Passenger Trains > #21 Service Disruption Out of STL

Anyone know what happened this time?

Check Amtrak twitter feed.  Looks like "mechanical" problems.  I wish I had a dollar for every day the Eagle has been terminated and turned as 22 at Fort Worth over the years.  I could have a really nice meal...for two!

I really think restructuring the service model to make the Heartland Flyer run down to San Antonio and have 21&22 terminate at Fort Worth might provide a better level of dependability.  The I-35 corridor is such a mess and we Texans haven't done much to promote a better rail alternative. The Eagle sure as hell is not providing corridor service. Of course, it is always easier said than done when you sit behind a keyboard.

It's a shame they can't put a second locomotive on this train.

What is a shame is that Amtrak is so completely incompetent and poorly managed, that they would send ANY long distance train out of the originating station with only one engine.  

They should send every P40-42 to GE in Erie for immediate rebuilding.  

New power from Siemens and Progressive (EMD) is still very unproven.

Hou74-76 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Check Amtrak twitter feed.  Looks like
> "mechanical" problems.  I wish I had a dollar for
> every day the Eagle has been terminated and turned
> as 22 at Fort Worth over the years.  I could have
> a really nice meal...for two!
>
> I really think restructuring the service model to
> make the Heartland Flyer run down to San Antonio
> and have 21&22 terminate at Fort Worth might
> provide a better level of dependability.  The
> I-35 corridor is such a mess and we Texans haven't
> done much to promote a better rail alternative.
> The Eagle sure as hell is not providing corridor
> service. Of course, it is always easier said than
> done when you sit behind a keyboard.

Good idea to extend the Heartland Flyer to San Antonio...it's a state subsidized train.  Texas can step up.  But why would the Texas Eagle be terminated at Fort Worth?  2 trains each way a day is a start towards a corridor.  Also, in spite of what Mr. Anderson would have you believe, the Eagle does well with it's two thru cars to the Sunset three days a week.  The combined Texas Eagle/Sunset LA-Chicago route connects a lot of city pairs in a growing part of the country, something that Anderson/Gardner have claimed to be part of Amtrak's agenda going forward.  As far as that goes, the same applies to Fort Worth-Austin-San Antonio.  But, they also claim to want to improve on time performance...there should now be some extra P40/42's available, but have any shown up as second units on the Eagle, or any other train....no just beating a false rap.  They also claimed that millenials wanted healthier food choices, so they piled on the salt and preservatives in "flexible dining"....beating a false rap again.   BSB

21(09) with AMTK 69

Engine failure between STL and Arcadia. More power added, what, from where and in what kind of condition, I don't know. Still "disrupted" but moving, last time I looked. Something close to 9 hrs. late.

More "never agains" which probably suits Anderson and his conspirators inside and out of Amtrak just fine.

Power will be only the start of problems on this journey.  Here in East Texas on 21’s Route,
we are about to get flooded out with massive rains, Little Rock to DFW.

The flow of traffic from San Marcos to Taylor is north bound and two against the flow of trains would be a nightmare for dispatchers.  Rode #21 a couple of years ago and we sat for 45 minutes at Taylor, within sight of the station while UP ran three northbounds.

UP operates directionally in Arkansas and east Texas, too.  One way runs via ex-MoPac, tne other via ex-Cotton Belt.  The Eagle operates countercurrent west/southbound.  In 2000 it took different routes between Texarkana and Mineola; the west/southbound missed Marshall and Longview, and stopped at a wide spot in a yam field* where buses met the train.

* That's a joke, but the town where it did stop, at a grade crossing, is the self-proclaimed "Yam Capitol."  It holds a Yamboree each October.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/20 07:35 by GenePoon.