Nothing is moving around Richmond on CSX and around Charlottesville on NS. Worse problem is Auto train 52/02 Jan is stalled just short of Lorton 11+ hours due to trees caught under 1 or more cars. 53/03 passengers are stranded outside station with no info. No info from Amtrak.
Cancellations – As of 2130 = 79 at WASH makeup train at Richmond probably one cancelled there, 89 at RVR, 19 at wash, 89 holding at ALX wonder if it will make Richmond, Expect more to come
20 and 176 holding south of Charlottesville, Holding 92 at Petersburgh, 90 at Richmond, 91 at ALX
Have to wonder if these track problems are due to lack of MOW personnel at both NS and CSX due to furloughs and C-19?
SERVICE ADVISORY UPDATE: Trains traveling between Washington (WAS) and Richmond (RVR) are still experiencing heavy delays due to ongoing winter weather conditions in the region.
Lots n’ lotsa trees down! The snow came down like wet concrete starting in the wee hours Monday, but before that there was a massive wind-driven deluge that had rain hammering the side of the house. THEN the snow came.
600+ accidents on the highways here in Virginia plus plenty of power outages. It was a mess yesterday! I cleared the driveway this morning, surprisingly easy, but spent almost two hours clearing packed and semi-frozen snow off the cars. Lady Firestorms Kia Soul still has stuff on the roof but I’m taking a break and letting the sun do some of the work.
You know, I like snow at Christmas time for tradition’s sake, but after January 1st, forget it! Although the lights I haven’t taken down yet looked pretty last night!
Railfans used to take pride in the fact that the railroads could be relied upon in weather that stopped all other modes of transportation cold. See this photo published in Trains of an FL9 bringing a NH express through a blizzard - one of worst to to hit the East Cost in history - on the Hellgate Bridge in '67;
It’s probably more like the don’t have the personnel anymore. The days are long gone when there were plenty of section crews who lived within walking distance of the job and could be called up a moment’s notice to take care of problems of any kind that would arise.
Certainly there’s a lot of money saved in labor costs but as we can see there’s other prices to be paid.
The days of “The ‘Century’ MUST get through!” are over.
Which is unfortunately true. But what about freight customers depending on timely delivery of the cargo? Or are they satisfied with “We’re unrelaible but cheap” from the railroads?
Not specifically related to the Amtrak disruptions, but I just don’t understand the Virginia mindset. Every year they get blasted by at least one major blizzard and they never seem to be prepared. They seem to think that they are in the south and it’s always an anomaly. Sorry, you’re less than 100 miles south of Pennsylvania and there they know that they’re in the north. It’s time to buy some snowplows and salt trucks.
Which happens to be the southern border of the Keystone State. Heck South Jersey is south of the Mason-Dixon Line, y’all. We just don’t grow cotton or tobacco down here. Cranberries, yes. Tomatoes, yes. Whether the bolls are rotten or not, we don’t pick much cotton
When I was stationed in Norfolk in the 1970s, whenever it snowed it was a major thing every time as they didn’t seem to have plows and people just didn’t understand how to drive in the snow, but it snowed every year! It was always an emergency and a time to panic.
The amount of snow that fell did not require the carriers to have plows to move it. What was required was arborists in mass quantities to deal with the trees that the heavy wet snow felled across the tracks.
Today’s trains can move a foot or two of snow without much difficulty - moving trees is a whole nother matter.
The one thing railroads need to operate under the worst of Winter conditions is MANPOWER. With PSR the carriers have pared their manpower to the bone, to the point that every man is required just to keep operations moving in good weather. There is no excess manpower to deal with Mother Natures Winter droppings.
I can’t speak for Virginia. In Maryland, a day or two before the predicted storm, road crews are out spreading a brine solution on the major roadways. There are plows and salt trucks that operate through the storm.
In the Blizzard of 1958 our family got stuck with friends of ours as my Dad’s 57 Buick’s transmission gave up the ghost in trying to buck snow getting to the friends house. Mom & I stayed with the friends for a week - a week before the bulk of the roads were reopened to traffic. That is no longer the case - main roads are open the day after the storm stops - side streets take a little longer.
Travelers don’t care about excuses. They want RELIABLE transportation. If Joe’s Oxcarts are slow, but they get to where they are scheduled to go on time, they’ll get business. Twelve hours late because you’ve stabbed by dispatchers or stalled for days because the railroads don’t maintain the their property (and remember, freight, where the money is is, backed up too) doesn’t cut it,
Pacific Gas and Electric has learned a pretty steep lesson in the cost of not maintaining your property due to the fines they has to pay. Time for the STB to step up?
Maybe, maybe not. Our local utility (DTE) has contracts with Davey and Asplundh to constantly going on private property and trim trees that endanger power lines.
