Passenger Trains > City of New Orleans schedule change

I received a new tickets from Amtrak yesterday for my New Orleans - MSP trip at the end of March.
The new tickets were for 2 coach tickets on the Builder instead of 2 business class seats on the Borialas for my wife and I.
No explanation was given.
I found out on my own that the City of NOL arrives at 10:15 in Chicago then instead of 9:15 am, to close to the departure time of the 11:05 Borialas.
Also the southbound the City of NOL will be running an hour later leaving Chicago at 9:05pm
Does anybody know the reason for the schedule changes?

Posted from Android

Possibly later departure from NoLa for a CN work window somewhere.

Less than an hour between trains in Chicago breaks the permitted connection to 1333.

Wtih Amtrak you can never dimiss the worst reasons for its actions, but this will result in more reasonable times at Memphis.

At least, in the case of the Chicago-Twin Cities route, there are still pretty reliable connections to and from the Empire Builder.  I do wish Amtrak would say something about the reasons for the change and whether or not it is permanent.  That seems like obviously-needed information to me.

Hopefully it is temporary, as this breaks inter-connectivity between Amtrak trains with later departures and later arrivals. We are already dealing with a limited passenger rail system in the United States, so to break "same-day" connections - not good! VIA Rail did this with the Hudson Bay train (connecting with the Canadian) and the Skeena (train to Prince Rupert - sorry) with the Canadian and ended up hurting overall. Retirees may have time to "spend another day," but others on a limited vacation schedule can't do that. I get that there can be mis-connects, but plan for a connection. The late eastbound Canadian used to make a special meet-up to exchange passengers with the westbound Skeena before it split from the main CN-line (west of Jasper) that branched off to Prince Rupert. Just saying. Hard to make an Amtrak example, other than the fact that the Empire Builder would be a LOT better off it would leave Chicago earlier westbound and arrive earlier into Chicago eastbound. Can't believe Amtrak did this ridiculous scheduling change that narrowed its connectivity at Chicago and led to shorter turn-around times on at Seattle/Portland on the west coast.........

Of the two times I took VIA Rail's Enterprise into Montreal in the 2000's, arriving Montreal both times 40 minutes late, a mile outside of Central Station, the Quebec remote train was coming out. It did not wait. I suppose there were no connecting passengers, and probably were glad they're weren't any. Maybe if they marketed that itinerary, it might have added a couple of fannies to the Enterprise and the Jonquiere/Senneterre trains, like with people from Brockville and Cornwall heading north.

kbehling Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I found out on my own that the City of NOL arrives
> at 10:15 in Chicago then instead of 9:15 am, to
> close to the departure time of the 11:05
> Borialas.

That is actually backwards.  Both 58 and 59 will be running two hours earlier due to a C.N. track program.  This will make the departure of 59 at 6:05pm rather than 8:05pm, and making a connection with the Borialas impossible.  This is temporary, with the schedule reverting to normal when C.N. wraps up whatever work it has in mind,

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Thanks for clarifying!


MaryMcPherson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kbehling Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I found out on my own that the City of NOL
> arrives
> > at 10:15 in Chicago then instead of 9:15 am, to
> > close to the departure time of the 11:05
> > Borialas.
>
> That is actually backwards.  Both 58 and 59 will
> be running two hours earlier due to a C.N. track
> program.  This will make the departure of 59 at
> 6:05pm rather than 8:05pm, and making a connection
> with the Borialas impossible.  This is temporary,
> with the schedule reverting to normal when C.N.
> wraps up whatever work it has in mind,

Example of a CUS connecton when the parents of Boomers ran things.

I know, I know, multiple reasons why it couldn't be done today

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,5962096,5962175#msg-5962175

My ticket for March 27 says 9:05 departure from Chicago

Posted from Android

kbehling Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My ticket for March 27 says 9:05 departure from
> Chicago
>
> Posted from Android

It's possible that there is a second planned schedule shift after the first that would explain that.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions