In the case of the Empire Builder, it is also getting hit badly because of the fact it goes through the western North Dakota oil fields!
Guse wouldn’t last 5 minutes on a mail route in winter time.
So sad this is happening in the peak Christmas travel season
I think we need to holler louder about not being able to read past page 1. This has been going on for at least three or four weeks and nobody seems to be aware of the problem except us readers.
I’ll inquire again, as I have previously in comments, does anyone out there know what becomes of the high-paying sleeping-car patron when he pays dearly and gets put on a bus prior to the end of his journey? This scenario seems a perfect illustration, and no one has ever answered my question. Does Amtrak refund all that greenery he gave them upfront? Or is that gone forever? If so, how’s that fair and how does it make him want to be a permanent rider? Anybody?
It sounds like what it was like during the Penn Central era. What a shame. And Goosie is laughing his fool head off.
how come I can only read first page of comments on this and other threads???
I agree that the BNSF does not do anything to help 7 and 8 maintain schedule/ Traffic across Montana and North Dakota is very heavy and some dispatchers do little to expedite 7 and 8
I agree that the BNSF does not do anything to help 7 and 8 maintain schedule/ Traffic across Montana and North Dakota is very heavy and some dispatchers do little to expedite 7 and 8
Some years ago on a return trip from San Antonio we were put off the westbound Sunset Limited in El Paso and loaded onto 7 busses for a 14 hour overnight ride to LA. There we missed our connection to Oakland and had to take a later train that got us in near midnight. The bus driver had been assigned a double shift, so the bus speeded up and slowed down and wove in the lanes until there was a driver change in Phoenix.
In LA Amtrak fully refunded the sleeping car charges between El Paso and LA.
The next business day I notified Amtrak about the sleepy driver and got a good response.
That was our last Amtrak ride.
BNSF has created the Empire Builder debacle and Amtrak needs to be made whole. The freight railroads agreed to terms in order to exit the passenger business. If they can not or will not, abide by those terms, then the passenger service should be turned back over to them! It is also past time for Amtrak to enlist the aid of the Surface Transportation Board!
Wow! I thought I was the only one that couldn’t access other comment pages. Thanks guys for making me feel less like a complete fool and why doesn’t the web master fix?
Maybe Congress should mandate incentive contracts for all RRs handling AMTK trains. Monetary rewards for O.T. performance, monetary penalties for poor performance. Our RR had such an agreement and worked like heck to keep AMTK on time!
Define Timekeeping Issues?
For those who can’t read pas the first page, I can’t either with Internet Explorer, but I am able to read all pages with Firefox.
To those who can’t read past the first page, I don’t know what the problem is but obviously Trains has the same attitude about its readers as Amtrak does it’s passengers. Not much.
As far as refunding the premium fare, last June, after arriving on a 5 hour late Builder (no snow, no cold) a passenger transferring to the Lake Shore Limited was told that the Boston sleeper had been bad ordered and he and his wife would have to sit up in coach all night and the next day. He was given a voucher for the sleeper fare and told to go to the ticket window for a refund. On the other hand after being put off the train in Galesburg, IL from a 7 hour late CZ, put on a bus of a 6 hour + bus ride to Indianapolis where I connected with a 3 hour late Cardinal at 3:30 AM, I was given neither a refund of my sleeper fare nor reimbursement for the McD’s meal I had to purchase myself rather than the dinner in the diner I had already paid for. It was awhile before I got back on an Amtrak train.