Passenger Trains > Passengers on Today's Eagle in bad trouble

Train 22, Texas Eagle of 3-8 (Saturday) was delayed 5+ hours in Dallas (frt train interference)
and is now stopped at Poplar Bluff, Mo. due to broken rail ahead.

That broken rail situation is a very bad situation, I fear. (will probably require all day to fix)

I wonder how Amtrak will handle these unfortunate passengers.
 

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Train 22, Texas Eagle of 3-8 (Saturday) was
> delayed 5+ hours in Dallas (frt train
> interference)
> and is now stopped at Poplar Bluff, Mo. due to
> broken rail ahead.
>
> That broken rail situation is a very bad
> situation, I fear. (will probably require all day
> to fix)
>
> I wonder how Amtrak will handle these unfortunate
> passengers.

Why would it take all day to fix a broken rail?

Train moving north again as of 10:00 am CDT.  UP Z train issue caught them for about 4 1/2 hours in east Dallas yesterday.

On anther note, the work window shutdown of Eagle service south of St. Louis, set for March 20th, has been modified.  While I have no specifics, the train is back in inventory for sale, but coach only on work days.  This indicates that the train will operate south from St. Louis on work days, but going only so far as one of these possibilities, Little Rock, Texarkana, Marshall, Longview???  Perhaps poster 'SunsetLmt', who always offers reliable information, might have knowledge.

On a THIRD note, the locomotive #61 that failed in Marshall last week was returned to Chicago with repair attempts to no avail in Fort Worth.  One of the locomotives from the Heartland Flyer was used to move the train back north, with #61 trailing.  The UP rescue locomotive that towed the train from Marshall to Fort Worth was used on the north end of the Flyer, a push-pull operation from Fort Worth to Oklahoma City.  Amtrak has been unable to provide a replacement engine for the last five days, so the UP locomotive is still in use on the Flyer, limiting northbound speeds to 70 MPH or so.  UP locomotive on an Amtrak train, that operates over the BNSF!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/25 08:43 by regalstream1516.

As of Tuesday, Amtrak has put together a bus bridge between Marshall and Fort Worth. So the trains WILL RUN as far as Marshall on work days. Bus ride is roughly 2'45" (or about 25 more mins than the bridge last year). The loss however though is 421/422, which will be canceled during the work windows (imbalance of equipment, for example a set trapped on the southern leg may not be on thru day or vice versa). They're looking to make everyone connect to 1/2 at San Antonio manually which going west isn't rough (Sunset usually is into San Antonio early). Going east, only the brave early birds will enjoy the 4am wake up and transfer to station and the back to train in the pre-dawn hours. They want to run a Coach only service SAS-FTW on work days. 




regalstream1516 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Train moving north again as of 10:00 am CDT.  UP
> Z train issue caught them for about 4 1/2 hours in
> east Dallas yesterday.
>
> On anther note, the work window shutdown of Eagle
> service south of St. Louis, set for March 20th,
> has been modified.  While I have no specifics,
> the train is back in inventory for sale, but coach
> only on work days.  This indicates that the train
> will operate south from St. Louis on work days,
> but going only so far as one of these
> possibilities, Little Rock, Texarkana, Marshall,
> Longview???  Perhaps poster 'SunsetLmt', who
> always offers reliable information, might have
> knowledge.
>
> On a THIRD note, the locomotive #61 that failed in
> Marshall last week was returned to Chicago with
> repair attempts to no avail in Fort Worth.  One
> of the locomotives from the Heartland Flyer was
> used to move the train back north, with #61
> trailing.  The UP rescue locomotive that towed
> the train from Marshall to Fort Worth was used on
> the north end of the Flyer, a push-pull operation
> from Fort Worth to Oklahoma City.  Amtrak has
> been unable to provide a replacement engine for
> the last five days, so the UP locomotive is still
> in use on the Flyer, limiting northbound speeds to
> 70 MPH or so.  UP locomotive on an Amtrak train,
> that operates over the BNSF!

Well, I still don't see doodle squat about this interruption of service in the ALERTS portion of Amtrak's web page.  Has the work window duration changed since last announced on TO?  

PS -I saw #22 plow through Austin on Friday night and it did have a superliner sightseer lounge(SSL) in consist.  It "appeared" to me that the snack bar on the cross country cafe was still operational as opposed to the lower level cafe on the SSL.  Well with coach only service between SAS-FTW at least we still have passenger service.  It will be interesting to see how good the time keeping is once the bustitution takes effect.
 

DutchDragon

Things like this sometimes take a long time to fix--but, not always.

It depends if the broken rail happened in an isolated area --not close
to a maintenance base.

Also, because it's a Sunday -- a full MOW crew might not be available, or
close by.  And, it's possible the Eagle's crew may run out of time.

As a railfan, I'm sure you know this--right?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/25 12:46 by ronald321.

A broke rail doesnt take long to temp fix. All thats needed is the cold weather patrol of 2 guys to burn a couple snakes get the rail to run back together drill n bar.  The actual change out can wait once its got a pair of joint bars on it. 

Not a foamer. Class 1 TE turned short line TE

Ordinary break yes, compound fracture, no.

NSDTK Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A broke rail doesnt take long to temp fix. All
> thats needed is the cold weather patrol of 2 guys
> to burn a couple snakes get the rail to run back
> together drill n bar.  The actual change out can
> wait once its got a pair of joint bars on it. 
>
> Not a foamer. Class 1 TE turned short line TE

Total delay wound up to be 5 hours, 53 minutes at Chicago.

A horrible delay---but, it could have been worse, considering
all the reasons for delay--i.e., frt. train interference, broken rail, signal failure.

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Total delay wound up to be 5 hours, 53 minutes at
> Chicago.

So your original doom and gloom post turned out to be not quite so doom and gloomy.

I'm glad it did not take an entire day to fix a broken rail as you feared.

I have never seen one take "all day" to replace.  Even ones that are in a road crossing.

Sometimes you get lucky, and dodge a bullet.  I'm happy
for these unfortunate, but lucky,  folks.

If you want a little Doom & Gloom (I sure Don't),, check out
the Empire Builder arrival Chicago on the same day--8 hours late.
(or the CZ of 3-8--- 10 hours, 40 minutes late so far).

Shameful some trainfans love to criticize their fellow fans--shameful.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/25 09:23 by ronald321.

Some forgwt their Midol in the morning.

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sometimes you get lucky, and dodge a bullet.  I'm
> happy
> for these unfortunate, but lucky,  folks.
>
> If you want a little Doom & Gloom (I sure Don't),,
> check out
> the Empire Builder arrival Chicago on the same
> day--8 hours late.
> (or the CZ of 3-8--- 10 hours, 40 minutes late so
> far).
>
> Shameful some trainfans love to criticize their
> fellow fans--shameful.

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sometimes you get lucky, and dodge a bullet.  I'm
> happy
> for these unfortunate, but lucky,  folks.
>
> If you want a little Doom & Gloom (I sure Don't),,
> check out
> the Empire Builder arrival Chicago on the same
> day--8 hours late.
> (or the CZ of 3-8--- 10 hours, 40 minutes late so
> far).
>
> Shameful some trainfans love to criticize their
> fellow fans--shameful.

Doesn't seem to stop you.

Typhoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have never seen one take "all day" to replace.
>  Even ones that are in a road crossing.

crews are pretty good at it,happens all the time, sometimes they can walk trains over it, and even when they are off they rally get there pretty quick and all


Amtrak is looking for a bus bridge  operator for the upcoming work;

Requesting Letter of Interest (LOI) and Statement of Qualification(SOQ) with quotes for Invitation For Bid (IFB)- Texas Eagle Bus Bridge Service from March 21, 2025, through June 11, 2025 for a total of 46 days of service. 4 ADA equipped motorcoaches required for bus in lieu of train service between Marshall, TX and Fort Forth, TX. LOI/SOQ with quote due by 2pm EST 3/17/25, no exceptions. Reach out to Contracting Official for packet no later than 3/14/25, heather.van.winkle@amtrak.com

PHall

Were you the one who told me, a few years ago, that  I
should "stay home if I don't like delays" like this?

Can't  remember exactly--because attacking fellow fans is shameful,
and I forget who said it as soon as possible.

I know I would never walk up to one of CZ passengers today and say--- 
"if you don't like a 10 hour delay--just stay home".

 

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall
>
> Were you the one who told me, a few years ago,
> that  I
> should "stay home if I don't like delays" like
> this?
>
> Can't  remember exactly--because attacking fellow
> fans is shameful,
> and I forget who said it as soon as possible.
>
> I know I would never walk up to one of CZ
> passengers today and say--- 
> "if you don't like a 10 hour delay--just stay
> home".
>
>  

Yes I told you that and it was this year. Mostly because your tune never, ever changes.

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DutchDragon
>
> Things like this sometimes take a long time to
> fix--but, not always.
>
> It depends if the broken rail happened in an
> isolated area --not close
> to a maintenance base.
>
> Also, because it's a Sunday -- a full MOW crew
> might not be available, or
> close by.  And, it's possible the Eagle's crew
> may run out of time.
>
> As a railfan, I'm sure you know this--right?

Yeah a railfan who assumes each Amtrak train that has a major delay has passengers suffering all the time which isn't true all the time!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/25 16:32 by ProAmtrak.

realize some anxious people are  poor candidates for amtrak western travel, or even flying