CHICAGO — Lack of standby equipment and the inability of Amtrak mechanical forces to sufficiently prepare cars and locomotives for service led to the cancellation of one pair of Chicago-based trains and departure delays to 11 others on Thursday, Feb. 2.
The cancellation of one Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha round trip, and the cumulative delays to the other trains of 15 hours, 4 minutes, followed earlier issues in the week in which a line blockage in Detroit may have contributed to the annulment of the morning Michigan-bound corridor round trip out of Chicago [“Equipment issues, derailment lead to Wolverine cancellations,” Feb. 1, 2023].
Snow remained on the ground from a storm the preceding weekend, but the day was sunny with temperatures ranging from 23 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Thursday morning began with trains on four routes sustaining substantial delays from their advertised departure times:
Train Destination Scheduled Departure
329 Milwaukee 6:10 a.m. 7:47 a.m.
350 Pontiac, Mich. 6:45 a.m. 7:24 a.m.
301 St. Louis 7:15 a.m. 8:14 a.m.
381 Quincy, Ill. 7:40 a.m. 8:17 a.m.
Occurring at the beginning of the work day, pervasive delays like these can have a significant impact on repeat business. In addition, a 45-minute late arrival of the first Hiawatha from Milwaukee caused the next departure, No. 331, to leave 44 minutes late at 9:09 a.m. The same equipment that left the Windy City on No. 329 returned to Chicago more than 2 hours late, so train No. 333, a scheduled 11:05 a.m. departure, was cancelled.
Putting additional strain on mechanical forces was the overnight arrival of two trains from the West Coast that should have come in the previous afternoon: the California Zephyr, 11 hours, 28 minutes late at 2:18 a.m., and the Empire Builder, 12 hours, 45 minutes late at 5:30 a.m.
Both trains had to contend with a late departure from their originating terminal, inclement weather, and freight congestion on their way to Chicago, but the major source of delays were “mechanical issues.” The Zephyr and the Builder each lost four hours —the Zephyr at Denver, and the Builder between Milwaukee and Glenview, Ill., to equipment failures.
The most significant Chicago departure delay was the eastbound Lake Shore Limited, which slunk out of town at 2:35 a.m. on Feb. 3, more than 5 hours late. The equipment’s morning arrival as train No. 49/449 from New York City and Boston was 34 minutes early, so that wasn’t the problem. But maintenance personnel were playing catch-up into the evening, as the day’s departing Zephyr, Builder, and City of New Orleans all left more than an hour late.
Amtrak does not routinely disclose the nature of its trains’ mechanical problems. Sources tell Trains News Wire cold weather has adversely affected both the state-owned SC44 and long-distance ALC42 Siemens Charger locomotives and caused inoperable toilets on Horizon coaches and cafe cars.
There have been repeated instances during the last three weeks of trains returning to Chicago Union Station after leaving on time, an indication that all necessary maintenance may not have been completed.
Another chain reaction
When the Empire Builder that left Chicago on Jan. 30 arrived in Minot, N.D., one of two Superliner coaches in the section going to Portland, Ore., was removed for “thermally damaged wheels,” according information relayed to passengers by the train’s conductor.
It had departed Chicago more than two hours late due to “engine problems” and a burned-out marker light on a Viewliner II baggage car substituting for the normally assigned coach-baggage Superliner. Following the 2½-hour Minot stop and a broken air hose changed out at Chester, Mont., where operating employees had to be recrewed instead of at the normal crew-change point 42 miles west in Shelby, Mont., the train was 6 hours late at Spokane, Wash., and into Seattle.
After servicing, the eastbound Builder scheduled to depart Seattle Feb 1 at 4:55 p.m. didn’t leave until 12:34 a.m., more than 7½ hours late. Leaving St. Paul at 5:38 p.m. instead of 8:50 a.m. on Feb. 3, the out-of-slot train lost another 2 hours stuck behind a disabled freight and arrived into Chicago more than 10 hours late at 3:20 a.m. on Feb. 4. Despite the Builder’s nocturnal arrival, Chicago shop forces managed to get that day’s westbound Builder, Zephyr, and Southwest Chief all out on time.
Yes Charles, March, 2023 Trains, page 5.
Best time on Amtrak was in the 80’s under Graham Claytor. Loved riding then. Downhill since.
David Gunn was a bright light for Amtrak. Downhill after he was fired for actually making Amtrak work.
So much said in all these comments that I agree with. I’ll say it again, the one-big-national rail system model should have been temporary until a way could have been found to gradually re-privatize at least some routes. Secondary routes of state interest and subsidy could also have been arranged with qualified private operators with Amtrak as the coordinator.
One comment mentioned capable people from SCL, ATSF, etc. Around 1976 or so, I rode the Southwest Chief LA-Chicago in a sleeper, which was in the rear section of the train. We had our own lounge and diner. The steward was an old Santa Fe man, one of the best ever. I still remember the delicious steak and wonderful service. We had a smooth, fast ride and were on time or close to it arriving Chicago.
A bit off topic..AMTRAK! In the print edition of Trains, it seems Amtrak failed to design food service anneities to their specifications. Now Siemens is redesigning at AmtraK expense.
42 million add on because of Amtrak ineptness.
If you mean the March edition of TRAINS MAGAZINE, I’ve not received it yet. Might come in the mail later today.
Why hasn’t the news media pucked up on any of this. More people read Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc., than read TRAINS MAGAZINE.
Why hasn’t Congress done anything? Oh, let me answer my own question. Congress spends 100% of its energy debating relatively small matters like the number of RS agents, and none of its energy on making this nation any better. My criticism is aimed at both parties, including the one I vote for (the clumsy and senile elephants).
To Mr Rice, Are you hoping McCarthy appoints Mr. Santos?
Or as a song says, “SEND IN THE CLOWNS”
Why not Cong. George Santos? Just ask him. Here’s what he would tell you. He owns the Long Island Railroad. Singlehandedly, he designed the railroad’s signal system and he implemented PTC. He once lived with Queensborough natives Donald Trump, Cyndi Lauper, Art Garfunkel, Mario Cuomo and Paul Simon in a $20 Million mansion by the tracks in Douglaston, Queens. Santos met the Long Island native Billy Joel on a LIRR train and they dated for several years thereafter, a relationship blessed by the late Pope Benedict XVI.
All the above is easily verified if newspaper reporters from Newsday, the Times, the Post and the Daily News would get off their hind ends to check it all out.
When the first SIemens equipment showed up on the property crews and mechanical hated them. You won’t find too many today who like them. They continuously fail in the cold because fine snow easily works it’s way into the the electrical system. An engineer is prohibited from entering the body of the locomotive while it is running because of danger of electrocution. For quite awhile a conductor was prohibited from riding inside the rear of the locomotive during reverse moves and had to ride the ladder to prevent inhalation of gasses. Amtrak should have shopped for good 4 axle freight power and had Progress rebuild them for passenger service. The best locomotive I ever ran for Amtrak was a former CN passenger geep that ran better than anything else out there. Unfortunately it was destroyed in a grade crossing accident.
I don’t like to involve politics or make any political statements in this column… after all this is a hobby publication and there are plenty of other platforms and websites to make and debate political and social justice issues but I do have one comment to make. Good luck if anybody thinks the new Republican controled House is going to investigate or make changes to how Amtrak is run or managed. If the Republicans can get away with it, they will either slash Amtrak’s budget or try to totally eliminate passenger train travel in America. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to make Amtrak give back that $66 billion they got last year. For now and the forseeable future, Amtrak will struggle along and be operated by political hacks and apointees who know nothing about running a railroad or what it does and how it must serve the traveling public. All the good, experienced and professional railroader have either retired, passed out of the picture or chased out of their jobs. Most if not all the railroaders who were either furloughed or laid off in the past few years with the hope that will be called back into service are not coming back and I doubt that a new generation of younger people who Amtrak is trying to come work for them are even going to consider a career in the rail industry. Things can only improve if the right people are hired and trained properly and no political hacks or stooges who only answer to their government benefactors
Joseph C. Markfelder
Your comments Dan bring up such an interesting point. Having worked in electrical maintenance in an integrated steel mill for over 40 years we did do so many technological changes. The maintenance work force (especially electricians) had many difficulties adjusting to new stuff, even different brands of equipment, especially an old embedded work force. I seen people quit or retire due to fear and stress of new technology. And generally all the training in the world makes no difference, the only way to learn is to get your hands into it and not be afraid, however management has to accept there will be problems and not penalize. I am not finding fault with Amtraks maintainers, just pointing out what my experiences were.
So your comment around Bright Line vs Amtrak maintenance forces could quite well be true. After all the equipment on the Chargers is proven technology, it’s the same electrical equipment running in most if not all AC EMD locomotives, the prime mover is used all over the world. Yep Siemens may have bungled system integration, it happens seen that too in my career from very reputable manufacturers. After all Siemens has been building locomotives for 140 years so they do know how to do it.
So how come Brightline doesn’t have all the failures with their Siemens equipment? What are the differences between what they bought and what Amtrak bought? Or is it the result of competent management and a well-trained mechanical department, versus Amtrak’s dysfunctional buffoons?
Oh, wait. I think I just answered my own question…
Never have I read so MANY responses, and vigorously shook my head “YES”, to virtually EVERY reply, even tho contradictory. NO ONE is a bigger “AmFan” than me, but FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, “it’s BROKEN, BROKEN, BOKEN….”
Maybe it’s time for Amtrak to run the Empire Builder tri-weekly and use the other freed up sets of equipment as protect cars either in Chicago or west coast terminals. Then when the weather improves in the spring and the tourists return to the trains daily operations can return. It is obvious that complaining to Congress is not doing any good because they don’t care. Amtrak is really too small to carry any weight with the politicians. And any weight it does carry is all NEC because that is where the people (and votes) are. Long distance trains are “bug dust” in the total scheme of things. Even 4,000,000 passengers (pre-pandemic) only account for maybe 2 1/2 million actual people and that only results in less than one half of one percent of intercity travelers. Good luck getting the politicians off their behinds for that many votes.
All by design
Amtrak stinks! Pre AmtraK, even in challenging weather, the trains ran, and mostly on time.
There was one winter,1977 or 1978, that was very cold in Chicago Steam lines froze, taking numerous cars out of service. It was stated at the time that experienced mechanial forces were retiring and the new guys couldn’t handle the aging steam heated equipment.
This is 2023. We don’t have steam heated cars. This winter has been extremely mild here in the Great Lakes. For example as I write it’s now 36F here in Brookfield Township, Wisconsin, home of TRAINS MAGAZINE.
I remember the 1976/1977 winter. My family rode the Lakeshore to Chicago to visit my grandparents over Christmas. It was extremely cold the day of our return trip, like high around 4 degrees. The sleepers on the rear were frozen, we left Chicago a little late, then stopped on the main in Gary for two hours while they tried again to unthaw the steam line to the rear sleepers. The mechanical department was not completely successful and my mother and baby sister had a very cold trip home. But the three E9’s worked just fine, and the rest of the steam heated cars built in the 1950’s also functioned well, and the trains out of Chicago were not being annulled. Actually, I also remember on the trip to Chicago someone in Toledo filled the articulated two-car dining car (ex-Pennsy I believe) water tank with diesel, so bad things happened back then too. We were told that employee was fired before we arrived in Chicago.
And someone wants to double the frequency between CUS and MStP?
What does it take for Congress to get off their arse as they recently exhibited re the ticket issue re Taylor Swift, as a railroad friend of mine stated?
Does anybody yet rise to the occasion to acknowledge what a mistake it was to create a federal Amtrak, when the obvious answer would have been to have those with competence, the AT&SF and SAL, to manage America’s passenger trains?
How much longer will the powers to be tolerate Amtrak’s corporate management and Board to pull out of their arse unfathomable excuses to claim how the deterioration in maintenance services is beyond their scope of responsibility (or concern)?
At what point will Congress say enough? Again, we know the critical issues that have encumbered Amtrak, including:
-A Board of Directors completely disqualified to providing stewardship and demand accountability for management actions;
-Corporate management learning on the job to tweak their past airline experience.
-A CEO who evolved out of Capitol Hill wishing to be a director of passenger trains.
-The fatal combination of a neophyte management and non-existent Board to approve the ultimate failure to push out experienced, seasoned crews for maintenance, operations, and on-board services.
Amtrak will commit Hari Kari; who would in their right mind depend on Amtrak for any state-corridor, let alone long distance?
Geee, isn’t gimmicky overly complex new tech stuff neat?
Where are ILDOT, MiDOT, WisDOT, their political enablers, SecTrans Buttigieg, and FRA administrator Amit Bose? Are any of them paying attention? And if not why not. This is how Stephen Gardner and his “team” escape being called to account. Truth is those guys aren’t worried about being called to account. They know if they throw enough corporate doublespeak they will utterly confuse their questioners because the questioners haven’t a clue about passenger railroading due in no small measure to the fact that they never ride.
The political advocates for rail from Illinois are Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. The one house member who was, was routed in the last election and his replacement hasn’t shown any interest in it.
Maybe they should schedule all of the rail conferences in January in Chicago and require everyone travel via Amtrak and watch what happens.
Now that the GOP has taken over the house, and DeFazio retired, maybe its time to see who Speaker McCarthy puts on the House Transporation Committee.
Yet more mechanical failures on new Siemens built equipment. Do the European versions fail this frequently?
Due to Build USA requirements, the EU versions have little in common with the US version.
And most if not all are 100% electric.
And Amtrak wants the STB to investigate UP for passenger train delays…..