Zephyrs OTP/The New Sunset East????

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Bob Dylan

50+ Year Amtrak Rider
AU Supporting Member
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May 31, 2009
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From the looks of the Stauts Board, #5 and #6s OTP is getting worse by the day instead of improving! :eek: Looks like the Builder is getting back on Track, so to speak, which leaves the Zephyrs and the Texas Eagles with the worst OTP right now!

Ive read reports of the flooding starting to go down on the Missouri, and supposedly the trackwork has been being handled pretty swiftly! The problem still seems to be the rerouting of the Freights/Coal/Grain and Gravel Trains through the Midwest! Looks maybe Amtrak will have to start turning the Zephyrs early or even cancelling them like they did the Builders when all the trouble was happening in North dakota this Winter and Spring!

Hope someone on the scene, (say Al in Lincoln)or who is in the know, can give us some updated info as to why its taking so long to return to Regular Schedules/Routes! Will we ever see Omaha again?? Maybe Warren Buffet needs to run his Biz train into Omaha and kick some ass @ BNSF, and call up UP and tell them to get with the program! :help:
 
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Yes, I see that #5(22) is 14 hours late, and #5(23) is 11 hours late after having lost a lot of time in Iowa. I smell bustitution and/or temporary halt in service coming………..
 
Our LD trip on the CZ is supposed to be in under two weeks. It don't look good at all. Just hope Amtrak don't wait till the last second to throw a wrench in our plans....I am not rideing a bus anywhere if I had wanted to ride a bus I would have bought a ticket on Greyhound. Bad enough they are going thru the mountians after dark on the west bound , the part we wanted to see most.
 
Man, I'm traveling on the 6 from EMY on Saturday, and it looks like the incoming train 5(24) is already more than 2 hours down. Maybe I need to start looking into flights.
 
make that 4 late hours for 5(22) :( :( :(

Looks like flying is in my future
 
Isn't the problem a water plant or power station that is surrounded by a dike that cuts off the regular CZ route in the Omaha area? I imagine as long as that plant is in danger of flooding, the bypass will remain in effect. Are there any other problems along the route?
 
The problem is that the single-track BNSF route across Iowa and eastern Nebraska has twice as many trains as normal due to the closure of the St. Joseph Subdivision between Lincoln, NE and Kansas City due to Missouri River flooding. Thus BNSF has no ability to prioritize Amtrak, or at least no ability to do so without gridlocking their freight operations. The delays affect freights equally, resulting in lots of crews dying on hours and lots of trains sitting in sidings, which only makes things worse. The problem should largely be resolved when the St. Joseph Sub reopens, estimated to be in mid-September.

The detour around Omaha has little effect on running time and actually makes the route a bit shorter.

Mark
 
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