * 2 1141A * 354P Departed: 4 hours and 13 minutes late.

* GGW * * 2 1226P * 441P Departed: 4 hours and 15 minutes late.

* MAL * * 2 125P * 615P Departed: 4 hours and 50 minutes late.

* HAV 2 239P 2 304P 736P 819P Departed: 5 hours and 15 minutes late.

SBY 2 517P 2 522P MT

 

[JayPea]

Just an educated guess, but it's probably a combination of slow orders and a backlog of freight traffic.

 

[jmbgeg]

Just an educated guess, but it's probably a combination of slow orders and a backlog of freight traffic.

Can we ever predict when to get to the station in SPK?

 

[JayPea]

Just an educated guess, but it's probably a combination of slow orders and a backlog of freight traffic.

Can we ever predict when to get to the station in SPK?

That's a good question, and, unfortunately, I'm not the right person to ask, as I come from a long line of Nervous Nellie's and fussbudgets on my mother's side of the family :lol: and usually end up at the station hours before the arrival of the EB. (Ya never know. I could end up in a wreck or broke down along 195. Anything could happen in that hour between CFX and SPK!!!!!!!) It's been my experience, though, that I use its status at Whitefish as a gauge. It usually doesn't lose much if any time between Whitefish and Spokane and usually even in conditions as it has had most of the spring gains a bit of time.

 

[TraneMan]

What's going on? I see #8(23) is in service disruption.

 

[PRR 60]

What's going on? I see #8(23) is in service disruption.

Looks like inbound #7/27 was terminated at Spokane. Outbound #8/28 pax bused to Spokane. When that happens, the status for #8/28 shows a disruption.

 

[albertaborn]

What happens to westbound PAX if EB # 7 is terminated at Spokane - bussed to SEA? How long is that bus trip? Another Nervous Nellie, here! Three weeks till we board at SBY for SEA. and like to have a handle on all possibilities and have alternate plans ready, just in case.

 

[Donald M]

I also wonder how Amtrak handles busing if the westbound EB turns at Spokane. Assuming the EB is 4 hours late, what would the Seattle bus arrival time be? Also, do the sleeper passengers go on the first buses or is it a mad rush?

All this busing reminds me of the elimination of the urban rail transit systems that was sponsored by the bus manufacturers. Maybe they want Amtrak to switch to buses.

 

[jmbgeg]

Just an educated guess, but it's probably a combination of slow orders and a backlog of freight traffic.

Can we ever predict when to get to the station in SPK?

That's a good question, and, unfortunately, I'm not the right person to ask, as I come from a long line of Nervous Nellie's and fussbudgets on my mother's side of the family :lol: and usually end up at the station hours before the arrival of the EB. (Ya never know. I could end up in a wreck or broke down along 195. Anything could happen in that hour between CFX and SPK!!!!!!!) It's been my experience, though, that I use its status at Whitefish as a gauge. It usually doesn't lose much if any time between Whitefish and Spokane and usually even in conditions as it has had most of the spring gains a bit of time.

I always watch Amtrak Status Maps West to monitor arrivals.

 

[jmbgeg]

What happens to westbound PAX if EB # 7 is terminated at Spokane - bussed to SEA? How long is that bus trip? Another Nervous Nellie, here! Three weeks till we board at SBY for SEA. and like to have a handle on all possibilities and have alternate plans ready, just in case.

Yes, they bustitute SPK to SEA and SPK to PDX for 7 and 27 passengers. The bus trip can be as short as 6 hours, but no longer than 8.

 

[jmbgeg]

I also wonder how Amtrak handles busing if the westbound EB turns at Spokane. Assuming the EB is 4 hours late, what would the Seattle bus arrival time be? Also, do the sleeper passengers go on the first buses or is it a mad rush?

All this busing reminds me of the elimination of the urban rail transit systems that was sponsored by the bus manufacturers. Maybe they want Amtrak to switch to buses.

There is no priority given sleeper passengers on the busses.

 

[Karan]

my husband and I are taking the EB in early September in an accessible sleeper. He travels with his electric wheelchair. If we have to bus to Seattle, do the buses have the capacity to take his chair?

 

[JayPea]

Last month, on one of the few days the EB ran its entire Chicago-Seattle/Portland run, I was to board in Spokane, bound for Seattle. The train was as much as 7 hours late at Havre, and I got a phone call stating that there would be a bus running from Spokane to Seattle. When I asked if the train was still going to run to Seattle anyway, the Amtrak rep seemed shocked that I'd asked, and took several minutes to find the answer. Turns out the train would still run to Seattle, but I had an option for the bus also. I opted for taking a train that ended up about 5 hours and change late instead of an on-time bus. This was the day before the EB was suspended for almost a month, so I don't know if that made a difference as to whether I had the option of a bus or a train to Seattle. As far as I'm concerned, since I didn't have any connections to make in Seattle except with my pillow in my Seattle hotel :lol: an hours-late train trumped the bus!!!!

I always use the status maps as well. One of the best Amtrak-related finds online I've found (along with this board).

 

[gn2276]

The reason that the Builder is bused from Spokane to Seattle if the train is more then 6 hours late is the east bound train can leave Spokane on time with bussing from Seattle because the bus trip takes a shorter time then the train as it runs stright east on I-90.

 

[JayPea]

The reason that the Builder is bused from Spokane to Seattle if the train is more then 6 hours late is the east bound train can leave Spokane on time with bussing from Seattle because the bus trip takes a shorter time then the train as it runs stright east on I-90.

I would guess that to accomodate passengers to/from Everett, Leavenworth, and Wenatchee, the bus would travel along Highway 2 (not sure what route it would use to get to Edmonds), then follow highway 28 to Ephrata, and drop down to I-90 from there, intersecting I-90 at George. (For those not up on their Washington state geography, there is an actual town along I-90 called George.) <_<

 

[jmbgeg]

The reason that the Builder is bused from Spokane to Seattle if the train is more then 6 hours late is the east bound train can leave Spokane on time with bussing from Seattle because the bus trip takes a shorter time then the train as it runs stright east on I-90.

I would guess that to accomodate passengers to/from Everett, Leavenworth, and Wenatchee, the bus would travel along Highway 2 (not sure what route it would use to get to Edmonds), then follow highway 28 to Ephrata, and drop down to I-90 from there, intersecting I-90 at George. (For those not up on their Washington state geography, there is an actual town along I-90 called George.) <_<

Straight line Wenatchee-SEA would be nice but they have a lot of Everett passengers. :blink:

 

[JayPea]

The reason that the Builder is bused from Spokane to Seattle if the train is more then 6 hours late is the east bound train can leave Spokane on time with bussing from Seattle because the bus trip takes a shorter time then the train as it runs stright east on I-90.

I would guess that to accomodate passengers to/from Everett, Leavenworth, and Wenatchee, the bus would travel along Highway 2 (not sure what route it would use to get to Edmonds), then follow highway 28 to Ephrata, and drop down to I-90 from there, intersecting I-90 at George. (For those not up on their Washington state geography, there is an actual town along I-90 called George.) <_<

Straight line Wenatchee-SEA would be nice but they have a lot of Everett passengers. :blink:

Yes, and there could be a passenger or two who would want to board/get off at Leavenworth. When I was bustituted from Portland to Spokane last month, we could have gone I-84 along the Oregon shore of the Columbia River for its entire length to its intersection with I-82 (which leads to Pasco) but for four passengers who wished to get off at Bingen/White Salmon. So we had to cross the river there for those passengers and follow the two-lane highway on the Washington side until the next bridge over the river, where we crossed again onto I-84. Fortunately there were no passengers for Wishram so we were able to avoid that stop.

 

[jb64]

I was on the 7/27(23) and we were 8 hours late into WGL. We spent forever in North Dakota on Sidings and according to the conductor, dispatchers were not even answering his calls when he would try to check the status. They were forever putting us in the sidings and we sat there for a while. BNSF was not being very cooperative, at all. I understand there is still a lot of freight congestion. Crew took very good care of all of us and passengers were, for the most part, calm and collected about the delays.

Trip report will be posted when I get home early next week.

jb64

 

[The Cardinal]

my husband and I are taking the EB in early September in an accessible sleeper. He travels with his electric wheelchair. If we have to bus to Seattle, do the buses have the capacity to take his chair?

It should. Every AMTRAK bus I have been on has a "lift" for people in wheelchairs or scooters.

 

[jmbgeg]

The reason that the Builder is bused from Spokane to Seattle if the train is more then 6 hours late is the east bound train can leave Spokane on time with bussing from Seattle because the bus trip takes a shorter time then the train as it runs stright east on I-90.

I would guess that to accomodate passengers to/from Everett, Leavenworth, and Wenatchee, the bus would travel along Highway 2 (not sure what route it would use to get to Edmonds), then follow highway 28 to Ephrata, and drop down to I-90 from there, intersecting I-90 at George. (For those not up on their Washington state geography, there is an actual town along I-90 called George.) <_<

Straight line Wenatchee-SEA would be nice but they have a lot of Everett passengers. :blink:

Yes, and there could be a passenger or two who would want to board/get off at Leavenworth. When I was bustituted from Portland to Spokane last month, we could have gone I-84 along the Oregon shore of the Columbia River for its entire length to its intersection with I-82 (which leads to Pasco) but for four passengers who wished to get off at Bingen/White Salmon. So we had to cross the river there for those passengers and follow the two-lane highway on the Washington side until the next bridge over the river, where we crossed again onto I-84. Fortunately there were no passengers for Wishram so we were able to avoid that stop.

Anyone know whether today (8/27's) train 8 and 28 passengers (showing a service disruption) are being bussed to SPK?

 

[mwmnp]

I was on the 7/27(23) and we were 8 hours late into WGL. We spent forever in North Dakota on Sidings and according to the conductor, dispatchers were not even answering his calls when he would try to check the status. They were forever putting us in the sidings and we sat there for a while. BNSF was not being very cooperative, at all. I understand there is still a lot of freight congestion. Crew took very good care of all of us and passengers were, for the most part, calm and collected about the delays.

Trip report will be posted when I get home early next week.

jb64

That's probably because the slot #7 had among the traffic and any plans the dispatchers had made beforehand went out the window when the train was unable to leave Minot in a timely fashion due to no Shelby-based train and engine crew being available to switch out with the St. Cloud-based crew when the train arrived. Under normal circumstances, the Shelby crew that takes over #7 in Minot is the same one that came into town on the previous night's #8, but the previous #8 in this case was so late that hours of service regulations prevented that particular crew from being used on the next #7. With no other Shelby crews in Minot at the time, Amtrak decided to use a chartered aircraft to fly a new crew the 500 or so miles from Shelby to Minot. Even with this measure. the new crew didn't land at the Minot airport until 10 minutes after #7 arrived and then had a holdup in getting the necessary paperwork together because the flood-damaged station in Minot had no power. The ultimate result was #7 didn't leave Minot until almost 2 hours after getting in. I was listening to an online scanner stream from Minot at the time, and I can't say the BNSF dispatcher between Minot and Glasgow sounded very pleased when the St. Cloud crew told her about the situation.

 

[EB_OBS]

The reason that the Builder is bused from Spokane to Seattle if the train is more then 6 hours late is the east bound train can leave Spokane on time with bussing from Seattle because the bus trip takes a shorter time then the train as it runs stright east on I-90.

I would guess that to accomodate passengers to/from Everett, Leavenworth, and Wenatchee, the bus would travel along Highway 2 (not sure what route it would use to get to Edmonds), then follow highway 28 to Ephrata, and drop down to I-90 from there, intersecting I-90 at George. (For those not up on their Washington state geography, there is an actual town along I-90 called George.) <_<

Straight line Wenatchee-SEA would be nice but they have a lot of Everett passengers. :blink:

Yes, and there could be a passenger or two who would want to board/get off at Leavenworth. When I was bustituted from Portland to Spokane last month, we could have gone I-84 along the Oregon shore of the Columbia River for its entire length to its intersection with I-82 (which leads to Pasco) but for four passengers who wished to get off at Bingen/White Salmon. So we had to cross the river there for those passengers and follow the two-lane highway on the Washington side until the next bridge over the river, where we crossed again onto I-84. Fortunately there were no passengers for Wishram so we were able to avoid that stop.

Anyone know whether today (8/27's) train 8 and 28 passengers (showing a service disruption) are being bussed to SPK?

Yes, train 7/27 of the 25th, did terminate in Spokane. As a result train 8 and 28 passengers were / are being bused to Spokane and it is expected, at this time, that train 8 will depart Spokane on-time at 0130, 8/28/11.

 

[anir dendroica]

The Fargo-Minot stretch is predictably hard on the EB, contributing about two hours worth of delays, but the trains have been getting hammered even worse in eastern Montana lately. Does anyone know why this is?

Mark

 

[jb64]

I was on the 7/27(23) and we were 8 hours late into WGL. We spent forever in North Dakota on Sidings and according to the conductor, dispatchers were not even answering his calls when he would try to check the status. They were forever putting us in the sidings and we sat there for a while. BNSF was not being very cooperative, at all. I understand there is still a lot of freight congestion. Crew took very good care of all of us and passengers were, for the most part, calm and collected about the delays.

Trip report will be posted when I get home early next week.

jb64

That's probably because the slot #7 had among the traffic and any plans the dispatchers had made beforehand went out the window when the train was unable to leave Minot in a timely fashion due to no Shelby-based train and engine crew being available to switch out with the St. Cloud-based crew when the train arrived. Under normal circumstances, the Shelby crew that takes over #7 in Minot is the same one that came into town on the previous night's #8, but the previous #8 in this case was so late that hours of service regulations prevented that particular crew from being used on the next #7. With no other Shelby crews in Minot at the time, Amtrak decided to use a chartered aircraft to fly a new crew the 500 or so miles from Shelby to Minot. Even with this measure. the new crew didn't land at the Minot airport until 10 minutes after #7 arrived and then had a holdup in getting the necessary paperwork together because the flood-damaged station in Minot had no power. The ultimate result was #7 didn't leave Minot until almost 2 hours after getting in. I was listening to an online scanner stream from Minot at the time, and I can't say the BNSF dispatcher between Minot and Glasgow sounded very pleased when the St. Cloud crew told her about the situation.

Yes, everyone cheered when they announced that the crew had finally arrived. They wouldn't let anyone off the train in Minot even though we were there for so long because only the conductor could authorize that and we didn't have a conductor on duty. Folks weren't very happy about that and the smokers were getting really antsy.

 

[jb64]

The Fargo-Minot stretch is predictably hard on the EB, contributing about two hours worth of delays, but the trains have been getting hammered even worse in eastern Montana lately. Does anyone know why this is?

Mark

We spent a lot of time in Eastern Montana sitting in sidings waiting for freight to pass by. They offered the chicked dinner option at Havre for people to buy but those poor folks didn't get it until 11 p.m. because it took so long to get through eastern Montana.