AMTRAK nailed by problems

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NEC & mid west has too many cancellations and delays to list today.

[Phoebe Vet]

It was a giant power failure.  I don't know if it was heat related.

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Phoebe Vet

It was a giant power failure.  I don't know if it was heat related.

Phoebe;  unfortunately for us rail fans the giant storm and fire news coverage has not drifted down to AMTRAK.  From what I have read around the NEC it is very much trees and debri everywhere with power lines down. Some homes reportely may be without power for up to 2 weeks ? We know AMTRAK has not cleared much of the ROW of trees.  I will speculate that some of the CAT and maybe even the 138 Kv lines have been fouled and brought down?.  since it is a weekend and power demand is much reduced the various frequency converters may not be receiving 60 Hz power to convert to 25 Hz?.

Unfortunately Jim Winn and staff are all down your way ?? No one to find out what is going on.

[blue streak 1]

Customer Service Bulletin: CSX Service Affected by Severe Storms in Mid-Atlantic Region; Cleanup Underway

June 30, 2012 -- CSX crews are working to clear tracks and restore service after severe storms struck the mid-Atlantic region late yesterday and overnight. The storms knocked down trees and caused localized power outages, flooding and signal issues across the railroad's Louisville, Huntington, Baltimore and Great Lakes divisions. Customers should expect delays of 24-48 hours on shipments through the affected regions.

CSX's Customer Service Center is coordinating with affected shippers and receivers. If you have questions regarding your specific shipments, please contact the Customer Service Center via ShipCSX's Problem Resolution tool or by calling 1-877-SHIPCSX, prompts 5, then 6.

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according to following aingle track service restored WASH - BAL. ONE PUZZLE is mention of signal power.  thought that AMTRAK  was going to put back up commercial power to all signals. Is it not complete ?? will list on this post a couple other news reports in a few minutes. 

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/06/30/limited-amtrak-service-restored-between-philadelphia-and-d-c/

from charlote

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/06/30/limited-amtrak-service-restored-between-philadelphia-and-d-c/

another phl station

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Storms-Cause-Amtrak-Delays-160954065.html

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Cardinal passengers stranded in west va.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/storm-strands-232-amtrak-riders-overnight-wva-16686956

[henry6]

Our Ridewithmehenry gang was in the City of Brotherly Love yesterday (sat 6/30) with a full day of train and trolley riding under warm sunny skies until about 3 PM when dark clouds and lightening came along from the Southwest....we were riding the 102 and101 Trolley lines Sharon HIll to Media by then...still the walk from the end of 101 to Media SEPTA station remained dry.  When we got to 30th St. Sta, I was perplexed in not seeing any signs of Amtrak enroute.  Entering the concourse we found it jammed with passengers staring at the departure board showing everything "delayed" and the bottom note that there was no service between Philadelphia and Washington with not explanation.  The public address announce came across with an adivsory that NJT was ready to restore service to Atlantic City as "the emergency has been lifted" .  Our SEPTA crew to Doylestown had no idea what was going on.  Not until this morning did I find out the massive storm damage of downed trees, no power, no water, etc. from the storms which came from Ohio into Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and southern NJ.  Two things struck me when we were at 30th St. at 5PM: that so many people just stood three staring at a message board that apparenlty hadn't changed since morning and sure wasn't about to.  And that no one seemed to know why the service was suspened, or at least was not being told why.