Trains.com

2014-2015 Weather related Amtrak cancellations

9057 views
71 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Georgia USA SW of Atlanta
  • 11,919 posts
Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 4:58 PM

Amtrak continuing cancellations with no indication when service will start back up.

 

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Alert_C&pagename=am/AM_Alert_C/Alerts_Popup&cid=1251627181506

 

 

 

  • Member since
    October 2014
  • 1,139 posts
Posted by Gramp on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 12:58 PM

It's *just* a different world today.  For example, as I grew up, schools wouldn't shut down because of cold and snow.  I remember being a patrol boy in 5th grade, out covering an intersection on 20 below mornings, making sure kids were protected as they crossed busy streets walking to school.  Today, you've got kids being bussed to school.  Schools close even before forecasted storms hit.  The liability issues involved outweigh everything else.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 10:05 AM

nyc#25

Stop with the airline analogy!  More people ride these 

trains between intermeadiate stations that have no 

other transportation options. 

Name one community served by Amtrak that does not have a highway. Name the communities served by Amtrak that don't have or could not have intercity bus service. 

If Amtrak's long distance trains are vital for the nation's commercial passenger transport needs, how come the following Texas cities with populations of more than 100,000, to illustrate just one state, don't have Amtrak service: Abilene, Amarillo, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Laredo, McAllen, Lubbock, Midland, Odessa, and Wichita Falls.  

Amtrak's long distance train system could go away tomorrow and most Americans would not even know it.  Having said that passengers trains make sense in relatively short, high density corridors where the cost to expand the highways and airways is prohibitive.  

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 9:48 AM

error

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 9:45 AM

nyc#25

Stop with the airline analogy!  More people ride these 

trains between intermeadiate stations that have no 

other transportation options.

 

Safety for passengers, then!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    May 2007
  • 194 posts
Posted by nyc#25 on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 7:37 AM

Stop with the airline analogy!  More people ride these 

trains between intermeadiate stations that have no 

other transportation options.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 5:16 AM

blue streak 1

 

 
BaltACD

Amtrak rather than be criticized for having hundreds of passengers stuck in the middle of nowhere for a indeterminate amount of time features that it is better to curtail service.  No worse than airlines cancelling flights account weather issues. 

 
BALT  is so correct ! 

 
Irrespective of the cause, the fact that a snow storm - five inches in many places - can cause Amtrak to cancel one of its intercity trains raises a serious question in my mind.  It one train a day between Chicago  and San Antonio really a serious passenger transport option?
  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Georgia USA SW of Atlanta
  • 11,919 posts
Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 3:15 AM

BaltACD

Amtrak rather than be criticized for having hundreds of passengers stuck in the middle of nowhere for a indeterminate amount of time features that it is better to curtail service.  No worse than airlines cancelling flights account weather issues. 

 
BALT  is so correct !
  • Member since
    September 2014
  • 1,180 posts
Posted by ROBERT WILLISON on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 2:26 AM

Right on back in the day labor was cheap.  Its all about the bottom line for the railroads and of course safety.

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 9:41 PM

Today's Class 1 carriers do not have the legions of MofW employees with shovels, brooms and ice chippers that kept the lines open and operative in times gone by.  With nearly all Main Lines being remotely operated by CTC systems - switch and signal failure with bad weather can be catastrophic on the lines affected by blizzard type conditions.  Under such conditions, even if personnel can be contacted to respond to the problem - their own ability to reach the affected location is also hampered by the storm (Maintaners & MofW personnel no longer live right at their work locations).

Amtrak rather than be criticized for having hundreds of passengers stuck in the middle of nowhere for a indeterminate amount of time features that it is better to curtail service.  No worse than airlines cancelling flights account weather issues. 

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 9:07 PM

blue streak 1

Now I know why the Texas Eagle - Number 21 - is showing information unavailable due to a service disruption.  

I wonder how much snow it took to cause Amtrak to cancel Number 21.  As a kid growing up in Altoona, I was not stranger to severe winter weather. If I remember correctly, there were days when the PRR's varnish fell behind due to snow, but there were not many of them.  And cancellations were few and far between.

One day, during my last year in high school, which would have been 1957, I had a ticket to go from Altoona to New York.  My train was the Admiral, which I believe was Number 50.  By 6:00 a.m. snow had piled up to the point where my father could barely get the car out to drive me  to the station.  Bue he did it.  And whilst the Admiral was three hours late, it showed up eventually. And I got to Penn Station at a reasonable hour.   

If Amtrak has to cancel its trains because of snow, it makes me wonder how important it is for America's intercity commercial passenger system.

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Georgia USA SW of Atlanta
  • 11,919 posts
Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 8:37 PM
  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Georgia USA SW of Atlanta
  • 11,919 posts
2014-2015 Weather related Amtrak cancellations
Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, November 18, 2014 6:22 PM

The first blast of winter weather has caused all Albany - west New York Amtrak trips to be cancelled.  Included is west bound LSL from NYP> The 5 feet of snow around Buffalo is the culprit.  Texas eagle #21 also cancelled from Chicago.  Weather ?

East bound Lake Shore today was 5 + hr late into Buffalo and 9 + hours late from Rochester 61 miles.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy