Midwest flooding

[CZ_rider]

Any idea on when the Zephyr will be back in full service?

 

[yarrow]

amtrak to restore service on 2 flooded routes

 

[PRR 60]

amtrak to restore service on 2 flooded routes

But not the Zephyr.

 

[yarrow]

i understand that in normal times using the bnsf detour on the eb route adds around 3 hours to the trip due to slower speeds. anyone have an idea how much will be added when they start using this byass for the eb given that there would probably be additional slow orders in the flood area?

 

[MrEd]

NOTE: THIS IS A CHANGE FROM PLANS ANNOUNCED ON JUNE 18 AND IS BASED ON NEW INFORMATION FROM THE ROUTE.

Amtrak has been notified by BNSF Railway of the postponement of plans to restore rail service on one of the three routes disrupted due to flooding on the Mississippi River and its tributaries . A second cresting of flood waters at Fort Madison, Iowa, prevents the planned restoration of service by the Amtrak Southwest Chief on Friday, June 20, until at least Saturday, June 21.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServe...d=1178294175835

 

[TraneMan]

Called Amtrak, and they said I won't be able to get anywhere tomorrow. Took the car in this afternoon have a good once over, oil change, and fix my A/C that stopped yesterday. Was able to cancel our tickets with no issues.

Just have to plan another train trip some where else later on.

Bags all packed, and ready for our 350 mile trip down to Chicago in the morning.

 

[jackal]

A railfan photographer friend sent me this picture and gave his permission for me to post it here. It will give you some idea of what is going on. This is the last BNSF out of Ottumwa, Iowa a few days ago.

He said it took about an hour for this one to go 1/2 mile.

Great shot!

I'll need to revisit my GCOR and ABTHM and all of that, but I seem to recall that when there is standing water over the level of the rails, the train can only proceed if it is preceded by someone inspecting the track in front of the train. Looks like there's a guy on the front deck sorta watching, but I doubt he can really see the rail through that murky water very well...

Could have been an ARR-only requirement, too.

 

[MrFSS]

Looks like there's a guy on the front deck sorta watching, but I doubt he can really see the rail through that murky water very well...

Believe it or not, that "guy" is a gal, I'm told, and she is the conductor watching for debris. They were really moving slowly.

 

[jackal]

Looks like there's a guy on the front deck sorta watching, but I doubt he can really see the rail through that murky water very well...

Believe it or not, that "guy" is a gal, I'm told, and she is the conductor watching for debris. They were really moving slowly.

I love standing right there on a chilly day...those headlights, especially when they're on bright, are hot enough to give you a sunburn! :lol: When you walk in front of one, it's literally like walking in front of a high-powered heat lamp. They're WAY brighter than a car's headlights--we were once coming through a small town in the middle of the night and our headlight was shining across the river onto a hillside about 1/2 mile away. The entire hillside was lit up bright enough to make out the trees and shadows our headlight was casting.

One of the engineers I worked with commented once that along a certain stretch of track where the railroad is on the inside of a curve in the highway that truckers often flash their lights and blow their horns at trains because they think the train engineer's just being a jerk by not dimming the lights. But--per GCOR rules, the lights can only be dimmed at certain times, and traveling along a highway is not one of those permitted times...and if an engineer is nice enough to dim the lights and the oncoming car happens to belong to the Road Foreman of Engines, he can be cited for a rules violation. It apparently happened once...

 

[dan72]

Wow, I didn't know a train could put up such a wake! :lol: :lol:

 

[GG-1]

A railfan photographer friend sent me this picture and gave his permission for me to post it here. It will give you some idea of what is going on. This is the last BNSF out of Ottumwa, Iowa a few days ago.
He said it took about an hour for this one to go 1/2 mile.

Thank your friend for giving permission to post that picture, Some years ago A book had a similar picture of a GG1 treading water.

 

[JRoberts]

Coming to you live from train 28, a detour update!
We just (1:43 pm CDT) entered Illinois, proceeding southbound on the east side of Big Muddy though now weaving in and out of sight of the river. This morning, prior to a half-hour late (roughly) arrival into MSP, the conductor confirmed our detour and told all non-CHI passengers to detrain for bustitution. He also told passengers on Michigan-bound trains and the Cardinal to detrain for a fast bus to Chicago. LSL passengers were told to stay on the train, and anyone with questions was invited to talk to the conductor in the diner. Naturally about ten of us connecting to the Capitol Ltd flocked up there. He said he wasn't explicitly told we had to detrain to bus to our connection ... and said we could stay on-board but it would be tight. So here I am, and hopefully the conductor's word stands as a "guaranteed connection" in case we get held up.

So far we haven't had a single passing siding stop. Slower speeds and more miles, though. And we did stop briefly in the middle of the BNSF yard in La Crosse for a quick crew change (with lots of warnings to passengers not to step off). Maybe we'll make it to CHI by 6? 7? Maybe they'll hold 30 for us? I'm not holding my breath for time enough for a quick run to Giordano's, even if I phone in an order from twenty minutes before our arrival.

The river is REALLY high.

Oh, and the conductor said Amtrak anticipates this detour will be in place for 7-10 days.

Can you advise what a good internet wireless provider to use on the train?? Which one works best, type of card?? etc. Thanks, JRoberts

[email protected]

 

[jackal]

Can you advise what a good internet wireless provider to use on the train?? Which one works best, type of card?? etc. Thanks, JRoberts

I use a local (Alaskan) CDMA provider which roams on Verizon's 1xRTT network (sloooow). Have had pretty decent coverage when riding the Coast Starlight, California Zephyr, Capitol Limited, Cardinal, and Crescent. Since it only roams on the 1xRTT network and not the Verizon EVDO network (which is much faster), I don't know how much of that coverage is EVDO.

My AT&T cell phone has also had decent coverage, so I assume their EDGE data network is OK. EDGE speeds are better than 1xRTT but worse than EVDO. AT&T also has newer, faster UMTS coverage but only in limited metropolitan markets.

I think I've heard Sprint's EVDO has fairly extensive coverage along Interstates, and some Amtrak routes do parallel Interstates, so Sprint might be OK for that. But I think their rural coverage is worse than Verizon.

I haven't heard the best about T-Mobile.

That's all I know...

 

[Radparker]

I wouldn't go with T-Mobile. They only have EDGE (slow) and their rural coverage is probably not as good as Sprint/Verizon. I would also avoid AT&T, as their useful coverage area is the smallest of all the national providers. I had AT&T for 24 hours a few weeks ago. I tried it out and it didn't work out.

See my post here for my thoughts on mobile internet on the train: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?...st&p=115562

I'd recommend a Sprint USB modem. I have a Sierra Compass 597. I used to have Verizon and it was fine, so I'd listen to that previous poster's suggestion to consider Verizon, though I don't have any recent experience regarding Verizon's coverage areas.

 

[Guest]

Norfolk Southern declared force majeure on some of their track in the flood zone. Does Amtrak have the ability to do that as well?

 

[PRR 60]

Norfolk Southern declared force majeure on some of their track in the flood zone. Does Amtrak have the ability to do that as well?

Amtrak does not have to. "Force majeure" permits a contract to be broken due to an extraordinary event. In the case of the freight railroads, some of their contracts with shippers like UPS have some pretty heafty penalty clauses for late delivery. Declaring a "force majeure" voids those contracts and the penalties for the duration of the event.
Amtrak's contract with passengers is simple: either you are transported or you get your money back. There is no penalty involved such as three times your money back if we cancel. A "force majeure" declaration is not required due to the simple nature of Amtrak's contract with passengers.

 

[AlanB]

I have AT&T and other than on the EB, I've had pretty good results with getting on the internet while on Amtrak. I can't stay on all the time, but always around most cities and even sometimes in the rural areas. I was online for well over an hour last night on the Auto Train while running through North Carolina.

So I've got no complaints about AT&T.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I had trouble calling my G/F on Skype via AT&T (then Cingular) on the Auto Train. Constant lost signals.

 

[Radparker]

I had trouble calling my G/F on Skype via AT&T (then Cingular) on the Auto Train. Constant lost signals.

If that was back when it was Cingular, was it even a 3G connection? Skype needs a fast pipe. I can *barely* use it on my Sprint EVDO connection.

As far as the current state of AT&T, I couldn't even hold a network connection stably *in Chicago* at various coffee shops, my home, or my office on the north side.

I might give them another try in a year or two. I hear that when AT&T is connected at 3G speed, it's generally faster than Sprint or Verizon.

 

[jackal]

I had trouble calling my G/F on Skype via AT&T (then Cingular) on the Auto Train. Constant lost signals.

If that was back when it was Cingular, was it even a 3G connection? Skype needs a fast pipe. I can *barely* use it on my Sprint EVDO connection.

As far as the current state of AT&T, I couldn't even hold a network connection stably *in Chicago* at various coffee shops, my home, or my office on the north side.

I might give them another try in a year or two. I hear that when AT&T is connected at 3G speed, it's generally faster than Sprint or Verizon.

Actually, more than a fast pipe, Skype needs low latency. The actual bandwidth usage is comparable to 56kbps dial-up (ISTR about 4KB/sec transfer rates when using Skype).

Both EDGE and the original EVDO Rev.0 have horrible latency--well over 100ms pings even to the ISP's own servers. The newer EVDO Rev.A slightly increases the downlink speed, substantially increases the uplink speed, and vastly improves the latency to comparable to a landline connection. I assume UMTS (AT&T's 3G service) is at least comparable to EVDO Rev.A for latency, but I haven't heard any specifics.

If Skype is something you'll be using a lot, I'd probably go with one of the EVDO providers (Verizon or Sprint), as EVDO has a much wider footprint than AT&T's UMTS, and you'll need either one for good Skypage. Make sure you look to see that the card you buy is good for EVDO Rev.A (or even Rev.B, if any are out yet), though.

 

[drbabbers]

Hi all,

I just wanted to ask about the situation with the flooding causing service outage on the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago. Been doing some research online and did call Amtrak but don't have any definitive news. I have a ticket to depart from LA this Thursday 26th June, do you think I will be able to make this journey to Chicago?

Thanks in advance.

Dean

 

[RailFanLNK]

Drbabbers,

I am supposed to take the CZ on Wednesday June 25th out of LNK (Lincoln NE) to CHI. I got the "dreaded" phone call yesterday from Amtrak about my train probably not running on the 25th. In todays Lincoln Journal Star, they are saying the Mississippi hasn't crested yet either. Also, looking at our extended forecast in the paper it shows thunderstorms for every single day this week. I called our local Amtrak station last night and the clerk said, "the rails are still under water in Ottumwa". So I know this isn't the train you are on, but we both are dealing with "flooding in IA". I'm not telling you things are going to be bad, just telling you what everyone else is telling me. I also booked RT tickets from OMA to CHI on SWA "just in case" we needed them and it looks like we are going to need them. That sucks but what would suck worse is losing your home or life to the flood waters.

 

[drbabbers]

Thanks for your reply. From what I have read online, the Southwest Chief is running but has transportation replacements between Kansas City and Chicago. So if the train is running I should still be able to get to Chicago I hope..

Southwest Chief, Trains 3 & 4
Service by the Southwest Chief between Kansas City and Chicago has been temporarily suspended since June 17 due to flooding on the BNSF Railway route in Iowa.

Alternate transportation by chartered motorcoaches will be provided between Kansas City and Galesburg or Chicago, with the exceptions of La Plata, Mo., Fort Madison, Iowa, and Mendota and Naperville, Ill. Passengers ticketed at those stops are being offered travel at other Amtrak stations or on other Amtrak trains.

It is scheduled to arrive at Kansas City at 7.30am in the morning, then motor transportation from there. I would bu curious to hear from someone who has actually completed this journey in the last week. Anyone?

 

[ThayerATM]

This morning on 28 I overheard a coach attendant reassure a concerned passenger that the train wouldn't have any problems getting to MSP (her destination) but "might not be able to get into Chicago by rail" on account of flooded tracks. Now, in my experience car attendants are wrong as often as they're right... But is there any truth to this and actual likelihood of significant delays or bustitution around Chicago (on either the Builder or Thursday's outbound Capitol)?

Last October I purchased (through AAA) round trip tickets for my wife and myself from ROC to SAC, on Amtrak --- Sleepers, and all the whistles and bells. Trip was to take place June 15-25. I had the printed tickets in hand.

On Friday, the 13th (I'm NOT superstitious ) of June I called Amtrak to find the status of the trains because of all the flooding in Iowa, and was informed that train 5 (The California Zephyr) had been cancelled through (at least) the 16th of June.

I hurried around for the rest of the day arranging for a flight for the two of us, as we had to be in California on the 18th. After arriving, we were in a really remote area of California, and I had no way to contact AAA to take care of the cancellation. YES, I had called Amtrak and cancelled the tickets.

This morning I went over to AAA (more than a week after our ticket dates) to return the tickes, and received a full refund from Amtrak.

I received the full refund [100%] (credit to my card) this morning.

Amtrak and AAA rock!!!!

 

[drbabbers]

Just got off the phone from Bill @ Amtrak..

They are aiming to have a full service running on the Southwest Chief for Wednesday 25th June, but no guarantee. If the service is not restored, the Southwest Chief is still running, but with a bus replacement between Kansas City and Chicago. The bus ride is 7 and a half hours and departs Kansas City around 7.30am. This is a direct bus service with no intermediate stops.