Train 5 re-route

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This time it is considered "emergency preventative maintenance" by the UP to scale rock walls in Gore Canyon to avoid a repeat rockfall this spring.

Also, no wifi in buses or the CZ. But if you have a smart phone with tether capabilities, you might get signal for much of the bus trip.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
 
This time it is considered "emergency preventative maintenance" by the UP to scale rock walls in Gore Canyon to avoid a repeat rockfall this spring.

Also, no wifi in buses or the CZ. But if you have a smart phone with tether capabilities, you might get signal for much of the bus trip.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
Thanks for the heads up - as much as I admire the metamorphics in the canyon (some beautiful schists and phyllites there) , they're not the most stable rock, having been so deformed and shattered... and actually one can see their unstable nature simply seeing the amount of boulder litter along the ROW. .... have to wonder if the Gore Canyon isn't one of the reasons that the main freight route uses the Wyoming route instead, ie, the canyon represents an ongoing reliability exposure - nice for the sight-seers, but wouldn't like to count on it always being passable.
 
The bus from Denver to Glenwood only was the typical older style bus with no amentities. The bus that went from Denver thru to SLC was the newer MCI. We will see tomorrow what the bus from Glenwood to SLC is like. Since this has happened before anyone get some type of refund or points refund if you had a bedroom and could only use part way
 
Yes, you are supposed to get a refund of part of your sleeper fare because you were not provided with the sleeping compartment which you paid for from Denver to Glenwood Springs, and also from Glenwood Springs to Salt Lake City. This is if you paid cash for it, I don't know about AGR points rewards.
 
AGR won't refund points for partial service disruptions but since you missed out on your bedroom and amenities (if any are left!) And meals in the diner you can call Customer Relations and they will issue you a voucher credit good for a year for future travel! If you paid they'll refer you to the refund department since you didn't get what you paid for!
 
Just a heads up on what's going on with us here in Colorado in detail.

16MAY14, Beginning May 19[SIZE=8pt]th [/SIZE]and up to May 28[SIZE=8pt]th[/SIZE], UPRR will commence an

emergency MofW work to stabilize the hill side at Kremmling/MP-103.5, on

the UPRR Moffat Tunnel Subdivision, 29 miles west of Granby. As a result,

CA Zephyr trains 5/6 will detour on the UPRR Greely Subdivision between

Denver and Salt Lake City, missing stops of Winter Park, Granby, Glenwood

Springs, Grand Junction, Green River, Helper and Provo.
 
This preventive MOW work will prevent passengers from being stranded over night on the mountain.
 
If one does get re-routed on #6 through Wyoming, what is there to see? Isn't that basically sagebrush country [thinking that the reroute basically follows I-80 and trying to remember what there was along the road]?
 
From Facebook:

We are rerouting the California Zephyr between Denver and Salt Lake City all week so that the UP can do some track repair in the Rockies. We had several rock slides last week that caused track damage in Gore Canyon. Here is a photo of one of them.
10303364_10202132851223824_3164630336126324002_n.jpg
 
From Facebook:

We are rerouting the California Zephyr between Denver and Salt Lake City all week so that the UP can do some track repair in the Rockies. We had several rock slides last week that caused track damage in Gore Canyon. Here is a photo of one of them.
10303364_10202132851223824_3164630336126324002_n.jpg
WOW... would that have been detected by the rockslide detectors along the route, or discovered by a wide-eyed engineer? ... and if that actually hit a train: looks like enough to toss the consist into the gorge - no?
 
Traveling SAC-CHI. Just got a wierd e-mail from AMTRAK telling me about the re-route and mentioning the dreaded "alternate transportation". Called an agent and was told that it was just about the re-route and that it didn't affect me. I guess they just sent everyone on the train an e-mail. For a moment I was worried about a bus form SLC-DEN. :wacko:
 
Personally the faster route is best. For Amtrak speed and hitting big city centers is key. To me any reroutes that hit bigger areas are truly welcomed. Wyoming may be a dead state but where else the system could benefi?
 
Personally the faster route is best. For Amtrak speed and hitting big city centers is key. To me any reroutes that hit bigger areas are truly welcomed. Wyoming may be a dead state but where else the system could benefi?

The scenery on the CZ is a big draw, though.
It comes down to the question: is LD Amtrak transportation, or sightseeing? If it's transportation, then I'll probably either drive myself or take a flying cattlecar. On the otherhand, if I'm compelled to spend a fair amount of my time watching the world go by... that's Amtrak. Hence my question/concern above: the reason I bought the additional ticket for the wife: was to allow her to enjoy the sightseeing.
 
It comes down to the question: is LD Amtrak transportation, or sightseeing? If it's transportation, then I'll probably either drive myself or take a flying cattlecar. On the otherhand, if I'm compelled to spend a fair amount of my time watching the world go by... that's Amtrak. Hence my question/concern above: the reason I bought the additional ticket for the wife: was to allow her to enjoy the sightseeing.
IMHO, Amtrak can--and should--be both transportation and sightseeing, especially on the LD trains. One only has to look at the EB for a good example: it serves people on vacation, but it also serves lots of people for whom there are few other transportation options. Which is why the LD trains are generally successful, but also why fixing poor timekeeping is so important.
 
^^ a welcome change vs the last week plus where it's been running 5 hrs late on average and 9 (??) yesterday.
 
I'm wondering if one can link the two events: boxcarsyix above notes that 6(23) was on the normal route; and the fact that it got into LNK less than 2 hrs late this morning (vs most of the last two weeks where they've been running 4 to 5 hrs late)? ... even though the Wyoming route might be "faster" (I assume that means shorter and more possible fast track), but in fact because it's ostensibly a freight route #5/6 wouldn't be able to take advantage of such given all the 59mph freights it would be slotted in with? We'll see tomorrow morning if we have an almost on time train, or back to the 5 hrs late of the recent past.
 
It's quite possible that the *unexpectedness* of the reroute caused problems. When UP reroutes the CZ through Wyoming for scheduled maintenance of the mountain route, it runs ahead of schedule. But on short notice, it may cause all kinds of dispatching headaches.
 
It's quite possible that the *unexpectedness* of the reroute caused problems. When UP reroutes the CZ through Wyoming for scheduled maintenance of the mountain route, it runs ahead of schedule. But on short notice, it may cause all kinds of dispatching headaches.
In all honesty such wouldn't surprise me - suspect the dispatchers "know" exactly how to juggle the balls to get maximum throughput with a little as possible dead-time for track segments... but throw in one new train with different characteristics, and all h breaks lose. ... we'll see tomorrow morning how #6 does into LNK.
 
I doubt that any of the large delays that 5/6 experienced while using the Wyoming detour actually occurred on the detour. Unless, of course, Amtrak management had not planned ahead to have the crew changes pre-arranged, which most likely occurred at Green River, Wyoming. Methinks that it was just coincidence that many of the Wyoming detours ran so late.
 
Looks like 6(24) left almost an hour late to start with (59min); lost another two hours btwn Colfax and Truckee yesterday afternoon; then lost another two plus hours today btwn Glenwood and Granby... seems it can't catch a break for nothing. Looks like 6(25) is running an hour and a half late into Elko this evening. [looks like #5 coming this way is running 3.5hrs late into Provo.] ... somebody must have spread some slow powder on them rails ;-(
 
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