Midwest Meltdown Ticker

[Anderson]

In the meantime, the Midwest is in the midst of the most spectacular meltdown I've ever seen:
-29 (5) /just/ arrived into CHI at 1503 (6:18 late).
-29 (6) isn't out of WAS yet.
-30 (4) actually held together. It was late out of CHI (maybe equipment, maybe , but it managed not to bleed more than another hour EB.
-30 (5) left CHI last night at 2312 (4:32 late). It last shows leaving PGH at 2311 (7:51 late).
-49 (5) shows having left TOL at 1349 (7:34 late) and may or may not be in a service disruption.
-48 (5) left CHI at 0209, 4:39 late. It last shows leaving Erie at 1545 (8:23 late).
-5 (5) is presently approaching DEN; it left FMG at 1348 (8:43 late)
-5 (6) has not yet left CHI. Likely being held to accommodate 29, if not in an equipment jam.
-3 (5) is not yet to Lamar, CO. It left Garden City at 1436 (8:15 late)
-3 (6) has not left CHI yet. It is likely being held to at least accommodate 29 as well.
-4 (4) was doing alright until KCY (it left only 4 minutes late), and promptly started bleeding time. It's 1:47 late as of GBB.
-21 (5) left PBF at 1056, 11:14 late. It is in a service disruption at present.
-21 (6) has not left CHI, either.
-59 (5) left CHI this morning at 0414, 8:09 late. It went into disruption between KKI and CHM, at which point it was over 9 hours late.
-58 (5) is one of the few nearly on-time trains, having arrived into CHI at 1147, "only" 2:47 late. It lost three hours north of Carbondale (where it was on-time).
-51's disruption is probably the tamest (getting bused from IND).

What this tells me is:
(1) The timetables are mere suggestions today. Either that or we're seeing a lot of trains we haven't seen since the 50s.
(2) At least some of the meltdowns in CHI departures seem to be trains being held to allow connections amidst everything else collapsing.

(3) The preemptive train cancellations were likely a matter of equipment (and crew) positioning.
(4) I'm on the edge of my seat with respect to tomorrow... No, actually, I'm relaxing...it's out of my hands. If all goes to hell, I'll grab dinner with friends in CHI.

I'll try to keep everyone updated, but some of this is really legendary.

 

[Railroad Bill]

The answer is: Its just too cold to do anything but sit beside a warm fire and watch the wind blow the snow around. Current temp here in Ohio is now -10 and falling. BRRRRR@!

 

[Slasharoo]

I was in Chicago this morning completing the last leg of a 24 hour trip that was scheduled as a four hour hop. There was just a lot of things that went wrong this weekend. The first was obviously the foot of snow followed by sub zero temps and high winds. When we were waiting to board the Hiawatha this morning, a Metra train hit a semi at a crossing in town, then one of the busiest switches, Western Ave. freezes up, backing up the commuters and Amtrak for a couple of hours. We saw a lot of fire pots sitting on switches on our way in on Saturday and out today, but there were a lot more that were missed. With virtually everything going through the vortex that is Chicago this weekend, it's no wonder...

 

[Karl1459]

Somehow I think "meltdown" is the wrong word choice... somthing on the order of "freeze up"???

 

[afigg]

In the meantime, the Midwest is in the midst of the most spectacular meltdown I've ever seen:

Yep, a seriously bad day. Or a good day to hunker down someplace warm and wait it out.
BTW, if you are looking for something to analyze while waiting, the November 2014 MPR has been posted. For the 2nd month of the FY, Amtrak ran at a small net surplus, once the non-cash adjustments are taken out. The January Nor'Easter and deep freeze disruptions will make a dent in the January numbers.

 

[Old MM]

The system was already showing signs of stress when we left Chicago on Saturday morning. The station employees explained that with the trains spending the night in the open trainyard, that this happens. Thing is this was on Saturday before things got worse. What must it be like today? The South boarding areas at Union Station are marginally serviceable for long waits, but you can't leave if you expect to keep a place to sit, and the employees don't tell you to come back in an hour, since they can't determine when the engines will be unfrozen or whatever. They basically tell people to stay there and wait. It can get very cold and uncomfortable waiting there, but nothing much can be done.

Also, it took me a minute reading the lead post, above, to figure out you are referring to train numbers... as in turnarounds? At first I thought they were temps and wind chills. :giggle: Also, what is a "service disruption"? Is that when they just stop on the tracks for a while? I learned something about this on our Wolverine trip. Amtrak employees have become far more generous about sharing information over the last several years. While we were stopped, the onboard crew explained that the freight companies who own the tracks give Amtrak a window of time. Once this window is missed, Amtrak waits at the discretion of the track owners for when they can move. In Michigan of course there is a long stretch of Amtrak-owned tracks. There the problem becomes the single track stretches, and if they had double tracks... the future of rail could be interesting indeed.

 

[SarahZ]

Also, it took me a minute reading the lead post, above, to figure out you are referring to train numbers... as in turnarounds? At first I thought they were temps and wind chills. :giggle: A

The hyphens were meant to be like a bullet list, not temperatures. When people on the board write 5/5 or 5/6, they mean train #5 that left on the 5th or train #5 that left on the 6th. You'll also see it written as 3(28) or 4(29). I prefer the parentheses since the slashes format looks like a date.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

29(5) means train #29 which originated on the 5th.

Service disruptions can mean several things, I believe. Not necessarily the train is at a dead stop somewhere.

 

[Trogdor]

Also, it took me a minute reading the lead post, above, to figure out you are referring to train numbers... as in turnarounds? At first I thought they were temps and wind chills. :giggle: A

The hyphens were meant to be like a bullet list, not temperatures. When people on the board write 5/5 or 5/6, they mean train #5 that left on the 5th or train #5 that left on the 6th. You'll also see it written as 3(28) or 4(29). I prefer the parentheses since the slashes format looks like a date.

That, and parentheses is the official way Amtrak designates trains(origin date). Writing it any other way just looks unnatural.

 

[eblkheart]

I've been monitoring this as well and it's jaw dropping on seeing all the delays. Wowzers!

 

[Anderson]

Here's a list of what I got earlier:
At the moment, I'm showing the following (all times local):

3 (4): Arrived LAX 1019 (2:04 late)
4 (4): Last recorded at GBB, 1355 (1:47 late)
3 (5): Last recorded at LMR, 1534 (8:35 late)
4 (5): Departed RAT 1650 (on time; not on the boards yet, but this is my train)
3 (6): Has not departed as of 1741 local time, indicating SD

5 (4): Departed Davis 1458 (0:12 late)
6 (4): Last recorded at BRL at 1522 (4:46 late)
5 (5): Arrived Denver 1608 (8:53 late)
6 (5): Departed GRA at 1640 (1:28 late)
5 (6): Has not departed as of 1741 local time, indicating SD

21 (5): Last recorded at PBF, 1056 (11:14 late), indicating SD
22 (5): Last recorded at CRV, 1658 (7:43 late), indicating SD
21 (6): Has not departed as of 1741 local time, indicating SD
22 (6): Roughly on time at MIN

29 (5): Arrived CHI 1503 (6:18)
30 (5): Service Disruption (last recorded at PGH)
29 (6): Service Disruption (has not left WAS, likely cancelled)
30 (6): Service Disruption (has not left CHI, likely cancelled)

48 (5): Last recorded at ROC, 2217 (12:09 late)
49 (5): Arrived CHI 2043 (10:58 late)
48 (6): Cancelled
49 (6): Cancelled

50 (4): Got into NYP at 0400 on the 6th.
51 (5): Terminated at IND, seems to be turning as 51 (7) at IND.

Bear in mind that some trains may have gone into Service Disruption and/or dropped off the boards due to Amtrak being swamped with the meltdown.

Edit: And just to compound this, throw in a complete breakdown of the NEC due to lost wires. Good God, I'm glad I delayed my trip a day.

Also, just thinking, but with the entire Midwest having disintegrated and the NEC shut down, this might be the most catastrophic meltdown in Amtrak service since Hurricane Agnes in terms of scope/scale at one time.

 

[CHamilton]

Amazing. We seem to be looking at a "system-wide freeze."

 

[CHamilton]

 

[John]

Looks like 3, 5 and 21 never left Chicago at all today.

 

[Acela150]

Part of the NEC problems is caternary issues in the Newark area. I got news alert after news alert from all kinds of App's on my iPhone.

 

[Trainmans daughter]

I can't speak for any of the other trains on that list, but I'm on 29 (6). We were bussed from WAS to Pittsburgh and are just ready to pull out of the station.

We have tickets for 3 (7) and I'm hoping things are cleared up by then. I can only take so much drama. It wouldn't be so bad if I were by myself, but if we get stranded somewhere this trip, I could lose my "grandma privileges".

We have started moving now, so officially 29 (6) is NOT cancelled. Yeah!

 

[chakk]

All this talk about cold weather is giving me the chillblains. Here in California we had our first cloudy day in 6 weeks, so the temperature never made it out of the upper 50s, while all other days over the past 6 weeks have reached into the mid- to upper-60s. No rain in forecast yet, but mid-60s are forecast to return next week at least.

Even still, some of our Amtrak trains are impacted by the Midwest Freeze, with the westbound CZ arriving Roseville more than 4 hours late yesterday, 90 minutes late today, and 8.5 hours (so far) expected for a delay on Tuesday.

 

[Anderson]

WAS is going to be interesting in about an hour...137, 187, 55, and 2175 are all set to get in back-to-back-to-back, hot on the heels of 2119 and 177. The status of 2173, 2171, and 175 is also unclear. The same seems to apply to NYP, too.

 

[Anderson]

WAS had one of the busiest late nights in its history, taking arrivals from no less than ten trains in 1:13:
Train arrival times into WAS:
0122: Train 193 (Regional)
0131: Train 2119 (Acela)
0150: Train 129 (Regional)
0152: Train 2167 (Acela)
0203: Train 2171 (Acela)
0205: Train 55 (Vermonter)
0219: Train 2175 (Acela)
0220: Train 137 (Regional)
0234: Train 177 (Regional)
0235: Train 187 (Regional)
Train 175 apparently terminated at TRE; no later times show for it. It seems likely that passengers were transferred to one of the other four Regionals that got stacked up. 2173 apparently terminated at NWK, though it seems possible that 2173's passengers got transferred to 2175 (which follows it) and/or 2171 (which precedes it), since especially after PHL there was likely space to accommodate those folks. Moreover, it seems that 2126 might also have gotten preempted in the chaos as well.

Train arrival times into PHL:
0045: Train 138
0047: Train 92
0146: Train 188
0202: Train 2128 (continues)
0215: Train 90
0312: Train 66 (continues)
Most of these trains appear to terminate at PHL rather than NYP.

 

[VentureForth]

Train 4(4) is now showing 17 hours late and not moving outside of Mendota. Don't know if this is truly the case... Expected into CHI by 8:30 AM this morning.

 

[fillyjonk]

Boy darn, am I glad I was able to exchange the roommette I was to have Monday night on 21 for one Thursday night. I really hope - not just for myself- that things are mostly unsnarled by then.

That said, it looks like the airlines aren't faring any better; I've heard of people stuck in airports for 4 days. (Far, far, far worse than me spending 3 extra days at my parents' house....)

I'm guessing the problems are a combo platter of frozen switches and really late trains leading to equipment shortages? I've also heard of one stalled train and now this morning one that seems to be in distress somewhere west of Chicago.

 

[Anderson]

As I posted elsewhere. 4 (5) just announced termination at KCY, likely to deal with the aforementioned train meltdown. I suspect a bustitutionl thank God for MREs...

 

[bmorechris]

On Good Morning America this morning they had cell phone video from one of the three Amtrak trains they said are stuck "about 80 miles west of Chicago in snow drifts". They said it was the California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, and Illinois Zephyr. The cell video they had showed people in seemingly good spirits, filthy bathrooms with sinks and toilets full, and the good old Dinty Moore Beef Stew emergency rations. Looked like they were able to maintain HEP since it looked like all lights were on. I believe they said Amtrak was attempting to send buses to the stuck trains, but roads weren't fairing much better.

 

[montana mike]

I wonder how many days it will take to unravel this mess? Looking at the weather forecast temps and weather should return to "normal" conditions in a couple days (even above average temps in the longer range forecasts), but it would appear it will take a while for Amtrak to get its act back together. Perhaps by Friday?

 

[VentureForth]

This may sound a little bit nasty - but here goes.

The older Amfleet I (?) toilets that use "blue water" like the older aircraft are very well suited for this sort of environment. They are recirculating - meaning that they recycle the water and filter out "solids" between each use. The blue color is the extremely powerful disinfectant. The advantage is that it takes no additional water source to flush. The containment is limited by use - in other words, the level rises as "stuff" is put into it. Yes - they can overflow, but the rate that it increases is limited in that the flushing water is reused. In the case of these trains, if I were a conductor, I would likely say to heck with the rules and dump the tanks into the western Illinois farmland. It's more sanitary than overflowing in the lavatory.

The problem with the vacuum waste systems - though 95% of the time more sanitary - they are useless when you run out of potable water to flush with. These tanks can be emptied out the side of a train, too, if necessary in an emergency, but can't be flushed when the water runs out.