Passenger Trains > Train #48 (24) Lake Shore Limited - 6+ Hour Late Departure

Amtrak's reporting that the Lake Shore Limited #48 (24) has departed Chicago 6 hours late. Normal departure is 9:30 pm, and supposedly it departed Chicago at 4:30 am. But it's hard to tell if that's right or not, cause the train is not on the train tracking system. It started with Mechanical issues and then a new locomotive had to be added etc. Daylight running across the Midwest and overnight across NY State. I wonder if they will still hold the train for an hour at Albany-Renssalear for it's normal one-hour scheduled stop after the Boston section is removed. They need to just stop and go all the way through to NYC. Or maybe it'd be nice if they let these poor people stay on the train in NYC (if in sleeper class) to 6 am on a Sunday morning. Should be interesting to track if the train did finally get out of Chicago! This is the BEST we can offer in American Passenger Railroading these days!!! 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/25 03:04 by jp1822.

The LATE Shore Limited...

6:32 am arrival at Elkhart IN, exactly 6 hours late. Same thing happened the previous evening,
only difference they had a crew change at South Bend making a 7:30 am arrival at Elkhart.
 

I don't know if this was the trip, but one day this week, a very late inbound Floridian became the outbound Lake Shore and vice versa. They moved the Boston cars from one train set to the other. 

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't know if this was the trip, but one day
> this week, a very late inbound Floridian became
> the outbound Lake Shore and vice versa. They moved
> the Boston cars from one train set to the other. 

That was yesterday. This is day two of super lateness for 48. 40 was only an hour and 1/2 late into Chicago yesterday so I doubt they did a switcheroo yesterday. 

You know, reading about these chronic and severe delays out of Chicago along with all the chronic cancellations that have affected Amtrak trains nationwide, I feel like a patient who has just been given a terminal disease diagnosis and all I can do is accept it.  Things have deteriorated so much. For example, over the past 365 days, Train #1 the Sunset Limited has been cancelled (for various reasons) between New Orleans & San Antonio 14 times.  Yesterday, the eastbound Sunset Limited was terminated at San Antonio - in 40 degree, dry weather!

Amtrak is so crippled, so depleted in its reserves and spread so thin that it is on a downward spiral that will only mean more and more delays and service failures.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

You're not, it used to be better than this!

Posted from Android

Were passengers allowed to board well before the Late Departure?
Being in your sleeper during the delay should be an option.

Spongebob-Trainguy Wrote:
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> Were passengers allowed to board well before the
> Late Departure?
> Being in your sleeper during the delay should be
> an option.

That's no fun in the yard on a train in pieces with no HEP.... 

sethamtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Spongebob-Trainguy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Were passengers allowed to board well before
> the
> > Late Departure?
> > Being in your sleeper during the delay should
> be
> > an option.
>
> That's no fun in the yard on a train in pieces
> with no HEP.... 

There should be hotelling power in the station. Two rather recent examples come to mind:

I forget when it exactly was, but Amtrak backed in two Superliner Sleepers and put passengers up in them rather than sending them to hotels. I think it was during Boardman's term before the Empire Builder schedule was adjusted for the Bakken Oil Field Rush that just clogged the Hi Line till BNSF got more capacity added. Then there was a year where the Empire Builder's schedule was lengthened temporarily AND a SIXTH train set operated - TEMPORARILY.

Moreover, when Rosenwald convinced Amtrak to bring the Heritage Diners back to the Lake Shore Limited (biefly circa 2010), as a "celebration of their return" so to speak, sleeper car passengers were invited to a pre-boarding out of Chicago. 

I'm wondering if all these operational problems are from lack of ability of current Amtrak management, or did Anderson do so much damage during the pandemic that a full fix will take many years, or is a fix of any kind is even still possible.  and I'm just thinking of cars, not Chargers.  I'm still not understanding why America can't have passenger railcars where toilets don't freeze.  How in the world does that not get designed in for at least 30 below and why can't it be done?

I have said it before, and I will say it again...All of top management needs to go.  Clean out DC.  Pack your boxes.  Then do the same at Chicago maintenance. 

The ineptitude that we are seeing is, quite frankly, unbelievable.  Consider that Amtrak probably cut back on maintenance on the old Acelas due to the arrival of the new trainsets.  Oops.  Now that is catching up as failures mount.

This company is a clown car.  Honestly.

Where is 48 of the 24th presently  { sorry to go back to the topic] ??

It left Chicago nearly 6 hours late on Friday, Jan 24th, and arrived into New York City 4 hours late - Arrived into NYP at 10:38 pm on Jan 25th. So it made up 2 hours of time in the journey!  Not bad!

IMHO , Amtrak top mgmt. is intentially killing off LD service with their decisions for third world level time keeping and maintenance . Then they can go to Congress and plead low ridership numbers to end most LD trains unless a train has powerful support from the states it serves . 
What will happen when the Trump cost cutters take a close look at Amtrak ?
Nothing at Amtrak will get better until Coscia and Gardner are relieved of their positions and new leaders with RR work experience are at the helm . 

UP951West Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> IMHO , Amtrak top mgmt. is intentially killing off
> LD service with their decisions for third world
> level time keeping and maintenance . Then they can
> go to Congress and plead low ridership numbers to
> end most LD trains unless a train has powerful
> support from the states it serves . 
> What will happen when the Trump cost cutters take
> a close look at Amtrak ?
> Nothing at Amtrak will get better until Coscia and
> Gardner are relieved of their positions and new
> leaders with RR work experience are at the helm
> . 

Have often thought the same belief since Boardman left, and that the LD equipment design plans etc. are just being done as a "make nice" to "go with the flow." There's just been SO MUCH in repairs, maintenance, upkeep, service, etc. that's been delayed with LD equipment. The refresh program for the Viewliners is a joke - this should have been done by now in a more aggressive fashion. Management is not thinking outside the box on how to overcome their challenges - as was the case in say the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000's.  

jp1822 -thank you for the arrival time at New York.