Today’s News Wire tells of the westbound Empire Builder getting bumped off BNSF between Fargo and Minot because oil traffic and weather problems have led the road to start directional running on its two lines between those points. The eastbound Builder is unaffected.
Amtrak is busing its westbound passengers between Fargo and Minot. The story doesn’t say how Amtrak manages to turn its equipment in this logistical nightmare.
This is a crock, and had damn well better be shortlived. The Builder route, which goes through the flooded Devils Lake region, recently received a $100-million upgrade, with Amtrak, the state and the feds kicking in two-thirds of the money. At the time, the western 200 miles was used only by the Builder.
From the Newswire story, I have the impression that the westbound Empire Builder runs through from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest, going through New Rockford; only the passengers to/from intermediate stations between Fargo and Minot are bussed.
I think you’re right, Deggesty; makes a lot more sense. I suppose the story could have made it easier for us hard-of-thinking types by coming right out and stating that the westbound Builder is operating via New Rockford.
Since this directional running is to be on going maybe Amtrak could institute some unmanned temporary stops for west bounds? Could entice a few more passengers + the temp might be closer for some present passengers ? Any suggestions for these temporary stops?
Streak, if BNSF is like UP, it probably wouldn’t allow them – for insurance reasons?
On my last fall’s trip, the eastbound CZ detoured through southern Wyoming. At Green River, first thing in the morning, the conductor broke the bad news to smokers that there would be no “smoking stops” all day – until Denver, that evening – because the U.P. no longer had facilities where passengers could safely detrain.
I can see that. In my experience, the first thing a railroad does, dating back to May 1971, when it has finally succeeded in shaking off passengers, is to remove the accommodations – platforms, etc. A prophylactic strategy … against those dratted passengers ever coming back!
Not to be inflammatory, but this seems likely to happen more and more in the future with capacity constraints. It is another reason why LD passenger trains running on freight RoW’s will be isolated (once daily or 3X/week) and even unreliable as transportation.
For examples:
1 The EB
2 The CZ
3 The Raton routing questions for the SWC
4 The Sunset problems
5 The difficulty with connecting LA with Las Vegas with any fairly fast service because the route is already crowded with UP freight.
6 Crescent stoppages at ATL because of trackwork beyond to NOL intermittently.
Agreed. And Amtrak had better hang onto its keister. The BS from UP associated with restoration of a daily Sunset was bad enough. Wait until we face losing something like the Chief altogether.
I hope Boardman is ready to go to the mat over some of these issues, up to invoking the terms of the original congressional act in court, if necessary.
I understand the capacity constraints of the freight railroads, and appreciate their property rights. At the same time, I think UP and BNSF are taking advantage of Amtrak here. And I’m enough of a LD-passenger fan to want Amtrak to fight.
I noticed that also, but most of the delay occurred between the Twin Cities and Red Wing – normally about a 90 minute run. The westbound lost several hours on the same stretch. I assume there was some track trouble between those points.
This morning NPR had a piece about Amtrak’s lousy on-time performances, particularly the Empire Builder, but also others. It was a good piece and explained the situation well. In this particular story I felt bad for the ice fishing tour entrepreneur who was losing his financial shirt thanks to the EB’s unreliability.
As I listened I thought for sure I’d hear the culprits were the aging equipment and snow. Instead, BNSF got both barrels for its freight train-first policies. Consequently, I just felt rather depressed because it seems the traveling public will now see Amtrak as not just always late, but so unreliable as to be simply not worth traveling on in the first place.
How did this nation ever fight and win WW2? Did these railroad lines not run in the winter with passenger trains kept on time? If you think about how much more primitive railroading was in the early and middle 20th century, it boggles the mind to see how things are tied up in knots these days.
I know the country has probably tripled in population. I know there’s lots more traffic now. I know the track crews have been nearly eliminated.
But I also know what dakotafred pointed out: Namely, we have seen this movie before, in the early 1960’s, when, once again, the railroads simply wanted passenger trains off their (own!) tracks. The NYC once scheduled trains from GCT to arrive in Albany after the connecting trains to the west had departed. Who would want to ride under those conditions? And gues
It is why Amtrak cannot rely on shared track (with private freight lines) if we want good public passenger service in the US, whether corridor or long distance.
I played the NPR newscast on their web suite. My quarrel with it was they presented the eastbound that was 13 hours late into Chicago as a specific example of the problem, but they failed to mention that the primary cause of that occurred in southeastern Minnesota and not on the BNSF.