This must seriously be causing some people anger

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Brandon V

Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 2, 2010
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110
Location
Minot, North Dakota
Code: 
Train 513 of 09/16/2010.
*
* +---------------- Station code
* |	+----------- Schedule Arrival Day  
* |	|  +-------- Schedule Arrival time
* |	|  | 	+----- Schedule Departure Day
* |	|  | 	|  +-- Schedule Departure Time 
* |	|  | 	|  | 	+------------- Actual Arrival Time
* |	|  | 	|  | 	| 	+------- Actual Departure Time
* |	|  | 	|  | 	| 	| 	+- Comments
* V	V  V 	V  V 	V 	V 	V
* VAC  *  * 	1  640A  * 	640A  Departed:  on time.
* BEL  *  * 	1  835A  * 	850A  Departed:  15 minutes late.
* MVW  *  * 	1  905A  * 	926A  Departed:  21 minutes late.
* STW  *  * 	1  918A  * 	1130A Departed:  2 hours and 12 minutes late.
* EVR  *  * 	1  1002A * 	143P  Departed:  3 hours and 41 minutes late.
* EDM  *  * 	1  1027A * 	218P  Departed:  3 hours and 51 minutes late.
* SEA  1  1105A 1  1125A 306P  319P  Departed:  3 hours and 54 minutes late.
 TUK  *  * 	1  1140A 			PT
* TAC  *  * 	1  1210P * 	422P  Departed:  4 hours and 12 minutes late.
 OLW  *  * 	1  1249P 			PT
* CTL  *  * 	1  108P  * 	531P  Departed:  4 hours and 23 minutes late.
 KEL  *  * 	1  149P          	PT
* VAN  *  * 	1  224P  * 	1050P Departed:  8 hours and 26 minutes late.
* PDX  1  255P  *  * 	1112P * 	Arrived:  8 hours and 17 minutes late.
http://72.148.42.113...th=09&selday=16

Train is supposed to arrive at 255pm on whats normally a short route... left on time.. but then ended up arriving 8 hours and 17 minutes late.. what happened here?
 
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looks like it's initial delay was between MVW & STW... a trip that normally takes 13mins; took them ~2hrs.... wow.

peter
 
21 minutes late leaving MVW then by the time it got to stw 2 hours and 12 minutes late and just kept going downhill was 4 hours 23 minutes late leaving CTL and between CTL and VAN it lost another 4 hours and they skipped KEL which didn't help. by the time it got to PDX it was over 8 hours late. I know host railroads when Amtrak is late they play the how much more late can we make amtrak today game but I doubt they did this. Maybe it was engine problems or it hit 2 cars at 2 different locations.
 
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Engine failure would probably be a good suspect, perhaps striking a trespasser or what have you. It is possible with that much delay a crew outlawed.

What I don't get is why they didn't annul the train at SEA and bus people down the line...
 
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Good suggestion...probably an equipment placement decision. Why run a bus and a train when you need the equipment down line? Certainly not a great decision as far as pax goes but probably an economy move deleting a bustitution.
 
Obviously there was some kind of incident trespasser, equipment failure, signal failure, but I wonder how much of the delay was the dispatcher having to deal with a train so far outside its usual slot.
 
I've been on the Cascades when they had engine trouble with the Talgos, I feel sorry for the crew and passengers, sounds like they had trouble first after Mount Vernon, but then there was that large additional delay before Portland, which could have been caused by freight congestion, we crawled between Portland and Seattle on the way back last March, got hours behind, I didn't mind so much but my boyfriend who was riding all the way to Vancouver was pretty upset.

I probably know some of the crew on that train, maybe I'll ask them next time I ride. A month or so ago they had an episode of busing between Bellingham and Vancouver because of emergency work on a bridge north of the border, that was hell on the station workers, getting everyone off the trains and into the correct buses. One guy there told me that they had 400 people in that little bitty station at once one day, none of them happy - can't imagine.

It's been known to happen that they put a BNSF engine on to substitute, and then have trouble with that one too :-(
 
Initially out of MVW, the cascade locomotive failed. It was 2.25 hours before the freight loco, sent to the rescue, was on the move. Then in the area of Chehalis, WA the freight loco conked out too. It was 3 hours before another loco was on the move. The crew had to be replaced as well before arriving into PDX. Bad day all around for 513 and it's crew.
 
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Yes, thank you EB OBS, that is very helpful, much appreciated to get the real information.

How frustrating for all involved! 8 hours late on an 8 hour trip!
 
Southbound 513 turns for northbound 508, so the delay also affected the northbound trip. Train 508 is scheduled out of PDX at 6:15pm and into SEA at 9:45pm. The September 16 trip left PDX at 11:59pm and arrived SEA at 5:20am. Hopefully Amtrak found some buses to cover the trip, but if not: ouch!
 
Green Maned Lion said:
That is one Talgo I wouldn't want to overnight on, I must say.
Click to expand...
I agree GML, those coach seats on the Cascades Talgos are pretty cramped. When we went from Bellingham to Portland we went on AGR points and went business class for bigger seats and more space on that 6.5 hour trip. The Talgo sets seem like commuter cars, they're nothing like the long distance Superliners with their large seats and tons of leg room and reclining seats.

I talk to a lot of people here about taking the train and when they say they think they're going to Portland I tell them to do business class if they can swing it.
 
Even the BC isn't up to snuff IMHO. You got the 2-1 seating which is nice, but no calf rests. It's like a cross between the Amfleet BC and the Club BC--
 
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