I just read that a levee is being built on the BNSF (Amtrak) tracks south of Omaha. (College Baseball fans need not worry, the CWS will go on as planned!) No doubt this flood will cause hardships for many in its path and our thoughts are with them as they face the difficult situation ahead. What impact will a flood of this projected level have on Amtrak CZ service throughout the summer? We are planning a trip west (and return) from Creston, Iowa on July 4 and 11th. We are used to the Mississippi River flooding forcing changes to the CZ during the summer months but have not experienced a Missouri River flood as of yet. Although this is a "100 year Flood," does anyone have knowledge of Amtrak policies, practices and procedures from the past?
Missouri River Flooding
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grounded flyboy
Service Attendant
I am heartened to hear that your initial thoughts are with the victims who live in the Missouri River valley. Most of the posts for the previous and ongoing flooding start with... 'what about MY train ride?' Other threads have addressed the fact that Amtrak doesn't own the track so 'they don't have anyone out there walking the track to evaluate conditions'. In my opinion, Amtrak procedure is never out in front of this problem. My suggestion to you and Amtrak is to just watch any network weather cast, especially Weather Channel and begin to make alternate plans based on their professional forecast. For example, yesterday they predicted that once the Missouri crests the flood waters won't recede for a month. That gives you 27 days to be actively figuring out another way. You, i, and probably Amtrak don't know at exactly what point the water will recede enough to allow train traffic.
In March weather forecasters measured the Mont and ND snowpack and predicted the current flooding in both states. At that point I changed my EB ticket to a SWC ride. As it turned out, Amtrak called EB travelers the night before my departure and said 'find another way'. I guessed right on this occasion (with the help of the Weather Channel) but even if the EB had been able to get through, I slept better.
In March weather forecasters measured the Mont and ND snowpack and predicted the current flooding in both states. At that point I changed my EB ticket to a SWC ride. As it turned out, Amtrak called EB travelers the night before my departure and said 'find another way'. I guessed right on this occasion (with the help of the Weather Channel) but even if the EB had been able to get through, I slept better.
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Any info or guesses on how the Missouri River flooding will affect the BNSF transcon and SWC?
Boy, I'm glad my daughter invited me to Utah for Thanksgiving and not the Fourth of July. I'm taking the CZ the Saturday before Thanksgiving. And here I was worried about snow. Never thought (because this is my first train trip since I was a kid) about spring/summer time problems.
I hope all trains are "back on track" soon for all those who have summer time trips planned.
I hope all trains are "back on track" soon for all those who have summer time trips planned.
Mackensen
Lead Service Attendant
Here's the story: http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/article_5ab61ae3-3b70-5d6b-9204-252c0ba3c8e9.html There's also a service advisory on Amtrak's main page.
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Tony
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I was on the Zephyr last week (left Emeryville on Tuesday, May 31st). As we were leaving Denver Wednesday evening, the conductor announced that the train would be taking a detour from Lincoln, Nebraska to Creston, Iowa and passengers scheduled to detrain in Omaha would be bussed from Creston. When I woke up the next morning, we were stopped at the Omaha station and were about two hours late.
I saw lots of high water that day but none that seemed to delay the train. We were, however, about 3 and 1/2 hours late arriving in Chicago. All of the rivers we saw on this trip (Rio Grande [on the outbound trip], Colorado, Fraser, Missouri, Des Moine, and Mississippi) were higher than we had ever seen during previous trips. There was also a lot of flooding in the fields in Colorado near the the Western slope and in Nebraska and Iowa.
I saw lots of high water that day but none that seemed to delay the train. We were, however, about 3 and 1/2 hours late arriving in Chicago. All of the rivers we saw on this trip (Rio Grande [on the outbound trip], Colorado, Fraser, Missouri, Des Moine, and Mississippi) were higher than we had ever seen during previous trips. There was also a lot of flooding in the fields in Colorado near the the Western slope and in Nebraska and Iowa.
I haven't heard of any problems with the River Runner's.
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