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Well lets see. My latest Amtrak was the Coast Starlight about 10 years ago. There was a bridge fire and we were rerouted, finally arriving into LAUPT 8 hours late.

I recently took my second most delayed Amtrak, the Zephyr #5 , as a result of a broken down freight in the middle of the great baisin. (For pictures to go along with this, see my website via the link below).

Thanks!
 
I'd have to say mine was the big cancellation day back in Feb when CSX shut down the RF&P. I was on the Meteor wn route when we were told the train would terminate in JAX. I was also on 97 that day coming back with most of the people that thought they were going to the Northeast, and instead ended up back in SoFla.
 
6 hour late departure out of Sanford on the Auto Train (10:30pm instead of the scheduled 4:30 pm departure). Arrival in Lorton was 11 hours late at 8:00 pm instead of 9:00am. All curtiousy of CSX malfunctioning signals.
 
I havent been on a REALLY late train in my few experiences with Amtrak trains. The latest one was the eastbound Lake Shore comming back from CHI on my 97 trip to STL. We had to sit in Chicago for over 2 hours waiting for the Empire Builder connection which was delayed due to a landslide somewhere out west.
 
To me that's a situation when you call in your trusty friend Alternate Transportation. I know that if I'm the Conductor or Engineer of that Lake Shore, I'm calling someone upstairs if I'm delayed more than 30 minutes. Here's the simple truth, you don't hold up 200-300 people for a dozen connecting passengers.
 
That night there were NINE connecting passengers from the very late builder and the Lake Shore that night was like completely sold out, there was well over 400 people on board totally Im pretty sure. People got very restless. At least they opened the dining and lounge cars up while we had to sit and wait. I totally agree that that was uncalled for, its just not right. Like you said battalion, maybe holding it 20-30 minutes isnt too bad, but over two hours for nine connecting passengers? COME ON <_<
 
I guarantee you if a Conductor would have made that decision he would spend at least 30 days on the street, the same should happen for these dumb managers who make these stupid decisions.
 
All on the Capitol Corridor:

On a train 4.5 hours late on a train that hit a trespasser in Hayward was supposed to arrive at 10PM actual arrival 2:30 AM

Another time train was 2.5 hours late arriving at my origin station due to equipment trouble, train arrived 3.5 hours late at the destination. This was 3 weeks after the above mentioned incident and with the same crew.
 
Biggest Amtrak delay for me was 8 hours on the Sunset Limited into LA about 3 or 4 years ago.

Pre-Amtrak, I have been 9 hours late twice, once on the California Zephyr into SF, and once on a train from Chicago to Chattanooga, each in the mid-60's.
 
Funny you should mention this. We were scheduled to depart out of Denver on #6 this past Monday (6-23-03) at 7:30 P.M. Finally left Denver at 1:30 A.M. Arrived in Chicago 8 hours late at 11:30 P.M. Missed the connection on train 30. Amtrak put us up in a hotel about 40 minutes away and gave us meal money ($23 per adult). The next day's #30 left late and arrived in Toledo 2 hours late. So, technically I was 26 hours late arriving at my final destination.
 
Just the opposite here.

On my last train ride, Amtrak Pacific Surfliner # 775, the train was operating so efficiently that on three occasions between Van Nuys and Santa Barbara the Conductor would make announcements that the train was running several minutes ahead of schedule, and that passengers were welcome to step off, have a smoke, or stretch their legs.

This is how well things are running here in Southern California. Sorry for the problems the rest of you experienced.
 
I've also been on Capitol Corridor trains that arrived into Sac 15 minutes early on many occasions but due to the topic I failed to mention them.
 
10 hours late on the south-bound Texas Eagel this past winter due to signaling damaged in an ice storm. The train sat in the snow in beautiful downtown Poplar Bluff, MO most of that time.
 
tp49 said:
I've also been on Capitol Corridor trains that arrived into Sac 15 minutes early on many occasions but due to the topic I failed to mention them.
I have yet to see one (and I travel on the Capitol Corridor quite often). These trains are usually operating anywhere between 15 minutes to 1 hour late.

When trackwork is NOT going on, the morning and evening trains with commuters that complain when the trains are late usually adhere to their schedule pretty well, but the conductors seem to lack interest in strictly adhering to the mid-day schedules; the weekend schedules always seem to also be more relaxed in terms of timekeeping.
 
Allen Dee said:
Just the opposite here.
On my last train ride, Amtrak Pacific Surfliner # 775, the train was operating so efficiently that on three occasions between Van Nuys and Santa Barbara the Conductor would make announcements that the train was running several minutes ahead of schedule, and that passengers were welcome to step off, have a smoke, or stretch their legs.

This is how well things are running here in Southern California. Sorry for the problems the rest of you experienced.
The San Joaquin trains often run this efficiently too, even though large portions of the valley line are a single track railroad.
 
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