Passenger Trains > 50 running very late Friday

50 (eastbound Cardinal) was around 5 hours late into CVS this evening. Could anyone provide details about why? Thanks

It lost 4 hours on Thursday, too.

Nothing out of the ordinary for this unwanted stepchild of the Amtrak system. I am not sure of anything that would have caused this delay. Weather has been perfect around here the last few days. PO51-06 did depart Maysville on time at 1136pm and is expected into Cincinnati a few minutes early.

warehouse fire in Maysville. Part of the brick wall collapsed onto the #2 main. Firehoses also across main. Several reverse moves and use of hand throw crossovers added to the delay.

ironpirate Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> warehouse fire in Maysville. Part of the brick
> wall collapsed onto the #2 main. Firehoses also
> across main. Several reverse moves and use of hand
> throw crossovers added to the delay.

Got to chalk that one up to God. Can't blame Amtrak or CSX on this one.

50 arrived early and departed IND on time. The last three trips for 51 that can be checked on Amtrak's site show 51 arrived IND early and departed on time. 51 also arrived early at Chicago last Monday and Thursday and is projected to arrive 20 minutes early today.

After some further research, stub trains 850 and 851 also made their runs without significant delays this past week. I believe 851 arrived 7 minutes late on Tuesday, but the rest of the runs were finished 20-25 minutes early. 850 also made it into Indianapolis early all week.

Kim Heusel



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/09 06:14 by KimHeusel.

That's good to hear, now if Amtrak can put 850 and 851 on their own schedule it'll be much easier like they used to do!

If there is one long distance train that really needs to be analyzed for potential re-route and scheduling - it's the Cardinal. The meandering route of the Cardinal operating tri-weekly between NYC-WAS-CIN-IND-CHI is often pathethic at best. It certainly serves small and big cities, but in a way to try and "do it all" with just one train, few amenities (overall), and a long schedule end point to end point. We've talked about a number of options on this forum so no need to re-hash again here. The only thing I will say is that operating the Hoosier State as a separate train would be a huge improvement, and serving Cincy and Indy at better hours would also be much better. Since there is a lot of connecting traffic for this train at Charlottesville - either to the Crescent when it rolls through or the bus to Richmond and tidewater region, it makes one wonder if this train should even head out to the tidewater region once again or to Washington DC via a routing (somehow) via Richmond, VA. The terminus for this train I still think should be NYC, my personal opinion. Have a connecting train from NYC to Washington DC etc.

ts1457 Wrote:

> Got to chalk that one up to God. Can't blame
> Amtrak or CSX on this one.


I'm not sure a warehouse fire is under the 'Act of God' clause, but wouldn't you just know it? Something as random as this stabs a train that only runs 3 (6) times a week..

As to changes, the Hoosier State should definitely run independent of the Cardinal and the Cardinal should run daily. There is plenty of interest by the public in riding this train.

I always, and will in June, pick the Hoosier State. It is on time a lot more often than the Cardinal.

A couple of updates since the discussion started last week: 51 arrived 8 minutes early in Chicago Saturday and 1 minute early today. 851 arrived 36 minutes early in Chicago Sunday. 850 arrived 30 minutes early in Indianapolis Saturday night.