Will CSX clean up this mess by Thursday, 2/11

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Steve4031

Engineer
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Currently, I am booked on 30 from Chicago to Washington on 2/11. Running to Pittsburg, and then being booked on the Pennsylvanian and then on to Washington, D.C. is no big deal. I could switch to 50, but viewliner rooms are more expensive.

On Saturday, 2/13, I ride the Acela to Boston. This should be no problem if I get to Washington. I am looking forward to the ride and the AGR points. Plus I have one upgrade coupon left too.

On 2/14, I plan to take 449 back to Chicago.

If worse come to worse, I could do A Boston RT on 448/449.

None of this is earth shattering, but the ongoing discussion should keep me entertained at Work next week. LOL
 
I'd play it safe and switch to 50 - call Amtrak and see if they'll let you switch now at no cost (they probably won't, since the train hasn't been cancelled yet, but think of it as paying for the privilege of being at the head of the line and actually being able to be reaccommodated in a sleeper, not in coach).
 
Frankly I'd be pretty surprised if CSX didn't have things back up and running by Monday, if not even later today. Even if CSX does have bigger problems than I think, then it wouldn't surprise me to see Amtrak do with the Capitol what they're doing with the Cardinal short turn, in this case in Pittsburgh. There they can connect the passengers to the Pennsy.
 
I would not worry one bit about the tracks not being open by this Thursday. You are talking about a rail line where millions of dollars of cargo and hundreds of passeners cannot be moved, without clearing it. You can bet that CSX will be out there with whatever resources they have available to get the line open again as quick as humanly possible.
 
AlanB said:
Frankly I'd be pretty surprised if CSX didn't have things back up and running by Monday, if not even later today. Even if CSX does have bigger problems than I think, then it wouldn't surprise me to see Amtrak do with the Capitol what they're doing with the Cardinal short turn, in this case in Pittsburgh. There they can connect the passengers to the Pennsy.
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A friend sent me this pic of CSX clearing the tracks near Crystal City, VA.

B101CrystalCityBlowingsnowC80_20100207_sm.jpg


Sunday Feb 7, 2010

More pics at RailPictures.net, for sure.
 
dlagrua said:
I would not worry one bit about the tracks not being open by this Thursday. You are talking about a rail line where millions of dollars of cargo and hundreds of passeners cannot be moved, without clearing it. You can bet that CSX will be out there with whatever resources they have available to get the line open again as quick as humanly possible.
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UPDATE

I spoke too fast. the derailment near Fairhope PA involved a CSX coal train. The consist was something like 130 cars plus two locomotives. Over 100 cars left the tracks and a few went over the bridge and down the embankment. This was a big time derailment. Crews are on the scene right now but due to the amout of RR cars that must be moved (in less than ideal conditions) its a guess as to when the line will be reopened. I would say probably by tomorrow but if there was track damage perhaps longer. Anyone on the CL today is probably out of luck.
 
Most derailments are cleaned up in one to two days except when you have bridges or other structures involved(Baltimore tunnel is a good example). The L&A (KCS) just bulldozes all the derailed cars aside and re-lays rail. Most RR's build a shoe fly around the derailment site if possible. The most I have ever seen a derailment stay in place was in the town I live in. In the early '80's a female clerk was running a train for her drunk boy friend, the engineer. Unfortunately, they overspeeded 25 mph track and dumped quite a few cars most of which contained haz-mat materials. The fire burned for three weeks as everyone was afraid to get near the toxic mix. The Louisiana State trooper that initially responded died of brain cancer not long after the derailment. Ironically, he could get no one to believe him that he was having headaches and body aches until he went to an oncologist.Then it was too late....
 
The guy at Amtrak said there was no news about tomorrows Capitol limited. In addition to the derailment , 29 that left dc on Friday was stranded for 24 hours. The passengers from that train were bussed to Pittsburg and put on Fridays 30 from Chicago. I'm wondering where the stranded set of equipment is.
 
Steve4031 said:
The guy at Amtrak said there was no news about tomorrows Capitol limited. In addition to the derailment , 29 that left dc on Friday was stranded for 24 hours. The passengers from that train were bussed to Pittsburg and put on Fridays 30 from Chicago. I'm wondering where the stranded set of equipment is.
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I think they will deadhead it back to WAS since they need to run a westbound CL, and I don't think WAS has an extra trainset.
 
well one of co workers and few other members deadheade on today 49 to chi to work 30 tomorrow!
 
A lot of folks on here would know better than myself regarding Amtrak's history for snow cancellations, but it looks like all bets are off this winter.

The NEC southward into central Virginia is under the gun for another major storm late tomorrow into Wednesday. I'd say Wednesday will most definitely have some cancellations. Hopefully by Thursday only a few trains will be canceled - or maybe they will just run late. Let's be optimistic and hope the storm won't be as severe as forecast - it certainly should be somewhat less than the last one, but that's still a lot of snow.
 
acelafan said:
The NEC southward into central Virginia is under the gun for another major storm late tomorrow into Wednesday. I'd say Wednesday will most definitely have some cancellations. Hopefully by Thursday only a few trains will be canceled - or maybe they will just run late. Let's be optimistic and hope the storm won't be as severe as forecast - it certainly should be somewhat less than the last one, but that's still a lot of snow.
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This storm supposedly is coming with more water content and with more severe low pressure system than the previous one and it will impact the entire south half of the NEC from Washington DC to New York and even further north, with a foot or more of snow. Starts in Washington DC tomorrow afternoon, Philly tomorrow evening, NY and northern NJ tomorrow late evening to midnight, and goes on till sometime late Wednesday, ending south to north.
 
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jis said:
acelafan said:
The NEC southward into central Virginia is under the gun for another major storm late tomorrow into Wednesday. I'd say Wednesday will most definitely have some cancellations. Hopefully by Thursday only a few trains will be canceled - or maybe they will just run late. Let's be optimistic and hope the storm won't be as severe as forecast - it certainly should be somewhat less than the last one, but that's still a lot of snow.
Click to expand...
This storm supposedly is coming with more water content and with more severe low pressure system than the previous one and it will impact the entire south half of the NEC from Washington DC to Mew York and even further north, with a foot or more of snow. Starts in Washington DC tomorrow afternoon, Philly tomorrow evening, NY and northern NJ tomorrow late evening to midnight, and goes on till sometime late Wednesday, ending south to north.
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the_traveler said:
You mean our brown grass may be covered by snow in RI for the first time in over a month? :huh:
:D
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Traveler I think you are going to see quite a bit of snow in Kingston - the south coast of New England over to Cape Cod is in the heavy snow belt of the upcoming storm. Might see lots of flying snow with the Northeast Regionals coming through!
 
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