New Michigan Service Schedules

[Notelvis]

I saw a note online somewhere that Amtrak's Michigan schedules were being revised effective 9/10/12. However, the Amtrak website does not have a new timetable..... at least not one that I can find.

Has anyone seen a new Michigan timetable yet?

 

[jerichowhiskey]

Taken from their Facebook page.

 

[Notelvis]

Perfect - Thanks.

Can't access facebook at work so I was handicapped in finding this.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

Now if amtrak will update the schedule on their website which they're behind in doing.

 

[hessjm]

Beginning Monday September 17, the Michigan Service train Pere Marquette (370/371) changes its schedule also.

Depart Grand Rapids 7:40am (was 7:30)

Depart Chicago 4:55pm (was 5:20)

 

[SarahZ]

My tickets for October and November reflect the change. I was pretty surprised to see 9:35 for the Wolverine since it's always been 9:50. I thought they put that on there as a way to get people to the station early, so I was going to ignore it since I always get there at 9:30 for a 9:50 departure. Good thing I checked the time tables this morning.

I heard the 9:35 passing my house at 9:40 this morning. That was bizarre. I used to use the train as my indication it was time to leave for work since the 9:50 always went by at 10:00 or so. I kind of freaked out a little and grabbed my phone to check the time. :giggle: It's going to take a while to get used to that.

The other night, the outbound and inbound Wolverine passed my neighborhood at the same time. I couldn't figure out why the echo from the horn was bouncing off the houses from two directions (I thought it was only one train, since I heard the double-tap on the horn when it left the station). Eventually, I realized I was hearing TWO trains, not one. The outbound passed our house just a few seconds before the inbound went by. It. Was. Awesome. :wub:

 

[peremichel]

Beginning Monday September 17, the Michigan Service train Pere Marquette (370/371) changes its schedule also.

Depart Grand Rapids 7:40am (was 7:30)

Depart Chicago 4:55pm (was 5:20)

Before I wouldn't take this train because I could not get over there from work to make the 5:15 pm cutoff. Now it is before five o'clock and I can just say it leaves before I get out of work, making the decision not to take it even easier.

This also makes day trips from Michigan that much harder, shaving off a whole half an hour of time in Chicago.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

The time change for the pere Marquette is cause they found out they can't run the train on the old time table and have enough hours for the crew to get rested and get the train out on time and they're trying to avoid re-crewing the train mid route.

 

[thully]

I noticed the time changes when booking my roundtrip to Michigan in December - hopefully this means that the Wolverine is able to be more consistent with its times (and no more slow orders!) Though I'm not riding it that often anymore since I moved, I'm definitely hoping MI can get its train service to be more consistent and reliable (and hopefully more frequencies - they'll probably never have as many as the Surfliner, let alone NEC, but 5xdaily would be nice...) That would also make day trips more viable (as it stands, it can be tight to try and do a day trip to CHI from points along the Wolverine, particularly if the train is late into CHI...)

 

[Nathanael]

There will be more schedule changes in the next few years, be sure of that! After all, there's a giant funded project to upgrade the Wolverine line from Kalamazoo to Dearborn (assuming the state ever finishes the purchase of the line), the Grand Rapids station is moving, the Dearborn station is moving, there's the West Detroit Junction project (now obligated), and then there's the Indiana Gateway and Englewood Flyover projects in Chicagoland.... I expect to see the schedules move around repeatedly as construction continues over the next few years. Also, don't expect all the slow orders to go away until all the projects are done.

They're already talking about *more* projects; apparently connecting the CSX line to the Amtrak line north of New Buffalo is being pushed by the City of New Buffalo with widespread support.

 

[Guest]

Beginning Monday September 17, the Michigan Service train Pere Marquette (370/371) changes its schedule also.

Depart Grand Rapids 7:40am (was 7:30)

Depart Chicago 4:55pm (was 5:20)

Before I wouldn't take this train because I could not get over there from work to make the 5:15 pm cutoff. Now it is before five o'clock and I can just say it leaves before I get out of work, making the decision not to take it even easier.

This also makes day trips from Michigan that much harder, shaving off a whole half an hour of time in Chicago.

It's RIDICULOUS! I've written to Amtrak Customer Service, posted on all the Amtrak Facebook sites and have posted on MDOT's FB page too. MDOT actually cared (as opposed to Amtrak) that the earlier departure was a MAJOR problem for business people since it leaves before 5 pm. There is ONE train a day - how hard is it to analyze when people would MOST need it to leave? Pathetic really.

 

[Guest]

The time change for the pere Marquette is cause they found out they can't run the train on the old time table and have enough hours for the crew to get rested and get the train out on time and they're trying to avoid re-crewing the train mid route.

They are only dealing with the SYMPTOMS here not the PROBLEM! If the freights didn't delay things there would be plenty of time for crew rest. Hopefully the new project in Indiana will resolve the actual problem.

 

[PRR 60]

The time change for the pere Marquette is cause they found out they can't run the train on the old time table and have enough hours for the crew to get rested and get the train out on time and they're trying to avoid re-crewing the train mid route.

They are only dealing with the SYMPTOMS here not the PROBLEM! If the freights didn't delay things there would be plenty of time for crew rest. Hopefully the new project in Indiana will resolve the actual problem.

Actually, that is the case. Although Amtrak blamed NS and CSX (standard operating procedure for Amtrak), trains that arrived GRR from Chicago on-time were still late leaving GRR the next morning due to crew rest issues. The arriving crew has tasks to perform after arrival before they can go off the clock. The next morning they have tasks to perform prior to the scheduled departure. The schedule simply did not allow enough time for them to do the stuff they have to do and get eight hours off the clock. Sometime in the spring or summer, Amtrak made the decision to eliminate the availability of an en route relief crew for the westbound trip, so absent that, the GRR crew now has to operate to CHI and needs full rest at GRR. The new schedule provides more of a cushion, but at the cost of passenger convenience.

 

[Guest]

The time change for the pere Marquette is cause they found out they can't run the train on the old time table and have enough hours for the crew to get rested and get the train out on time and they're trying to avoid re-crewing the train mid route.

They are only dealing with the SYMPTOMS here not the PROBLEM! If the freights didn't delay things there would be plenty of time for crew rest. Hopefully the new project in Indiana will resolve the actual problem.

Actually, that is the case. Although Amtrak blamed NS and CSX (standard operating procedure for Amtrak), trains that arrived GRR from Chicago on-time were still late leaving GRR the next morning due to crew rest issues. The arriving crew has tasks to perform after arrival before they can go off the clock. The next morning they have tasks to perform prior to the scheduled departure. The schedule simply did not allow enough time for them to do the stuff they have to do and get eight hours off the clock. Sometime in the spring or summer, Amtrak made the decision to eliminate the availability of an en route relief crew for the westbound trip, so absent that, the GRR crew now has to operate to CHI and needs full rest at GRR. The new schedule provides more of a cushion, but at the cost of passenger convenience.

Yes but this is no MINOR inconvenience. When you move a train (370) to a time that prohibits a large portion of your passengers (business people)of ever riding that train you are actually losing passenger revenue! What's the point? They should be trying to INCREASE revenue not lose it!