Hurricane Ian 2022 (effects on Amtrak)

[jis]

They sent the Silvers and AT through Waldo when the AT had that derailment - you'd think they could do that now until Kissimmee is fixed

One could think so but reality weighs in differently. There is no spare crew at CSX to provide pilots is what I understand is the big issue making that a non- starter.

 

[lordsigma]

If you want to see photos of the damage the link below is to a Twitter page for a reporter that posted some photos.

 

[RebelRider]

They sent the Silvers and AT through Waldo when the AT had that derailment - you'd think they could do that now until Kissimmee is fixed

Please note what I wrote in my previous message about this exactly sitation:

Would it be nice to see the Star flip over to the S-Line and operate via Tampa to Miami like the good 'ole days of the Palmetto/Silver Palm? Sure. However, no Amtrak crews are qualified that way and CSX definitely doesn't have any spare conductors/engineers to pilot two daily trains over that route.

 

[jis]

If you want to see photos of the damage the link below is to a Twitter page for a reporter that posted some photos.

The interesting thing is that this is a creek that connects two lakes together, the outlflow is from Lakes Buena Ventura and surrounding area which was heavily flooded and the inflow lake is Lake Tohopekaliga, which ultimately flow into the Kissimmee River through several interconnected lakes. Kissimmee River flows into Lake O. So just imagine what happened downstream of this flash flood.

Incidentally, Amtrak (CSX) crosses the Kissimmee River between Sebring and Okeechobee, and Sebring itself got almost 2 feet of rain and Cat 3 eyewall. I have seen no concise reports of what the state of affairs is down that way.

 

[joelkfla]

It appears the bus bridge JAX-ORL-TPA is only for existing ticket holders. No new reservations are being taken.

Not true. Searching service from ORL-WAS on 10/5 returns "Mixed Service": bus to JAX, and Silver Star to WAS. I was able to add it to the cart with an Accessible Befroom on the Star.

Plenty of rooms available, and Accessible Bedroom appears to be low bucket. This may present an opportunity for a quick trip if one doesn't mind the bus bridge, as Accessible Bedrooms had been sold out.

I wonder whether food will be scarce on the northbound out of JAX.

 

[RebelRider]

Not true. Searching service from ORL-WAS on 10/5 returns "Mixed Service": bus to JAX, and Silver Star to WAS. I was able to add it to the cart with an Accessible Befroom on the Star.

Glad they've loaded the inventory now. When I checked Amtrak.com it showed Canceled for every trip I search from WAS to ORL or TPA. Wouldn't have been the first time bustitution was only provided for existing reservations.

 

[jis]

I wonder whether food will be scarce on the northbound out of JAX.

If they simply loaded up with enough food to get to Miami, plus perhaps some additional breakfast there should be no shortage of food.

 

[IanDBeacon]

 

[joelkfla]

That's the Meteor, not the Star.

 

[IanDBeacon]

That's the Meteor, not the Star.

Yep. I'm due to go on to Meteor in November, hopefully things should be fine by then.

 

[jis]

Full SunRail Service to Poinciana resumes on Monday 17 October 2022...

https://sunrail.com/schedules/
Amtrak service resumes south of JAX on Saturday out of both JAX and Miami.

 

[west point]

Is it true that CSX provided the crew(s) to repair Sun Rail? It appears that the shutdown could have had effect on the CSX operation.

 

[joelkfla]

Is it true that CSX provided the crew(s) to repair Sun Rail? It appears that the shutdown could have had effect on the CSX operation.

I saw that in a news article. Of course, you can't always trust local news to get their facts straight, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that SunRail contracts their track maintenance to CSX. Their train operations and maintenance are contracted to Alstom. And I think CSX still runs a few local trains thru at night.

 

[jis]

Is it true that CSX provided the crew(s) to repair Sun Rail? It appears that the shutdown could have had effect on the CSX operation.

Usually CFCRC (Central Florida Commuter Rail Commission, the outfit that operates SunRail) contracts with Herzog.

CSX should not have been affected by the CFCRC track outage since CSX local delivery jobs on the Orlando side can be fed from JAX via Palatka and the places south of Kissimmee can be fed out of Auburndale. Of course CSX may have suffered some damage on their own tracks through Ocala.