Empire Builder Experts How long from St. Paul to Chicago?

[erinch13]

We are on the EB hoping to make our connection to the CL (train 30) which leaves at 6:40.

We have a delay and got out of MSP at around 10.

Best/worst case ETA?

 

[JayPea]

"Normal" scheduled time is just under 8 hours. Arrival time into Chicago is 3:55 CDT. If all goes well and there are no other delays you should get into Chicago right around 6PM. Hope it works out that way for you and you don't miss your connection!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Hopefully they'll "Hold" #30 for you! It depends on your arrival and how many people are making the transfer to the Cap.

Usually when a LD Train is running Late into its Terminal(Chicago), Amtrak will let the Passengers making Connrctions know somewhere in Minnesota or Wisconsin what will happen upon arrival into Chicago.

They used to have employees board the train up the line and meet with connecting passengers, but now they send you to Guest Services in Union Station if you've missed your Connections.

Ask your SCA and the Conductor if you're close on time, and haven't heard anything, BEFORE your arrival into Milwaukee.

Last time I rode the Builder connecting with the Cap, a Staffer met the Train and escorted us at a brisk pace to the Tracks where the Cap was boarding. ( the Builder boards/de-trains on the North Side Tracks/the Cap on the South Tracks)Our checked Luggage made the Train and we were given a Dinner Time by the Great SCA upon entering our Sleeper.

Good Luck, keep us posted!

 

[Lonestar648]

Since you are running late, know that the Conductors will be keeping the stops as short as possible. Actual scheduled run time is 7:55, but with a few shortened dwell times, that could be shortened. The only unknown will be how the dispatchers treat your train if they have their own trains in the mix. I think the odds are good you will make the CL. Also, you may not be the only ones going on the CL, so if your train is arriving really close they most likely will hold the CL.

 

[amtrakpass]

Looks like you will make it with time to spare thankfully! From what I can tell riding over the years it seems like the actual run-time from St Paul Union Depot to Chicago is about 7 hrs 25 minutes if you have no delays at all. And from Milwaukee it is about an hour and 20 minutes with zero delays for Metra or anything. Unfortunately to me it seems Amtrak has changed their policy on holding trains. Even if it just a couple of minutes they seem unwilling to hold anything for connections in the last few years. My thought is the on-time departures make the managers look good on paper even of it inconviences passengers that miss their train

 

[acelafan]

I see you left CBS (Columbus, WI) 2hr 13mins late and you're estimated to arrive 1hr 48 mins late as of right now.

On July 17th, #8 left CBS 2hr, 27 mins late and arrived in Chicago at 6:22PM with that exact same amount of delay.

Hopefully you'll be close, but successful!

 

[dogbert617]

Looks like the OP made the Capitol Limited. Today's #8 Empire Builder arrived at 6:02, and the CL departed at 6:40pm. That's weird if the Amtrak staff at Chicago Union Station are no longer holding trains for a few minutes there, to help passengers from a closely timed train make connections if it arrives barely late.

 

[amtrakpass]

Glad the original poster made the connection. Case in point as far as not holding trains is today it shows #8 arrived at 6:02pm and wolverine #354 departed at 6:00pm. Supposed to be a guaranteed connection but unless they allowed the passengers to walk over and then fudged the numbers to show an on time departure, they probably offered them a later van or bus ride which I think is a shame for something that close

 

[Bob Dylan]

Good News for the OP, but Bad News if the Suits in Chicago are padding their Evaluations,Raises and Bonsuses by sending out Trains "On Time" no matter what!

 

[SarahZ]

Glad the original poster made the connection. Case in point as far as not holding trains is today it shows #8 arrived at 6:02pm and wolverine #354 departed at 6:00pm. Supposed to be a guaranteed connection but unless they allowed the passengers to walk over and then fudged the numbers to show an on time departure, they probably offered them a later van or bus ride which I think is a shame for something that close

Perhaps nobody on #8 was transferring to the Wolverine?

Or perhaps there were a couple of people, but they were only going as far as Michigan City, in which case it makes more sense to put them in a van rather than hold up a train full of hundreds of people and cause a dispatching conundrum (and delays down the line)?

 

[amtrakpass]

SarahZ, i agree totally if it is in fact the case that they are looking at the number of connecting passengers, distance traveled etc.. and then making a judgement call whether to hold the train or not. It just seems to me like lately they are making a blanket no hold decision. Does anyone have an example where they held any train in 2017 from Chicago for connections?

 

[trainboy325]

I experienced a similar situation in October last year. I was making my semi-annual trip to Florida to visit family and friends from job home in Minneapolis. Around 3:35 am (not much before I planned to get up anyway at 4:00) I got the dreaded phone call from Amtrak Customer Service advising me that my 3.5 hour late eastbound EB departure was being replaced with a bustitution to CHI to ensure my connection to the CL and later Silver Meteor. The agent stated that Amtrak doesn't hold trains in CHI anymore, even if the connection could be made with only minor delay in the departure time. Of course, I had sleeper tickets all the way and a friend of mine flew up from Florida to join me on the trip. Needless to say, I did my own train status research and found that the train wasn't that far behind schedule (maybe two hours leaving St Cloud). I took the chance and skipped the bus, enjoying a decent breakfast immediately upon departure in the dining car and the comfort of sitting in my roomette with my friend watching the world go by versus the 8 hour bus ride on I-94. The train pulled out of MSP just before 10:00.

Upon departing Columbus, the conductor made an announcement that passengers with tickets connecting to the Wolverine going to Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor or Detroit were going to be rebooked on a 12:30 am Amtrak Thruway bus. Those ticketed to other destinations were going to be provided a hotel room and rescheduled on the morning Wolverine. Shortly after, the conductor amended his message to state that the bus option was for those who really needed to get to their destination ASAP and that if the bus wasn't something a passenger wanted to do, they could go to Guest Relations at CHI and be added to the hotel and morning train rebooking list. I assume a passenger complained that option wasn't offered to all passengers and Guest Relations said OK. Information regarding connections to the CL would be made closer to CHI and he reassured that all other ticketed connections (LSL, CONO, etc.) were not going to be an issue.

After leaving Milwaukee, the conductor made the announcement that connections to the CL were going to be made, but advised passengers to immediately disembark the train and go directly to the gate (22 if I remember right) and told sleeping car passengers not to go to the Metropolitan Lounge as the pre-boarding line will have already left. We finally got into the station at 6:15 pm and had plenty of time to make our way to the other side of the building. Needless to say we didn't get to enjoy the lounge, but I was thankful that I ignored the early morning phone call to start my Florida train trip with a bus ride to Chicago.

I guess my only concern would have been if we did in fact miss the connection and Amtrak did provided us the means to make our CL connection (and later Silver Meteor) with an on-time bus departure from MSP, we may have most likely been stuck with a hotel bill in Chicago and be downgraded to coach assuming there were any rooms left on the next day's CL for the other missed connecting passengers. Of course, I always expect a downgrade if you miss your reserved room on either Silver Service trains to Florida. Fortunately, this has yet to happen! I am glad though that you were able to make your connection in Chicago as I did.

 

[dogbert617]

Glad the original poster made the connection. Case in point as far as not holding trains is today it shows #8 arrived at 6:02pm and wolverine #354 departed at 6:00pm. Supposed to be a guaranteed connection but unless they allowed the passengers to walk over and then fudged the numbers to show an on time departure, they probably offered them a later van or bus ride which I think is a shame for something that close

If a passenger was trying to connect from Empire Builder to #354 and missed his/her connection to that due to #8 delays, could that passenger complain and be put up overnight at a Chicago motel/hotel, then take a Wolverine train the next day? Hopefully they wouldn't force someone to take a bus, if say he/she was trying to get to one of the smaller towns the buses don't serve(i.e. Niles). Just only a question I'm asking, since I'm trying to better understand how Amtrak operates nowadays. Hopefully they still do accommodate passengers with giving them the option to stay overnight in Chicago, if they miss their train connection to another train they want to travel on.

I experienced a similar situation in October last year. I was making my semi-annual trip to Florida to visit family and friends from job home in Minneapolis. Around 3:35 am (not much before I planned to get up anyway at 4:00) I got the dreaded phone call from Amtrak Customer Service advising me that my 3.5 hour late eastbound EB departure was being replaced with a bustitution to CHI to ensure my connection to the CL and later Silver Meteor. The agent stated that Amtrak doesn't hold trains in CHI anymore, even if the connection could be made with only minor delay in the departure time. Of course, I had sleeper tickets all the way and a friend of mine flew up from Florida to join me on the trip. Needless to say, I did my own train status research and found that the train wasn't that far behind schedule (maybe two hours leaving St Cloud). I took the chance and skipped the bus, enjoying a decent breakfast immediately upon departure in the dining car and the comfort of sitting in my roomette with my friend watching the world go by versus the 8 hour bus ride on I-94. The train pulled out of MSP just before 10:00.

Upon departing Columbus, the conductor made an announcement that passengers with tickets connecting to the Wolverine going to Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor or Detroit were going to be rebooked on a 12:30 am Amtrak Thruway bus. Those ticketed to other destinations were going to be provided a hotel room and rescheduled on the morning Wolverine. Shortly after, the conductor amended his message to state that the bus option was for those who really needed to get to their destination ASAP and that if the bus wasn't something a passenger wanted to do, they could go to Guest Relations at CHI and be added to the hotel and morning train rebooking list. I assume a passenger complained that option wasn't offered to all passengers and Guest Relations said OK. Information regarding connections to the CL would be made closer to CHI and he reassured that all other ticketed connections (LSL, CONO, etc.) were not going to be an issue.

After leaving Milwaukee, the conductor made the announcement that connections to the CL were going to be made, but advised passengers to immediately disembark the train and go directly to the gate (22 if I remember right) and told sleeping car passengers not to go to the Metropolitan Lounge as the pre-boarding line will have already left. We finally got into the station at 6:15 pm and had plenty of time to make our way to the other side of the building. Needless to say we didn't get to enjoy the lounge, but I was thankful that I ignored the early morning phone call to start my Florida train trip with a bus ride to Chicago.

I guess my only concern would have been if we did in fact miss the connection and Amtrak did provided us the means to make our CL connection (and later Silver Meteor) with an on-time bus departure from MSP, we may have most likely been stuck with a hotel bill in Chicago and be downgraded to coach assuming there were any rooms left on the next day's CL for the other missed connecting passengers. Of course, I always expect a downgrade if you miss your reserved room on either Silver Service trains to Florida. Fortunately, this has yet to happen! I am glad though that you were able to make your connection in Chicago as I did.

I guess it really is true that Amtrak is no longer holding departing long distance trains in Chicago to allow for very close connections, even if a train was super close to help those from a closely arriving train board an about to depart train? That's sad to hear. I guess Amtrak managers/supervisors are feeling the pressure to pad up their on time performance figures when they work, for all I may guess?

Good to hear your EB-CL-SM trip went well, and that you still made it for all your trains despite not taking that bustitution from MSP to CHI.