Tonight the Empire Builder isn't due into Chicago until after 1:00 AM. It was over 5 hrs late the other night. Anybody know what the cause(s) for the delays have been the past week? Is it the heavy weather they've had on the BNSF in Washington?
I have a Michigan hockey game to attend in a few weeks and I'm going Amtrak all the way from St. Paul to Ann Arbor. With the primo seat I have to see my Wolverines play (on the red line 15 rows up - right in the middle of the "old money" big doner alumni-class seats), I'm quite interested in there being no delays.
Book a day earlier and pray. Winter weather will win in every engagement.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Whatever's going on with the Empire Builder lately is severe enough that Amtrak has been running what they call "stub trains" between St. Paul and Chicago on account of the unusual delays between Seattle and St. Paul. I don't ever recall there being so many consecutive long delays on that particular service.
I guess this has something to do with it:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,477445,00.html
What Wolverine game are you going to? My family and I are going on Feb 13 to see them play the University of Nebraska - Omaha. This weekend they swept Miami - playing very well right now...
OldBNfan What Wolverine game are you going to? My family and I are going on Feb 13 to see them play the University of Nebraska - Omaha. This weekend they swept Miami - playing very well right now...
Well, none... now. I had a great seat for the 1/16 game versus Bowling Green.
I get home tonight from work, it's -14F up here in Minnesota, and I see that awful little red blinking light on my answering machine.
Oh no. Please... no. I'm begging you. Please let it be a death in the family and not Amtrak Customer Service.
It's Bernadine from Amtrak, calling to inform me that my reservation... my roommette reservation mind you... on the Empire Builder has been downgraded to a reserved seat on a bus departing St. Paul depot tomorrow at 7:50 AM. Supposedly, it'd be "on-time service", while making all the stops (Red Wing - Winona - La Crosse - Tomah - Wis. Dells - Portage - Columbus - Milwaukee - Glenview - Chicago). Oh goody. Packed like sardines into a Greyhound amongst the rest of the Great Unwashed for over 7 hrs? On the train I can stand up, walk around, have lunch and dinner (included in my sleeping car reservation), visit the snack bar, buy a souvenier, and RIDE IN A TRAIN - not a rolling asylum that is Greyhound.
No. I refused. I'm getting refunds on the Amtrak tickets, on the prepaid hotel reservation, I cancelled my rental car in Ann Arbor, and all I'm out is the money for the hockey ticket. I will not ride a bloody bus from St. Paul to Chicago, especially not taking the scenic route down Hwy. 61 to Winona (it's nice on the train for the fall colors, but not on a bus in the dead of winter). I swore on my soul I'd never ride buses again after a horrible trip between San Francisco & Vancouver.
I don't know what the excuse is this time. BNSF freight trains blocking the main? It can't be CP - train #8 wasn't anywhere near CP trackage when Bernadine called. Equipment? Personnel? All I know is Amtrak Customer Service couldn't/wouldn't say what caused the delay, when in the past, if it wasn't their fault, they've told me it was BNSF derailment or track work on the CP. I suspect it's Amtrak's chronic equipment problems in the winter.
Needless to say I'm not a happy Amtrak fan right now, regardless of my only being out a hockey ticket's price. They could at least tell you the reason for the delay. If they could legitimately blame it on the host railroad, I'd not be so ticked-off at Amtrak.
Isn't there any railfan/football fan in the Detroit-Ann Arbor area that is willing to pay for such an excellent ticket to see the game?
WIAR OldBNfan What Wolverine game are you going to? My family and I are going on Feb 13 to see them play the University of Nebraska - Omaha. This weekend they swept Miami - playing very well right now... It's Bernadine from Amtrak, calling to inform me that my reservation... my roommette reservation mind you... on the Empire Builder has been downgraded to a reserved seat on a bus departing St. Paul depot tomorrow at 7:50 AM. Supposedly, it'd be "on-time service", while making all the stops (Red Wing - Winona - La Crosse - Tomah - Wis. Dells - Portage - Columbus - Milwaukee - Glenview - Chicago). Oh goody. Packed like sardines into a Greyhound amongst the rest of the Great Unwashed for over 7 hrs? On the train I can stand up, walk around, have lunch and dinner (included in my sleeping car reservation), visit the snack bar, buy a souvenier, and RIDE IN A TRAIN - not a rolling asylum that is Greyhound. No. I refused.
No. I refused.
Usually, when Amtrak cancels a train and provides alternate transport, they charter a bus to get the passengers to their destination as opposed to putting them on Greyhound. This is the practice when the Texas Eagle is terminated in Fort Worth because of extreme late running, which happened 19 times during 2008.
Two years ago I took the Eagle to Chicago and the Empire Builder to Portland. Because of an ice storm in Arkansas and Missouri, the train was very late getting into St. Louis. Amtrak cancelled the run beyond St. Louis and put the passengers on a chartered bus to Chicago. It turned out to be a delightful ride. I sat next to a man who had gone to my university. Or was it the other way around? In any case we had a great time, and we chatted up a storm all the way to Chicago. The peasants (people), who are the most frequently found class of people in the country's military, are not as bad as the sleeping car patricians like to make out. Yes, I usually travel sleeper class.
Amtrak refunded the difference between the first class and the coach class fare between St. Louis and Chicago. It also threw in a $200 credit for future use. Not bad!
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