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Latest Empire Builder Delays
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<P mce_keep="true">[quote user="OldBNfan"] <P>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...</P> <P>[/quote]</P> <P>Well, none... now. I had a great seat for the 1/16 game versus Bowling Green. </P> <P>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.</P> <P>Oh no. Please... no. I'm begging you. Please let it be a death in the family and not Amtrak Customer Service.</P> <P>It's Bernadine from Amtrak, calling to inform me that my reservation... my roommette reservation mind you... on the <EM>Empire Builder</EM> 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 <STRONG><U>all</U></STRONG> 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.</P> <P>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.</P> <P>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.</P> <P>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.</P>
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