Jan 2016 NEC/East Blizzard (was How does Amtrak handle snowstorms?)

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It is a lot more than the Auto Train. As I stated in another thread, keep an eye on the website. Everything is impacted.
Hoping today's SB 19 isn't affected.

Was originally scheduled for an 8pm flight out of DCA on Friday. With no seat available on any carriers from now until my scheduled time (which I'm betting will be cancelled) I turned to Amtrak to save me.

Snagged probably the last Roomette to ATL tonight.

Good luck my DC brethren!
 
It is a lot more than the Auto Train. As I stated in another thread, keep an eye on the website. Everything is impacted.
Hoping today's SB 19 isn't affected.

Was originally scheduled for an 8pm flight out of DCA on Friday. With no seat available on any carriers from now until my scheduled time (which I'm betting will be cancelled) I turned to Amtrak to save me.

Snagged probably the last Roomette to ATL tonight.

Good luck my DC brethren!
What I'm seeing on FB is tomorrow's cancellations (of which 19 is one).
 
It is a lot more than the Auto Train. As I stated in another thread, keep an eye on the website. Everything is impacted.
Looking at the snowfall probability map with heavy snow in southern PA, central & western MD, central and NW VA, combined with the blizzard warnings, I would expect that the Capitol Limited, Silver Star, Meteor, Crescent will be cancelled on Saturday and possibly on Friday. Virginia Regionals and probably the Pennsylvanian as well. The storm is going to mess up a lot of travel plans.

In the DC area, the usual buying binge at the grocery stores to "stock up" enough goods to last for weeks (if not months) started yesterday as far as I can tell...
 
It is a lot more than the Auto Train. As I stated in another thread, keep an eye on the website. Everything is impacted.
Looking at the snowfall probability map with heavy snow in southern PA, central & western MD, central and NW VA, combined with the blizzard warnings, I would expect that the Capitol Limited, Silver Star, Meteor, Crescent will be cancelled on Saturday and possibly on Friday. Virginia Regionals and probably the Pennsylvanian as well. The storm is going to mess up a lot of travel plans.

In the DC area, the usual buying binge at the grocery stores to "stock up" enough goods to last for weeks (if not months) started yesterday as far as I can tell...
:( You left out little ol' Delaware. ;)
 
See my earlier post in this thread about the way railroads used to handle snow storms, and the way they do now. ;)
 
There is nothing up yet officially on Amtrak's website (big surprise there...), but it looks like train cancellations are starting to trickle in.

The Cardinal #51 will not run out of New York tomorrow -- and as a result -- will not run out of Chicago on Saturday night.

It also looks like some Pennsylvanian cancellations are up.
 
I don't see where this has already been posted, though it may have been. But we just got notice that our trip south on the Silver meteor has been canceled. That storm is evidently too big for even a train to go through. Alas.
 
I don't see where this has already been posted, though it may have been. But we just got notice that our trip south on the Silver meteor has been canceled. That storm is evidently too big for even a train to go through. Alas.
http://blog.amtrak.c...d-winter-storm/

Posted previously.
 
We just returned from Washington DC last night and glad we got out of town before the storm. The 1" snowfall at rush hour Wednesday nearly put the town in shutdown. Can't imagine what this storm will do. Good thing it will be on a weekend which should help some.
Typical. Southern cities shut down under small amounts of snow because they're not used to it. I suppose everything staffed out of DC is going to have cancellations because people can't get to work. Once you get north to NYC and further north, there's more snow *resilience* -- an inch of snow is just normal weather.

...and sure enough the Lake Shore Limited appears to be running.
 
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We just returned from Washington DC last night and glad we got out of town before the storm. The 1" snowfall at rush hour Wednesday nearly put the town in shutdown. Can't imagine what this storm will do. Good thing it will be on a weekend which should help some.
Typical. Southern cities shut down under small amounts of snow because they're not used to it. I suppose everything staffed out of DC is going to have cancellations because people can't get to work. Once you get north to NYC and further north, there's more snow *resilience* -- an inch of snow is just normal weather.
...and sure enough the Lake Shore Limited appears to be running.
Great article on why yesterday's snow was so problematic:

http://www.dennismersereau.com/2016/01/a-dusting-of-snow-is-more-dangerous.html

Short version: Danger doesn't scale with snow depth.

As far as the LSL goes, one would hope that it will:

Screen Shot 2016-01-21 at 9.10.54 PM.png
 
In the snowbelt a dusting of snow doesn't cause trouble because (a) we salt and sand the roads, and (b) *we are used to it* so we don't make stupid driving mistakes. There are lots of idiot drivers on the roads around here, but even many of the bad drivers seem to slow down the moment the snow starts falling. And we *know* the worst weather is 32 degrees F, because we deal with it regularly.

Again, the worst problem is typically weather in places which aren't prepared for it. We in the Northeast would probably be completely lost if we got Florida-style summer hurricane weather (which has happened occasionally and caused really massive disasters) or California-style wildfires and mudslides. Because those are rare and we don't prepare for them. We had a *tornado* near my house a few years ago and *nobody* was prepared for it -- thankfully it was only a small one, but nobody has "tornado basements" or anything.

Looking at that map, this storm could be really bad. Virginia is simply not used to getting snow and it's getting the brunt of the storm.
 
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Looks like this storm is heading for a "worst case scenario" with heavy wet snow, temps near freezing (lots of iced up falling power lines, trees. catenary) and high winds.

Likely that Amtrak plans B and C won't be enough to keep trains running.

Time to hunker down, stock up on food and water if not done already, don't even think of driving anywhere, watch local media.

Virginia and Maryland already declared emergency, called up the National Guard.

Please, please understand it will be very very bad for a few days.

Don't count on roads, rails, airports. Stay home.

OK you all know that already. Make sure your friends and neighbors are prepared.
 
Here are the planned changes for Friday and Saturday. As always, subject to change and Amtrak.com will show the latest information when searching for availability.

Friday, January 22

NEC

65 - Cancelled WAS-NPN. Will operate BOS-WAS.

66 - Cancelled NPN-WAS. Will operate WAS-BOS.

83 - Cancelled RVR-NPN. Will operate BOS-RVR.

85 - Cancelled WAS-RVR. Will operate BOS-WAS.

95 - Cancelled RVR-NPN. Will operate BOS-RVR.

125 - Cancelled RVR-NFK. Will operate NYP-RVR.

127 - Cancelled PHL-WAS. Will operate NYP-PHL.

171 - Cancelled WAS-LYH. Will operate BOS-WAS.

2173 - Cancelled NYP-WAS. Will operate BOS-NYP.

2175 - Cancelled NYP-WAS. Will operate BOS-NYP.

Long Haul

19 - Cancelled entirely

20 - Cancelled entirely

29 - Cancelled entirely

30 - Cancelled PGH-WAS on Saturday, Jan 22. Operates CHI-PGH.

51 - Cancelled NYP-IND. Operates IND-CHI on Saturday, Jan 23.

52 - Cancelled entirely

53 - Cancelled entirely

79 - Cancelled WAS-RGH. Will operate NYP-WAS and RGH-CLT

80 - Cancelled RGH-NYP. Will operate CLT-RGH

91 - Cancelled NYP-JAX. Will operate JAX-MIA on Saturday, Jan 22

92 - Cancelled JAX-NYP. Will operate MIA-JAX.

97 - Cancelled entirely

98 - Cancelled entirely

Saturday, January 23

NEC

65 - Originated Friday, cancelled WAS-NPN.

66 - Cancelled NPN-WAS. Operates WAS-BOS.

71 - Cancelled entirely

82 - Cancelled entirely

88 - Cancelled NFK-WAS. Operates WAS-BOS.

96 - Cancelled NPN-WAS. Operates WAS-BOS.

99 - Cancelled entirely

131 - Cancelled entirely

140 - Cancelled WAS-NYP. Operates NYP-SPG.

147 - Cancelled NYP-LYH. Operates SPG-NYP.

152 - Cancelled entirely

153 - Cancelled entirely

156 - Cancelled entirely

159 - Cancelled entirely

160 - Cancelled entirely

164 - Cancelled RVR-WAS. Operates WAS-BOS.

167 - Cancelled entirely

182 - Cancelled entirely

192 - Cancelled entirely

195 - Cancelled WAS-RVR. Operates BOS-WAS.

2203 - Cancelled entirely

2207 - Cancelled entirely

2212 - Cancelled entirely

2220 - Cancelled entirely

2250 - Cancelled WAS-NYP. Operates NYP-BOS.

2251 - Cancelled NYP-WAS. Operates NYP_BOS.

2253 - Cancelled entirely

2260 - Cancelled entirely

2290 - Cancelled entirely

2295 - Cancelled entirely

Keystones

611 - Cancelled entirely

661 - Cancelled NYP-PHL. Operates PHL-HAR.

662 - Cancelled entirely

665 - Cancelled entirely

666 - Cancelled entirely

669 - Cancelled entirely

670 - Cancelled entirely

Long Haul

19 - Cancelled entirely

20 - Cancelled entirely

29 - Cancelled WAS-PGH. Operates PGH-CHI.

30 - Cancelled PGH-WAS on Sunday, Jan 24. Operates CHI-PGH.

50 - Cancelled entirely

52 - Cancelled entirely

53 - Cancelled entirely

79 - Cancelled WAS-RGH. Will operate NYP-WAS and RGH-CLT.

80 - Cancelled RGH-NYP. Will operate CLT-RGH.

89 - Cancelled entirely

90 - Cancelled SAV-WAS. Operates WAS-NYP.

91 - Cancelled NYP-JAX. Will operate JAX-MIA on Sunday, Jan 24.

92 - Cancelled JAX-NYP. Will operate MIA-JAX.

97 - Cancelled entirely

98 - Cancelled entirely
 
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A topic I can contribute to, at least slightly!

I'm a meteorology major in college currently. This is likely going to turn into a Historic snowstorm/blizzard, and I would have to imagine that DC is going to be almost completely shutdown. If 1" of snow the other day shut down almost the entire highway network, I wouldn't even bother going into work today (Friday). Snow should start around 3-4PM, and they'll probably see 3-6" by 8PM. That spells disaster for the area, especially with windy conditions too.

As for the entire corridor... NPN-DC-PHL seems like an almost certain bet for significant to historic snowfall. I doubt anyone in that corridor will be moving until at least Sunday, and perhaps even later as the snow will be pretty wet, heavy snow. Wind is a concern as well especially if it takes down any catenary on the NEC. Can't wait to see how 88/96 manage Saturday

I'll leave you guys with this projected snowfall map from the National Weather Service:

ndfd_snow_ma_9.png
 
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Here in the south a fair explanation can be summed up as:::

1. The CSX ROW WASH - Richmond is fairly clear of possible impediments.

2. South of Richmond CSX does not clear ROW trees and with the ice there will be massive number of trees across the tracks. Southern pines like to lean toward open areas which is the space above tracks. As well high winds will also bring down trees. IMHO the cancellations are well thought out. No use stranding a train in the middle of nowhere that is running out of fuel.

3. Forecast the same bad conditions on the Crescent route, Although NS clears more trees still warrants its cancellations.

4. Some power lines will also fall across the tracks. Only recently have utility companies started double anchoring lines across roads and RRs

5.. It may be a week or more until some RR routes are clear.

A side benefit for Amtrak will be that the locos usually used for the LD trains can be moved to locations to take care of any CAT failures on the NEC
 
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I'll leave you guys with this projected snowfall map from the National Weather Service:

attachicon.gif
ndfd_snow_ma_9.png
Not to make light of the inconvenience the storm is causing, but it's hard to take something that looks like a pink arrowhead seriously. :)
 
So essentially everything south of WAS is shut down tomorrow, and the NEC is running at half capacity.

MARC and SEPTA Regional Rail aren't running tomorrow at all.
 
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I am trying to figure out tomorrow's (1/23/16) departure of the Cardinal, Train #50.

It was cancelled in its entirety yesterday to sales -- now it appears back -- but only running CHI-IND it seems.

On Trainorders, someone mentioned it would be running as just 1 coach car -- but it shows sleepers for sale on there!! Why would they run a sleeper from CHI-IND as part of a stub #50? A little odd!
 
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