Passenger Trains > Is anything Running tomorrow, January 6, on the NEC?

From this, it does not look like it.Monday, January 6NortheastAcela (Operating between Boston and Washington):

• Trains 2103, 2107, 2108, 2121, 2122, & 2124  are canceled.
• Trains 2150, 2154, 2168, 2170, & 2172 are canceled between Washington and New York.
• Trains 2151, 2153, 2155, 2159, & 2173 are canceled between New York and Washington.

Northeast Regional (Boston and Washington):

• Train 141, 94 & 95 are canceled between Norfolk and Washington.
• Train 171 is canceled between Roanoke and Washington.
• Train 125 is canceled between Washington and Newport News.
• Train 93 is canceled between New York and Norfolk.
• Train 174 is canceled between Richmond and Washington. 
• Trains 170, 130, 172, 112, 182, 84, 86, 134, 138, 66, 151, 181, 119, 131, 193, 197, 175, 179, & 85 are canceled.

State Supported ServiceCarolinian (Operating between Charlotte and New York):

• Trains 79 & 80 are canceled between New York and Raleigh.

Well, as this photo shows, it did not used to be that way.

B&O Bill
 

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Thanks Bill.  It's such a shame for this country to not be able to operate passenger trains properly in in climate weather.  Amtrak is basically a joke especially with today's so called leadership.  And the major class one railroads don't help either.  Yes, you and I plus many other senior citizens can remember when the major railroads operated the passenger trains in all kinds of foul weather, they may have sometimes been a little late, but in general they got through.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Would the Swiss do this?  My wife and I are ticketed on an Acela Boston to WDC on Tuesday.  I hope they're running by then.  Gerry

When I served on the Amtrak BOD the late Stan Bagley was the COO of the whole eastern seaboard ( Boston-Miami) and we would run "snow trains" on the NEC all night to keep the plant in good operating order during snow storms. We never canceled trains, as a matter of fact we would add cars knowing if the NY or DC area airports closed we'd get a ton of "snowbirds" on our trains. I recall we had one train out of Washington during a bad snow event that left DC with an estimated 400 standees in its 12 coaches. IIRC it arrived NYP 23 minutes late.  The mind set then was that we were "the" dependable mode of transportation and we owed it to our reputation to do all possible to operate smoothly ESPECIALLY when the other modes couldn't. 

    Obviously that is no longer the mentality.   Ross Rowland 

Honestly, the Cardinal surely should have run, and the Floridian.  What the heck, Amtrak?  And no Floridian between DC and Miami?  Why not??  There is snow in southern Ohio, yes, a few inches.  Granted the bird would be a few hours away from Cincy, but this is definitely not a storm that should cancel trains, especially the NEC and the Floridian!  It makes no sense to me at all.  Zero.  Cancellations everywhere.

I wonder what the employees think of it all?

 

didn't gg1s have problems with fine powedery snow ?

Amtrak's website shows 42 & 43, the Pennsylvanian, running between Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York City on January 6.  However, 43 is sold out on that date.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/25 18:35 by RuleG.

Yesm U read that the GG-1s worked through heavy, wet snow for a couple of decades later they had a storm with "dry" fine powder snow that got through the screens or filters and played havoc with the electrical devices.
The PRR visibly modified them with somewhat protruding air intakes along the sides of each "nose".  
Was the whole fleet modified this way?

RuleG Wrote:
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> Amtrak's website shows 42 & 43,
> the Pennsylvanian, running between Pittsburgh,
> Philadelphia, and New York City on January 6. 
> However, 43 is sold out on that date.

Looks like the Crescent (19/20) is also running Monday 1/6.

Posted from iPhone

Steve Gass
Linden, VA
B-LineRailfan

God, you boomers with the same complaints every time it snows. It's like a broken record. 

Yes, the railroads used to run in the snow, when they had the manpower to take care of the physical plant and everything didn't revolve around making money. That's not how the world works anymore. 

Which is more economically feasible to maximize profits: shut down for a day or open yourself up to lawsuits if someone were to slip and fall at a station, or a crew van driver slid off an icy road killing a crew, or a car got stuck on an unplowed crossing and derailed the train that hit it?

Railroads don't even employ enough people when the weather doesn't matter, now you need extra hands on deck to clear switches and shovel platforms that aren't on the payroll. The reality of the 21st Century is that management is in the railroad business to make as much money as possible, not so a dozen people can take a choo choo ride in the snow. 

- Chris

My, that's a cynical mindset.

OUAT, American businessmen took the attitude you describe, and applied it to food production.  Upton Sinclair described it in The Jungle.  The federal government ended up getting involved after people died because businessmen put profit above all else.

Getting back to the ferroequine discussion, perhaps some clever people will figure out how to build drones and robots which can clear fouled switches, and do those nasty weather MoW tasks.

dan Wrote:
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> didn't gg1s have problems with fine powedery snow
> ?

Fixed many years before Amtrak was even thought of.
 

Here's a comparison of the weather radar and Amtrak Track Your Train status depiction for the Mid-Atlantic states as of 0700 Monday 1/6/25. Many trains are running on the NEC and elsewhere. 

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Compared to a normal Monday, there's hardly anything running on the NEC this morning, as the map even shows. North of NYC it's a bit better, but to cancel Train 170 - a MAJOR Amtrak train on the NEC for morning travellers - that was pretty HUGE. Train 170 leaves DC around 5 am, and I really think Amtrak should have at LEAST operated that train up the whole NEC......Very popular train on the southern and northern end. 

I love how the younger follks are always calling out "boomers," of which I am not one, for whatever they like.  Get some respect kids.  

Look, the post by a so-called boomer was on point.  We used to get things done, and make things happen.  Us Gen-Xers, too.  We take pride in what we do, and want to help others.  When your face is in your phone all day, that becomes your reality, and it is not real, and you lose touch with the real world.

Freight trains are running, pal, so it seems to me that your broad point of not enough employees falls pretty flat.  Now, put down your phone and go outside and play.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/25 04:55 by Chessie1963.

jp1822 Wrote:
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> Compared to a normal Monday, there's hardly
> anything running on the NEC this morning, as the
> map even shows. North of NYC it's a bit better,
> but to cancel Train 170 - a MAJOR Amtrak train on
> the NEC for morning travellers - that was pretty
> HUGE. Train 170 leaves DC around 5 am, and I
> really think Amtrak should have at LEAST operated
> that train up the whole NEC......Very popular
> train on the southern and northern end. 

NJT has no problems at all on the NEC this morning for its 1" of snow expected. That means Amtrak could run north of Philly with no problems either. In the end, Philly will get 4". That is not a shutting down event. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/25 05:36 by joemvcnj.

It is now, Joe.  It is now.

joemvcnj Wrote
> NJT has no problems at all on the NEC this morning
> for its 1" of snow expected. That means Amtrak
> could run north of Philly with no problems either.
> In the end, Philly will get 4". That is not a
> shutting down event. 

Chessie1963 Wrote:
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> It is now, Joe.  It is now.
>
> joemvcnj Wrote
> > NJT has no problems at all on the NEC this
> morning
> > for its 1" of snow expected. That means Amtrak
> > could run north of Philly with no problems
> either.
> > In the end, Philly will get 4". That is not a
> > shutting down event. 

I should reword it better. It should not be a shutting down event.

I suppose some NEC Congessional staffers were trying to head to DC this morning for work via Amtrak and it is Inauguratuion day. Not a good look. 

Having lived through several icing events in Tidewater Virginia over my decade of living there, I can tell you that ice can be the real problem.  Twice we were without power for 7+ days. That takes a toll on signals and crossing protection in 24 hours or less of an outage, which has a ripple effect. Every home signal, every crossing requiring a stop and proceed. Then, crews die on hours of service but replacements can't be moved in place because roadways are also effected.  The whole mess grinds to a halt, leaving trains and passengers stranded far from destination and often far from any accommodations. 

I also note that it was  not just the rail industry that cancelled service for this storm - airlines did so also, by the thousands, while several major airports closed.


 

GPutz Wrote:
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> Would the Swiss do this?  My wife and I are
> ticketed on an Acela Boston to WDC on Tuesday.  I
> hope they're running by then.  Gerry

The Swiss Railways DO run in heavy snow, although at times they may be a few minutes late.  Happened to me 30 years ago.
Visited the Swiss supercomputing centre in Lugano.  Left late afternoon in a raging snowstorm.  My driver missed my 
connecting train to Zurich due to the heavy, wet snow slowing road traffic; so I caught the next train about 30 minutes later.

Hakk