Passenger Trains > 7(29) - ALC42 issues??

At 10:45AM, 306 was leading the 44. I then saw them add the 194 on top. Then off with all 3, the back on with the 306 trailing and 306 lead around 2:50pm. Possibly PTC again? 5:45 yet and no sign of anything, maybe something else came up... 

---

---

Now looking at 4 HOURS 9 MINUTES late at Milwaukee and counting…….

ADB

Out of Glenview 4 hours late, behind an all stops to Fox Lake outbound Metra. 

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

It's the new and improved Amtrak. Just wait until they get their long distance Venture cars, then you will really see some impressive train performance.

Thank you Siemens NA!

When my sluggish 9 or 10 car Lolla consist inbound Metra got into Union Station 15 minutes late (losing time after each stop slowly getting up to speed) at 6:25pm or so, they were just boarding passengers onto the train with the P42 ahead of ALC42 306.

Poor passengers, such a joke.

Posted from Android

The Empire Builder gets delayed at the expense of Amtrak trying to figure what power to put out in front. Gotta love it. Is this how Amtrak should break in locomotives? Can't even get out of the station!

I see that this consist also has a full Superliner sleeper subbing for the Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper. It's at least providing Seattle passengers with TWO full Superliner Sleepers. Crew is interspersed in roomettes I am sure. But does anyone know if this is how ALL the Empire Builders are operating - no Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper but instead full Superliner Sleeper (for Seattle section). It's better. Last year they were able to operate during peak season (July to Oct 1) the full second Sleeper AND the Trans Dorm/Sleeper. This made it a pre-COVID consist. Not sure why the Empire Builder was not setup with same consist as last year. A tragedy is still a tragedy, and I realize it lost ONE sleeper in the Joplin crash. But that was one, not multiple sleepers and they were able to sub in last year. Last year also the Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper got an attendant, and BOTH Superliner Sleepers.

The Empire Builder trains are running FULL to/from Chicago and Seattle/Portland. Glacier National Park has been a huge draw with East Glacier back open this year! Amtrak Vacations sent me a whole marketing packet to go to Glacier. Limited capacity so not sure if that's the best spend of marketing dollars. 

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Empire Builder gets delayed at the expense of
> Amtrak trying to figure what power to put out in
> front. Gotta love it. Is this how Amtrak should
> break in locomotives? Can't even get out of the
> station!
>
> I see that this consist also has a full Superliner
> sleeper subbing for the Superliner Trans-Dorm
> Sleeper. It's at least providing Seattle
> passengers with TWO full Superliner Sleepers. Crew
> is interspersed in roomettes I am sure. But does
> anyone know if this is how ALL the Empire Builders
> are operating - no Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper
> but instead full Superliner Sleeper (for Seattle
> section). It's better. Last year they were able to
> operate during peak season (July to Oct 1) the
> full second Sleeper AND the Trans Dorm/Sleeper.
> This made it a pre-COVID consist. Not sure why the
> Empire Builder was not setup with same consist as
> last year. A tragedy is still a tragedy, and I
> realize it lost ONE sleeper in the Joplin crash.
> But that was one, not multiple sleepers and they
> were able to sub in last year. Last year also the
> Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper got an attendant,
> and BOTH Superliner Sleepers.
>
> The Empire Builder trains are running FULL to/from
> Chicago and Seattle/Portland. Glacier National
> Park has been a huge draw with East Glacier back
> open this year! Amtrak Vacations sent me a whole
> marketing packet to go to Glacier. Limited
> capacity so not sure if that's the best spend of
> marketing dollars. 

I found out last week that only a handful of rooms are sold in the 2nd full sleeper. This is because there's still only one attendant and they can only work so many rooms in the other car by themselves. I think there are two sets running a full sleeper instead of the dorm. 

This train is running about 6 hours late. Locomotive problems? I suspect that there are two crews on that train because the regularly assigned crew can't get rested in Minot to  take 8 back.

Ed Burns

The initial issue was PTC failing the initialization test. 

Further delays have been heat restrictions and freight train delays, along with MoW.

Amtrak needs to turn this train in Spokane so they can at least get #8/28 back on schedule. Late arrivals into Portland/Seattle are just cascading and making things worse. It was SOP that when train #7/27 were so many hours late by Spokane they would turn it there and passengers had a bus-bridge between Seattle/Portland and Spokane. I realize finding buses can be an issue, but is Amtrak even considering this? They haven't all Spring and Summer so far when this train's been late - largely on account of the ALC42 issues. The winter was a whole set of other issues........Spring/Summer has largely been at the hands of Amtrak. BNSF does a pretty good job at getting the Empire Builder over its route, in general.