Passenger Trains > Train 40 out of Washington DC - On-Time History - History TODAY!

So, today Amtrak Train 40 (6) made HISTORY! It departed on-time at 4:05 pm from Washington DC to Chicago. That was ONLY the 15th time this ENTIRE year that it left ON-TIME!!!!! Hooray! And I am using a strict on-time departure measurement. On-time is per the schedule.

The average delay departure of the Floridan from Washington DC to Chicago you ask for the year-to-date???? Nearly 2 hours of delay - 1 hour and 46 minutes average delay in departing Washington DC!!!!  Just REALLY SAD!!!!!! Amtrak has destroyed the goodwill and all the good faith it had created out of the Capitol Limited "product line." Each train should be treated as a unique product line, but Amtrak doesn't view it that way. Instead the LD trains (and Midwest Amtrak Corridor Trains) are the evil black sheep step children of the family. It's the Amtrak C-Suite management that now has to turn this around to be successful. It's a political thing, more than ANYTHING else!!!!!

If this continues, Amtrak really needs to consider restoring the Silver Star so that it turns at Washington DC and has a connecting train (from a dedicated NEC Regional) - IF this train's journey to NYC i(e.g. East River Tunnel construction) is truly the absolute core reason it can no longer get to Sunnyside Yard. Still a hard pill to swallow that this is the reason..... Take this behind the barn and separate the Silver Star from the Capitol Limited - restore the Capitol Limited to single level train set between Washington DC and Chicago.

As much as I believed this experiment "should have worked" Amtrak is ALSO sandbagging equipment that it could use to divorce out the Capitol Limited and Silver Star with their own dedicated single level eastern LD train sets. And as a single level train set - the Capitol Limited STILL needs three Viewliner Sleepers. Word is getting around for passengers to avoid the Floridian for certain points of travel due to its stats. Heard it in Chicago Union Station last week among travellers. 

If Amtrak has reduced the Silver Meteor train sets required for service - as appears to be true based on positioning of equipment that's been seen lately, then Amtrak has an extra "unassigned" full LD Eastern Single Level train set it could put into service. Truncating the Silver Star at Washington DC doesn't change the four train sets it would require, as when it ran as a separate train. 

Here's my questions:

- How does Amtrak Management stomach the operation of this train that is chronically late and driving the Train Ops department absolutely NUTS (e.g. coordinating any change/service plans, coordinating onboard service crews, coordinating the "dog catch crews for late trains, etc.)!!!! It's a daily embarrassment!!!

- How does Amtrak Management stomach letting passengers sit at stations for hours on end waiting for a "delayed train," ESPECIALLY at Pittsburgh where most of the time passengers are boarding not on-time (as was common with Capitol Limited), but in the early next day morning hours - as connecting passengers to/from the Pennsylvanian. And if they miss the window of opportunity for the westbound Pennsylvanian, Amtrak has to bus and find alternate transportation for the mostly Amish community. 

This is a complete inconvenience - for passengers, Amtrak Management, etc. But guess what??? Amtrak C-Suite Executives apparently doesn't care about the front lines employees trying to operate this train and how it is affecting demand/supply models, passengers, etc.  

Just beyond crazy at this point. IT IS NOT WORKING. What are the other options, and yes, there HAVE to be other options??? I challenge my staff EVERY DAY when dealing with problems in the financial and operational world - give me at least your THREE solutions and the pros/cons of each solution so we can evaluate as a TEAM. And I'll listen to the facilities coordinator to the operational folks, while balancing that with finance, before I THEN go deal with the fellow executives of the company. Different people and companies surely have different problem solving skills. Amtrak's problem solving skills - as it appears on the outside - is an absolute train wreck, no pun in intended!!! 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/25 14:25 by jp1822.

Hate to ruin whatever this is-but the only reason the train left ontime is because it skipped half the stations and ran the faster A line through NC/SC due to flooding. This isnt a real train 40. It arrived early into Selma and had to sit there waiting on time cause again, it skipped a bunch of stops and ran a diferent route. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/25 14:27 by Amtrak-P42.

It is probably regarded at amtrak as working according to plan.
If it was not according to plan amtrak would change it.
I think it No 40 should work through Chicago as No. 7.

R.R. Young once complained that pigs could move through Chicago without
changing trains but people couldn't.  Perhaps amtrak could make a rolling pigpen
move through Chicago.

Amtrak-P42 Wrote:
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> Hate to ruin whatever this is-but the only reason
> the train left ontime is because it skipped half
> the stations and ran the faster A line through
> NC/SC due to flooding. This isnt a real train 40.
> It arrived early into Selma and had to sit there
> waiting on time cause again, it skipped a bunch of
> stops and ran a diferent route. 

Very well aware that it skipped a bunch of stops and had to run on the fast A-Line. Fact still remains - it ran on-time out of Washington DC at 4:05 pm departure. Lucky Amtrak continued the train on up the A-Line and into Washington DC to head to Chicago. 

Well written information on this disaster. Amtrak needs to publicly recognize this challenge and do something about it.

Your solutions seem to be reasonable. I wonder if the C-Suite can come up with a solution better than yours?

Pretending there isn’t a problem is not the solution

Where is RPA? NARP?

Posted from iPhone

Demand destruction?

Certainly a likely result.   amtrak has managed Florida service so well that ridership is a fraction of what it had been last century and the trains are short enough to operate model son a small layout.       
 

I agree with everything you have said.  Additionally, as a purest, I hate that they use an odd number Eastbound!
And to make it more annoying, it's the Broadway Ltd's old number!  I hate that they call it the Floridian too!

mp51w Wrote:
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 > Additionally, as a purest, I hate that they use an
> odd number Eastbound!

To sooth you purist heart a little, CSXT does not refer to train as 40 or 41.   Chicago-Miami is P030 into DC, P091 out of DC, and Miami-Chicago is P092 into DC and P029 out of DC.  Small consulation, but its something. 

BrynMawr Wrote:
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> Certainly a likely result.   amtrak has managed
> Florida service so well that ridership is a
> fraction of what it had been last century and the
> trains are short enough to operate model son a
> small layout.       
>

The east coast isn't the only prize winner in Amtrak's wonderful philosophy.  The Coast Starlight, on what is one of the most scenic routes in the country, is a shell of its former self. There is so much travel business and revenue out there that they are just leaving behind.

mp51w Wrote:
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> Additionally, as a purest, I hate that they use an odd number Eastbound!

It's a north/south train, not an east/west train. Chicago to Florida certainly isn't east.

> And to make it more annoying, it's the Broadway Ltd's old number!

What would you have them number it ? 40/41 falls right in line with how their trains are numbered (not unlike the Interstate system- for example, I-10 is way down south, I-90 is way up north). They don't retire train numbers aka like a baseball players jersey number lol.

> I hate that they call it the Floridian too!

I've been around long enough to remember the original Floridian, and I'm ok with that name. It's not the Capitol or the Silver Star.

Roger Durfee
Cuyahoga Falls, OH

irhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BrynMawr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Certainly a likely result.   amtrak has
> managed
> > Florida service so well that ridership is a
> > fraction of what it had been last century and
> the
> > trains are short enough to operate model son a
> > small layout.       
> >
>
> The east coast isn't the only prize winner in
> Amtrak's wonderful philosophy.  The Coast
> Starlight, on what is one of the most scenic
> routes in the country, is a shell of its former
> self. There is so much travel business and revenue
> out there that they are just leaving behind.

Oh, that's a tragic thread of discussion all to its own. The capacity reduction for that train and the loss of a great "branded product line" is, well, a complete Amtrak tragedy.