Passenger Trains > How do they handle a late #49 Lake Shore Limited?

How do they handle the connection between the #49 Lake Shore Limited and the #5 California Zephyr when #49 arrives into Chicago after #5's departure time?  I noticed #49 was over 5 hours late on the 28th due to the late start/power failure in NYC.  I will be making that connection, or trying to, later in June . . .

Thanks!!!!
Steve Utley
Salem, OR

I have seen them let it go and I have seen them hold it.
I suppose it depends on number of transfers. Urban legend is that they hold trains a minute per passenger, or something like that. 

Eastbound, I have seen them run buses from Galesburg to Toledo in order to get through Indiana on schedule and not get messed up in NS's bottleneck out of slot.

 

I was on a late 49 (arrived at 5 p.m.) connecting to 27 last February.  I got put up in a very nice hotel, along with money for cab fare and a little for dinner.  Then I got the same room on the next day's 27 that I would have had if we made the connection.  A free night and morning in Chicago is not a bad thing.  As I understood it, the connecting coach passengers got the same deal, including the same hotel.  That, by the way, was the only time I've ever missed a connection on Amtrak, and it was the result of a number of things coming together to make it happen.