Silver Service Serious tardiness

[jphjaxfl]

I will be traveling from JAX to NYP on the Silver Star on 1/3, returning on the Silver Meteor on 1/7. I have noticed that the Silver Service Trains have been running 4-7 hours late recently. Any reason for that? Many times the northbound trains are leaving Miami late which is probably because they arrive late. How can they ever get back to being on time? I think CSX was hoping with Bush's zero funding budget Amtrak would be gone by now or in the not too distant future. Now CSX is going to chase off passengers with extremly late trains. I have never seen Silver Service trains running so late. It reminds me of pre-Amtrak times when some of the railroads were doing everything they could to turn away passengers. The New York-Florida service, among others, was not like that and had a steady flow of passengers. With the current Amtrak Silver Service running so late, it will

be a negative for any first time and even long time passengers.

 

[battalion51]

Leave from the gate late and you're going to have a bad trip, that's just the way it goes. The poor weather through the mid Atlantic states hasn't helped things. There have also been a few grade crossing incidents that haven't helped. Add to that the heavy loads which don't let you make up time in stations and you have a recipe for disaster.

 

[GG-1]

Add to that the heavy loads which don't let you make up time in stations and you have a recipe for disaster.

Aloha

First time Being full is bad

 

[AmtrakWPK]

If you want to get an idea of how OTP would look if the freight RRs actually expedited Amtrak and didn't have opposite-direction meets to handle, take a look at OTP right now in the middle of the holiday. Freight traffic basically stopped for the holiday. Silver Service in Florida seems to be either on time or early. 98 was early into WPK. Even yesterday's 92 that left MIA 7 hours LATE had actually caught up about 2 hours of that time by the it's arrival into WPK. The Empire Builder due in SEA tomorrow is on time and estimated to SEA early. Of course I expect that pax count yesterday and today is probably very light as well, but it shows that timetable OTP is quite possible.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

And to reinforce that post, Sunset Limited left Los Angeles on time on Dec. 23rd, arrived in New Orleans (sit down and grab something solid) 50 minutes EARLY today Christmas Day).

 

[battalion51]

Spoke with 91's Conductor today, he said they were pretty much on time today, 98 was right on the money as well. Yesterday was another story, 98 got out of the gate around 2 PM, 92 at 4. Sounds like someone down there in Miami needs to be on a platter for Christmas dinner tonight.

 

[trainboy325]

The majority of the delays for Silver Service have been equipment issues in MIA and NYP, freight traffic and trains just out of wack due to extreme lateness at turnaround points.

I thought is was interesting to learn that on Christmas morning, my buddy OBS was waiting on maintenance and coach cleaners to finish working on 91 to learn that because the company wanted to avoid holiday overtime, they failed to bring in people to work the train and they left the SSY about an hour late. What can you say about that?

Merry Christmas to all!

 

[AmtrakFan]

Is there a moment when Amtrak actually cares about the Passengers? If they knew it was goign to run very late bring in extra people.

 

[jphjaxfl]

Thanks for the comments! I am not that concerned when the trains run late, because you get to see parts of the route in daylight that you you would normally pass through when it is dark. But for those who are taking the train to get from point A to point B and have a schedule to keep, the extreme lateness does not make for long term customers. I have written to Senators and Congressional Representatives about timeliness and the overall impact on Amtrak, but nothing seems to change. In the European countries, Japan and many other countries this type of lateness would not be tolerated. Amtrak is more like the type train service you find in impoverished third world countries.

 

[battalion51]

Well the Europeans know how to run train service, and the passenger service is priority number one over there, not the case across most of the Amtrak system since they rely on freight roads for dispatching and right of way.

 

[gswager]

It would be nice to hire an European to run the Amtrak! But it is still a long way to go.

 

[Guest]

They did have the next best thing. A Canadian named David Gunn. And they fired him!

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

Now CSX is going to chase off passengers with extremly late trains. I have never seen Silver Service trains running so late. It reminds me of pre-Amtrak times when some of the railroads were doing everything they could to turn away passengers.

I wouldn't go as far as to blame the intitial leaving the terminal late on CSX. That is pretty much Amtrak's control with the exception of when the train set gets in entirely too late to service it before next days' departure time. Now in route delays are a totally different story outside the NEC.

One might think all this is planned in order to run away the passengers, but I must attest the fact the majority of our passengers are first timers, and generally do come back even after a bad trip. Of course I am sure there are many who don't come back. We have our regulars who many times are extremely frustrated, and say they won't be back, but the very next week or next month, there they are standing on the platform! I usually remind them if I catch them on another trip! I can't resist it usually, and to see the look on their face is just plain beautiful sometimes! :lol: OBS...

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

They did have the next best thing. A Canadian named David Gunn. And they fired him!

Not the fact he is a Canadian, or whether the person in charge may be European or whatever, but overall I have to agree with this statement! Mr Gunn knew what it takes to run a railroad, and apparently he stood in the way of "the agenda!" We won't go there any more! OBS...

 

[battalion51]

Perfect example of Amtrak's own idiocy this morning. 98 was 1:15 late out of MIA because they decided really late in the game to add a fifth coach. As of Florence, 3:11 late.

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

The majority of the delays for Silver Service have been equipment issues in MIA and NYP, freight traffic and trains just out of wack due to extreme lateness at turnaround points.
I thought is was interesting to learn that on Christmas morning, my buddy OBS was waiting on maintenance and coach cleaners to finish working on 91 to learn that because the company wanted to avoid holiday overtime, they failed to bring in people to work the train and they left the SSY about an hour late. What can you say about that?

Merry Christmas to all!

Yep, we were waiting on them to get done, so we could stock and prep the train. Combine that with getting a bum engine which broke down and we had to be towed back into the yard, we ended up leaving SSY over two hours late on Christmas day! We pretty much kept that until we made FL as usual.

On another note, the #P098 which was supposed to arrive in NYP on Christmas day, was terminated at WAS because it was so late, and the equipment which was supposed to be that days #97 was used for one of their (NYC) trains probably the "LSL." That #97 crew deadheaded (with us from SSY to NYP) down to WAS to catch the train, and the #98 crew was deadheaded on to NYP for the next day out as usual. So equipment issues are a big one right now. It is just a matter of time when the crap hits the fan! We'll see what happens. OBS...

 

[Sam Damon]

Thanks for the comments! I am not that concerned when the trains run late, because you get to see parts of the route in daylight that you you would normally pass through when it is dark. But for those who are taking the train to get from point A to point B and have a schedule to keep, the extreme lateness does not make for long term customers. I have written to Senators and Congressional Representatives about timeliness and the overall impact on Amtrak, but nothing seems to change. In the European countries, Japan and many other countries this type of lateness would not be tolerated. Amtrak is more like the type train service you find in impoverished third world countries.

The US DOT seems determined to turn the US transportation system into a third world one.

For my part, I have contacted all of my congressional representatives -- hopefully, they will at least take note of the numbers of constituents contacting them about Amtrak.

At what point can we enthusiasts organize to take the trains over and run them as they should be run? Isn't that what government By the people, Of the people, and For the people is about?