Six hour delay on the Westbound Empire Builder out of MSP!

[montana mike]

Anyone know what happened to the EB 7(13) in MSP last night. It was essentially on time upon arrival, but lost 6 hours at MSP!!!!

Looks like this means a turn at Spokane with busititutions from SEA and PDX unless it is able to make up a huge amount of time--big time bummer.

 

[CHamilton]

Via the Yahoo group:

One of the Amtrak units was no good for power

inbound at St. Paul. Unit BNSF 5031 was added at St. Paul, then both Amtrak
units had HEP problems.

Given the slow track conditions on the Hillsboro and Devils Lake subdivisions,
look for a scenic daylight trip across North Dakota and a termination at
Spokane.

 

[Phil S]

Bummer. Well. at least it's equipment and not flooding, so it's a one off. Thanks for posting.

 

[Eric308]

Via the Yahoo group:

One of the Amtrak units was no good for power

inbound at St. Paul. Unit BNSF 5031 was added at St. Paul, then both Amtrak
units had HEP problems.

Given the slow track conditions on the Hillsboro and Devils Lake subdivisions,
look for a scenic daylight trip across North Dakota and a termination at
Spokane.

Thanks...going to PDX in a couple of weeks and just curious. If terminated in SPK how long is the bus trip to PDX?

 

[fairviewroad]

Via the Yahoo group:

One of the Amtrak units was no good for power

inbound at St. Paul. Unit BNSF 5031 was added at St. Paul, then both Amtrak
units had HEP problems.

Given the slow track conditions on the Hillsboro and Devils Lake subdivisions,
look for a scenic daylight trip across North Dakota and a termination at
Spokane.

Thanks...going to PDX in a couple of weeks and just curious. If terminated in SPK how long is the bus trip to PDX?

Depends on the number of stops, but you can probably plan on at least 6 hours. Ironically, the bus ride

itself can be faster than the train ride between the same locations, but it also depends on how organized

things are in Spokane in terms of whether a bus is ready to go. The other thing is, you actually see most

of the same scenery (along the Columbia River), just from the Oregon side of the river, not the WA side

(assuming they take the most logical highway route from Spokane to PDX).

 

[montana mike]

Thanks for the info an updates. Soooooo, if they turn things around in SPK, with the same power issues are we then going to have the same issues (i.e. slow travels) heading back east as the EB #8?

:-(

 

[Eric308]

Via the Yahoo group:

One of the Amtrak units was no good for power

inbound at St. Paul. Unit BNSF 5031 was added at St. Paul, then both Amtrak
units had HEP problems.

Given the slow track conditions on the Hillsboro and Devils Lake subdivisions,
look for a scenic daylight trip across North Dakota and a termination at
Spokane.

Thanks...going to PDX in a couple of weeks and just curious. If terminated in SPK how long is the bus trip to PDX?

Depends on the number of stops, but you can probably plan on at least 6 hours. Ironically, the bus ride

itself can be faster than the train ride between the same locations, but it also depends on how organized

things are in Spokane in terms of whether a bus is ready to go. The other thing is, you actually see most

of the same scenery (along the Columbia River), just from the Oregon side of the river, not the WA side

(assuming they take the most logical highway route from Spokane to PDX).

Thanks! Only bummer would be missing the gourmet box breakfast coming into PDX.

 

[jsreeves]

Now seven and a half hours late out of Grand Forks.

 

[fairviewroad]

Via the Yahoo group:

One of the Amtrak units was no good for power

inbound at St. Paul. Unit BNSF 5031 was added at St. Paul, then both Amtrak
units had HEP problems.

Given the slow track conditions on the Hillsboro and Devils Lake subdivisions,
look for a scenic daylight trip across North Dakota and a termination at
Spokane.

Thanks...going to PDX in a couple of weeks and just curious. If terminated in SPK how long is the bus trip to PDX?

Depends on the number of stops, but you can probably plan on at least 6 hours. Ironically, the bus ride

itself can be faster than the train ride between the same locations, but it also depends on how organized

things are in Spokane in terms of whether a bus is ready to go. The other thing is, you actually see most

of the same scenery (along the Columbia River), just from the Oregon side of the river, not the WA side

(assuming they take the most logical highway route from Spokane to PDX).

Thanks! Only bummer would be missing the gourmet box breakfast coming into PDX.

If the train is late enough to trigger bustitution, there's a decent chance it will be late enough to get breakfast in the diner

prior to arriving in Spokane.

 

[montana mike]

#7(13) arrived in DVL almost 9 hours behind schedule!! Yikes.

 

[fairviewroad]

Almost 10 hours late leaving Rugby. At this rate, making it as far as Spokane would a best-case scenario. They'll

be lucky if they can limp into Whitefish by tomorrow morning.

 

[montana mike]

I certainly picked a great time to have reservations on the returning #8 on Thursday!! Hopefully assuming they turn this sucker in Spokane perhaps things won't get too out of hand.

:-((

 

[Eric308]

Almost 10 hours late leaving Rugby. At this rate, making it as far as Spokane would a best-case scenario. They'llbe lucky if they can limp into Whitefish by tomorrow morning.

Why do they continue to lose time? Would it be due to "makeshift equipment?"

 

[gn2276]

Most of it is because of the frieght loco on the lead. The top speed is limited to 70 mph,with a BNSF loco on the lead the train will lose between 30 and 45 mins between Wiliston and Wolf Point. Also they will have to send a new crew to recrew the train and that could cause the train to lose more time.

 

[montana mike]

With the Amtrak dreaded "Service Disruption" notice now announced, any thoughts on:

1. Is the train turned in SPK? Elsewhere? (at the rte it is chugging along they would likely get to SPK about when they should have gotten to SEA!

2. Will Amtrak be able to come up with engines that work properly to pull the eastbound #8 late tomorrow PM?

 

[GoldenSpike]

My wife and I were on that train on a AGR freebie. She became a part of the delay.

We boarded at MSP. The EB was about 30 minutes late arriving. Power/ventilation was lost and became stuffy. I couldn't sleep. Instead of a 11:15 pm departure we left at 4:45 a.m. due to the isssues mentioned by others. They only served a continental breakfast, but back to cooking afterwards.

Adding more delay, west of Fargo they are doing a lot of track work for what seemed 100 miles and likely operating under slow orders. We faced the same last week e/b on the EB when told east of Minot we would be on slow orders which got us into MSP an hour late. Now doing this in daylight, I could see a lot of work crews, equipment, rails in some places, and stacks of ties about every 100 feet for the entire distance.

Leaving GFK 7.5 hours late, my wife and I went to the SSL to wait for our names to be called for lunch. She collapsed over diabetic issues. I can't express the professionalism and gratitude the train crew exhibited when told of the problem. They immediately sprang into action and paged for anybody with a medical background. There was a doctor and a RN that came forward as well as other diabetics that offered support and advice. One was a woman we had breakfast with talking about her daughter's issues in that area.

As we approached the next town of Michigan City, 53 miles from GFK, the conductor had called ahead for an aid car to meet trackside where they came aboard to evaluate while I rushed back to the Vancouver sleeper to gather luggage. After she was placed in the aid car they pulled the train forward to off load our baggage.

One booboo by the conductor. After some of the baggage got off, I went back onboard waiting for the room attendant to bring our belongings from the room. The conductor dind't know that and radioed the engineer to highball it. Train takes off and I yell to him I'm still on board waiting for lugguage. The conductor was very apologetic to the engineer.

By the time they left Devils Lake 37 miles away they were 9 hours late.

Amtrak on their own issued another rezzie for another sleeper for our continuation from here when ready.

Since MSP, it seemed that what could go wrong with #7 did.

 

[jsreeves]

Wow, what an ordeal! Really hope your wife is OK.

 

[Phil S]

With the Amtrak dreaded "Service Disruption" notice now announced, any thoughts on:1. Is the train turned in SPK? Elsewhere? (at the rte it is chugging along they would likely get to SPK about when they should have gotten to SEA!

2. Will Amtrak be able to come up with engines that work properly to pull the eastbound #8 late tomorrow PM?

Good job folks, there's more info here than on TO. Keep it coming, please.

 

[Texan Eagle]

Question- what happens if I have a connecting reservation on Coast Starlight from PDX going south in case such a scenario happens and westbound EB ends up being 8-10 hours late? Do they get me off somewhere and put me in a bus/van to catch the Starlight somewhere down the line? This is assuming the delay is so bad that even after bustitution from Spokane to PDX and the 4 hour layover between EB and CS, it is still too late to catch the Starlight? If I end up missing the Starlight, I guess they will put me up overnight in a hotel in PDX and put me on the next day's Starlight, right? If I do not want that (don't have an extra day) would they pay any compensation so that I can skip wasting a day and instead take a flight to wherever I am supposed to be going? Tricky case- if the trip is an AGR redemption, I have not "paid" any amount as such, so in that case how does compensation work for such insanely long delays?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Golden Spike, hope your wife has recovered from her episode and you're on your way soon to continue your trip.

 

[SarahZ]

Oh, how scary. I hope your wife is feeling better.

 

[OBS]

Question- what happens if I have a connecting reservation on Coast Starlight from PDX going south in case such a scenario happens and westbound EB ends up being 8-10 hours late? Do they get me off somewhere and put me in a bus/van to catch the Starlight somewhere down the line? This is assuming the delay is so bad that even after bustitution from Spokane to PDX and the 4 hour layover between EB and CS, it is still too late to catch the Starlight? If I end up missing the Starlight, I guess they will put me up overnight in a hotel in PDX and put me on the next day's Starlight, right? If I do not want that (don't have an extra day) would they pay any compensation so that I can skip wasting a day and instead take a flight to wherever I am supposed to be going? Tricky case- if the trip is an AGR redemption, I have not "paid" any amount as such, so in that case how does compensation work for such insanely long delays?

I don't think you will be paid compensation per se. If you wish to cancel a portion of your trip to fly (or use other alternatives) they will cheerfully refund your money. Othwise all I would expect is some type of voucher for future travel due to inconvenience of delays.

 

[tomfuller]

They might, I say might, run a bus from Spokane south through Pasco and into Oregon at Biggs all the way to Klamath Falls.

In the past (two years ago) when the northbound CS was chronicly late, They ran a bus from K-Falls up 97 to connect with the EB at Pasco.

 

[NW cannonball]

About the knock-on effects of this disruption - I checked status at amtrak.com for #8 for today at Seattle, Everett, Leavenworth, Spokane, Whitefish, and MSP - only get Information Unavailable: Sorry, due to a service disruption, we are unable to provide estimated departure and arrival times. For additional assistance, please contact us at 1-800-USA-RAIL

Since I'm not scheduled on this train #8(15) I won't bother Julie - but looks like Seattle didn't have enough spare equipment to let #8 (15) depart SEA .

Where the set that failed on #7 in MSP are now, or whether in-service - who knows?

Looks like the problem is cascading (no pun).

 

[fairviewroad]

About the knock-on effects of this disruption - I checked status at amtrak.com for #8 for today at Seattle, Everett, Leavenworth, Spokane, Whitefish, and MSP - only get Information Unavailable: Sorry, due to a service disruption, we are unable to provide estimated departure and arrival times. For additional assistance, please contact us at 1-800-USA-RAIL
Since I'm not scheduled on this train #8(15) I won't bother Julie - but looks like Seattle didn't have enough spare equipment to let #8 (15) depart SEA .

Where the set that failed on #7 in MSP are now, or whether in-service - who knows?

Looks like the problem is cascading (no pun).

It just means that 8(15) is starting from Spokane, not Seattle.