Passenger Trains > And the train suspension shoe drops

Just got an email from Amtrak about my upcoming trip, late Feb/early Mar Deland-New York-Deland. 

I had been scheduled on The Meteor, but am now reserved on The Star. The change has a ripple effect in my plans, especially since The Star gets into NYP 8 hours later, at 7:10pm (if I am lucky) making my travel beyond NY all the harder. 

This eliminaton of The Meteor makes sense at the southern end of the route, where most stations will still have other train coverage; however, it breaks all connections to upstate NY beyond Albany. 

Such are our times -- I am not pointing fingers nor blaming anyone, just sharing the facts in relation to my travel so we can all understand the current situation.  I would be interested to hear of any other changes being announced through revisions of reservations; not interested in an anti-Amtrak rants. 

 

Meteor is cancelled 1/17 to 3/27. The Star is getting at least one additional and maybe more Sleepers for the period.

All daily LD service being reduced to 5x week except Star, Palmetto, and Auto Train.
Also an 8% cut in northeast regional departures and a 6% cut in state supported frequencies.

Posted from iPhone

I wonder if the Star will get a diner during this period?

B&oBill

It already has one they took it off crescent and put it in Star. They will be adding more inventory to the Star Consist

Posted from iPhone



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/22 13:46 by lordsigma.

Woud the 2 day off days for the Lake Shore and Capitol be the same or different ? 

Is there any idea what the schedule looks like.  Ie what days will the trains run and connect and how will that alleviate crew shortage or is it crew shortage or just cut back.

Bob

Not all decisions have been made yet and not everything is in arrow yet. Though they have begun the process of rebooking meteor reservations and Star has been assigned more sleeper inventory.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/22 14:27 by lordsigma.

How about more coach inventory ? 

If you live on the A line, there's no getting to Florida or vice versa. They should have extended the Palmetto to Jacksonville. 

Maybe they could use this time for locomotive and car maintence. So stuff runs more normally once weekly service  is restored. I also wonder if every time a new variant shows up the same thing will happen. We have to learn to live with the virus. It's not going 100% away. 

I got an email a few days ago telling me my February 13 train from Penn Station to Washington DC was cancelled due to a "service disruption." This was Northeast Regional train 65, leaving at 2:53 AM and arriving at Washington at 6:30 AM. Now I'll have to spend all night in Manhattan—the horror, the horror.

Luckily, my February 28 trip from Washington DC to San Antonio (via the Crescent and Sunset Limited) doesn't seem to be affected...yet, anyway.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/22 15:06 by fooshie.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How about more coach inventory ? 
>
> If you live on the A line, there's no getting to
> Florida or vice versa. They should have extended
> the Palmetto to Jacksonville. 

Haven’t heard fully but I suspect they will - they did when they went to the four times meteor three times star thing

Posted from iPhone

Interesting to chose the Star over the Meteor to continue operation. And it will last longer than 3/27/2022. And I wonder if they will just add "enough inventory" to handle the transition, and then forget about it (e.g. reduce it back down to two Viewliner sleepers). What could be a bright time for Amtrak, has turned into a sad time. It's too bad. 

There's no way the Star will be able to attract and pick up the through traffic the Meteor had in strength from Florida to the Northeast. The Meteor was able to attract and run with three full sleepers. The Star could never do that. Those passengers were doing the long distance trek form near end point to end point (or at least overnight). The Meteor attracted greater ridership due to its route and its schedule, which the Star was sub par to and just can't compete with. The Star was NEVER able to serve the long distance traveller like the Meteor. The Star was at best a Tampa to Washington DC train, or a day train from the Carolinas to the Northeast. This was one of the reasons why it lost its full service diner - it just wasn't attracting the overnight traffic that the Meteor could. Just because it will be the only Florida train left, doesn't mean it will be seen as an alternative.

I would think this should be the final nail in the coffin as related to passenger rail traffic to/from the Northeast and Florida. And if I am wrong so be it, but one thing is for sure - the longer that all this is in place, the harder it will be to recover any of the ridership lost.

The Silver Meteor was always the stronger train over the Silver Star, but I guess the Star covers more "unique" territory, including heading back and forth to Tampa, as well as the inland route via Columbia......They still have a day train on the Meteor's route (at least to Savannah), and the Auto Train, so that's the reasoning for slashing the Meteor over the Star? Would Amtrak consider taking regular passengers on the Auto Train now that the Meteor is not running (and this will last longer than 3/27/2022)? 

Looking back, Amtrak really screwed itself with labor shortages by the way it approached the pandemic with its LD train lines. But it got compounded in the East for the LD trains due to the various retirements and buyouts that were simultaneously happening after shutting down and restructuring dining services East of the Mississippi - chefs, waitstaff, LSA's positions were gutted. And not for nothing but that was a potential work force that would have normally had the ability to transition to another craft within Amtrak. Instead Amtrak was preparing to hibernate from COVID, use COVID as a way to cripple the LD trains (or at least take a shot at it!), and continue its shut down and overhaul of F&B operations. Now to figure out how to operate when COVID is not necessarily going away, and the American people still want to travel. 

Current frequency reductions - or whatever is adopted - is NOT due to any decrease in patronage or traffic, but rather Amtrak not being able to pivot at the right time and effectively stay ahead of the labor curve. On top of it - a ripple effect cause you need not only onboard and T&E staff, but labor to maintain the equipment. So now with reduced frequencies, trains cancelled, there's additional equipment that's going to be parked and not maintained - creating even a GREATER backlog to get caught up on. Amtrak is in a really bad position. Whether they realize it or not, that's another question. FORGET the $66B, the Amtrak will be lucky to preserve and keep what it has. To emerge. Amtrak needs a good leader, and that's certainly not within sight. 

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How about more coach inventory ? 
>
> If you live on the A line, there's no getting to
> Florida or vice versa. They should have extended
> the Palmetto to Jacksonville. 

Extending (or restoring) the Palmetto back to its terminal at Jacksonville would have allowed for some flexibility and better connectivity for those on the A-Line trying to get to Florida (via Silver Star and connection at Jacksonville). This should not have been that hard to do.....

Train29 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Maybe they could use this time for locomotive and
> car maintenance. So stuff runs more normally once
> weekly service  is restored. I also wonder if
> every time a new variant shows up the same thing
> will happen. We have to learn to live with the
> virus. It's not going 100% away. 

If they are cutting the trains due to labor shortages, surely there will be no labor to do ADDITIONAL locomotive and car maintenance. That's a ripple effect that's going to take even greater time to overcome once or if frequencies are restored. This all goes to show how vulnerable Amtrak is with COVID. It will end up hurting Amtrak in the long term, and it will likely lose long standing supporters for not being able to do as you say - "learn to live with the virus." You are right - it's not going away. So it seems like we may have a repeating scene of "Henny Penny" every couple of months. Be that as it may. 

Amtrak has been caving all week, and I don't think there's anything that can stop that train now.....    

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Train29 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Maybe they could use this time for locomotive
> and
> > car maintenance. So stuff runs more normally
> once
> > weekly service  is restored. I also wonder if
> > every time a new variant shows up the same
> thing
> > will happen. We have to learn to live with the
> > virus. It's not going 100% away. 
>
> If they are cutting the trains due to labor
> shortages, surely there will be no labor to do
> ADDITIONAL locomotive and car maintenance. That's
> a ripple effect that's going to take even greater
> time to overcome once or if frequencies are
> restored. This all goes to show how vulnerable
> Amtrak is with COVID. It will end up hurting
> Amtrak in the long term, and it will likely lose
> long standing supporters for not being able to do
> as you say - "learn to live with the virus." You
> are right - it's not going away. So it seems like
> we may have a repeating scene of "Henny Penny"
> every couple of months. Be that as it may. 
>
> Amtrak has been caving all week, and I don't think
> there's anything that can stop that train
> now.....    

This is not just an Amtrak issue, although to read this board more broadly, one would think it is entirely. Look at the impact to airlines, trucking  companies, restaurants, bars. My local pizza place has had to close multiple days during the week due to a lack of staff - a combination of can't get help and people out sick. I realize a pizza place isn't Amtrak, but you get the idea. 

We *are* learning to live with this disease. Omicron is unique in it's behavior. Everything prior was a variant that spread, but more slowly, and one that was broadly more deadly. The new variant is wildly contagious although far less deadly. Regardless of stay out of work orders, I'd wager that we'd still see this kind of impact. Everyone I know who's got Covid recently has been pretty sick - sick enough that they wouldn't work regardless. 

Amtrak has it's issues. But cut them a little slack right now - we are broadly in new territory these days and the impact to labor across all industries is noteworthy. 

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting to chose the Star over the Meteor to
> continue operation. And it will last longer than
> 3/27/2022.

The reason they are cutting the meteor is because this is a staffing shortage along that corridor and this isn’t some ploy to eliminate trains permanently. You are talking as if the train is being permanently eliminated which it isn’t. The way they are doing it keeps daily service in place at all the stations and the star’s crews are probably not as strained. There is no evidence this will be extended indefinitely and according to Amtrak some of the suspensions may end earlier if the omicron wave wanes significantly and if they get to a better place with hiring in certain crew bases.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/22 16:42 by lordsigma.

lordsigma Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> jp1822 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Interesting to chose the Star over the Meteor
> to
> > continue operation. And it will last longer
> than
> > 3/27/2022.
>
> The reason they are cutting the meteor is because
> this is a staffing shortage along that corridor
> and this isn’t some ploy to eliminate trains
> permanently. You are talking as if the train is
> being permanently eliminated which it isn’t. The
> way they are doing it keeps daily service in place
> at all the stations and the star’s crews are
> probably not as strained. There is no evidence
> this will be extended indefinitely and according
> to Amtrak some of the suspensions may end earlier
> if the omicron wave wanes significantly and if
> they get to a better place with hiring in certain
> crew bases.


They thought the same thing about the Sunset east of New Orleans also.

Turn out the lights
The party's over
They say that
All good things must end
Call it tonight
The party's over
And tomorrow starts
The same old thing again
 

DevalDragon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> lordsigma Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > jp1822 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Interesting to chose the Star over the Meteor
> > to
> > > continue operation. And it will last longer
> > than
> > > 3/27/2022.
> >
> > The reason they are cutting the meteor is
> because
> > this is a staffing shortage along that corridor
> > and this isn’t some ploy to eliminate trains
> > permanently. You are talking as if the train is
> > being permanently eliminated which it isn’t.
> The
> > way they are doing it keeps daily service in
> place
> > at all the stations and the star’s crews are
> > probably not as strained. There is no evidence
> > this will be extended indefinitely and
> according
> > to Amtrak some of the suspensions may end
> earlier
> > if the omicron wave wanes significantly and if
> > they get to a better place with hiring in
> certain
> > crew bases.
>
>
> They thought the same thing about the Sunset east
> of New Orleans also.

When Amtrak went to tri-weekly in 2020, there was a lot of commentary on Trainorders implying that this was a permanent move and/or a step to eventual elimination of all long-distance trains.  Subsequently, Amtrak restored daily service to those routes. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/22 18:57 by RuleG.