We tried taking the Pere Marquette from Chicago to Grand Rapids MI Thursday evening. This trip typically takes 3 hours by car including one or 2 potty breaks. Amtrak’s scheduled time is 4 hours, but it actually took about 4.5.
Probably the most infuriating part was that it took 25 minutes to cover the last 5 miles. Most of it was poking along at walking pace through the CSX yard in Grandville. Don’t yards have through tracks that permit faster operations??? Or is this just another way for CSX to show how much they hate passenger rail?
Another 20 minutes was consumed in Chesterton, IN, waiting for a freight train that didn’t show up for 15 minutes. Great dispatch work, it seems.
In the four miles before the PM reaches Wyoming Yard, there are speed restrictions of 30 and 40 MPH. Once the train reaches the yard at Lamar, the speed limit drops to 25mph on the Main Track which is the fastest route through the yard. Once the train reaches Sunnyside on the east side of the yard there is a speed restriction of 15mph on Main 2 which is what the Main Track becomes. After a half mile you reach Pleasent Street were the PM has to stop, get the signal to back up and crossover to Main 1, which has a 10mph speed restriction, then up the East Leg of the wye and into the station. If the train is on time out of Holland, it normally reaches the station in GR on time (barring signal issues, which seem to have happened alot lately), or every once in a while, early.
Without getting into the issues of dispatching problems or the other things that may cause Amtrak trains to run late, I’d like to point out a couple of things.
Firsat of all, having made the Chicago to GR trip in a car in the past couple of days (which is why I didn’t respond sooner), I think you’re probably pushing it to do it in three hours (then, of course, I’m coming from beyond Chicago, so you might be in the ball park there).
But if you look at just about any Amtrak schedule that doesn’t involve a high-speed line, I think you could win a race with the train by driving there. Not pretty, and I wish (or hope) it weren’t true, but that seems to be the case.
Believe it or not, this schedule is an improvement over what C&O offered on the same route in the days just before Amtrak–their trains were limited to 50 m.p.h. instead of 70, and they made different stops, and took a lot more time getting where they had to go in Chicago.
The speed of the Amtrak trains would be able to be improved if the host railroad wished to allow it and improve its track accordingly. But this line of CSX’s doesn’t have nearly the traffic density that’s gfoing to warrant major upgrading by CSX (in fact, I’m pretty sure they’ve looked at selling off parts of it on occasion).
So the route doesn’t have speed going for it, or dependability, flexibility, convenience, or anything. Yet it did better than ever this past year. I’m sorry it disappointed you, but there are a whole lot of people who, if not satisfied, are at least mollified by this operation. I hope things can improve.
another note about wyoming yd…the main and the pass are runthru tracks with a 25 mpn…but they are also used for CP trains getting their crew change…ive seen the PM run thru #1 or #3 yd tracks ( at 10 mph or less) because of frieghts on the main…and really CSX doesnt “hate” amtrak…they prolly just hate running amtrak trains[:D]
yes csx has tried to off the Michigan division( detroit servie lane) numerous times… the most recent im aware of was in 1996 the CP was looking to buy from rougemere to porter…but CSX said all or nothing…CP didnt want the lines north and south of plymouth…
Another 20 minutes was consumed in Chesterton, IN, waiting for a freight train that didn’t show up for 15 minutes. Great dispatch work, it seems.
prolly was great spatchin’ them hot TV trains get all the perference…[:X]
Every time I’ve seen #370 or #371 come through Wyoming yard, it sure seems like they do 10mph, not 25. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or ridden it going 25 on that stretch of track, even on the Main or Service track. Somehow it doesn’t seem so bad on the morning run; but at night coming back, it seems to take FOREVER, especially when they have to clear the Plant at Pleasant St, then back into the station. Timetable allows almost an hour for those 22 or so miles. For a while they ran push-pull and would pull directly into the station, which was better. Savvy travelers get off at Holland and drive from there, especially if home is on the south end of GR.
employee timetable used to say 25 mph for main and service…used to be a daily bulliten saying 10 mph on main and service and i mean every day…late 90’s early 00’s