Passenger Trains > Mechanical and More 6/28/26 - 7/3/26

The following information was obtained through a FOIA/open records request. I do not work for Amtrak. I apologize for any spelling errors. 

41(27) was delayed in Deerfield Beach, FL due to a smoldering fire underneath coach 25024. The crews attempts to put the fire out were unsuccessful. The local fire department was called to handle the fire. The coach was evacuated and HEP was dropped while the firefighters worked under the car. 1 hour and 8 minute late.

41(27) with engines 326, 339 and 10 cars was delayed S of Winter Haven, FL due to the cafe car door on 28024 not closing. It was determined that the car would have to be switched out and placed onto the rear of the train. 3 hours and 22 min delay.

370(29) with engine 4601, 4 cars and 155 customers was stopped 37 miles W of St. Joseph, MI due to engine 5601 shutting down and losing HEP. The crew worked with CNOC mechanical to restart the engine and restore HEP. Due to a loss of confidence in engine 4601 after the I/O fault, 370 was terminated on the spot and three buses were secured. The equipment ran deadhead to Grand Rapids. 371(30) was cancelled with bus 1 Grand Rapids to Chicago, bus 2 between Holland, Bangor and Chicago, and bus 3 made all stops.

4(29) with engines 76, 199 and 9 cars was delayed out of LA due to toilet issues in car 34031. Once the issue was resolved, 99 customers boarded. 36 min delay.

8(28) with engines 169, 5, 9 cars and 213 customers was delayed 15 miles E of Minot due to striking a tree. Both ditch lights on lead engine 169 were damaged. The crew was able to recover the air and then swapped the ditch lights out with the two from the trailing engine 5. Once the swap was completed, 8 was back on the move with a 1 hour and 27 minute delay.

48(29) with engines 374, 122, 11 cars and 255 customers was delayed out of Chicago due to the late bad order of coaches 25087 and 25103 at 5:45pm central resulting in the train being 64 passengers over capacity. Multiple notifications were sent to customers in order to accommodate the,. Union Station was notified to make PA announcements and reaccommodate those at the station. The reservation call center was notified to contact customers directly and reaccommodate them. 31 customers did not respond to Amtrak’s direct attempts to reach them, station PA announcements or system notifications and boarded 48. These customers had to detrain an be reaccommodated before departure. 48 minute delay.

7(29) with engines 346, 353, 10 cars and 247 customers was delayed out of Chicago due to a late train make-up after sleeper 32041 was bad ordered at 12:35pm for HVAC issues. 32041 was cut and replaced with sleeper 32048 and the train was all made up at 2:10pm. 7 was further delayed by mechanical dressing a bad brake light indicator on lounge 33030. 53 min delay.

774(29) with 92 customers was delayed 30 miles N of Goleta, CA due to cab car 6907 and engine 2122 going into penalty. It was determined that the event recorder tripped and needed time to reset before resuming normal operations. 48 min delay. 785 was delayed out of San Diego due to a late arrival of equipment. 790 was delayed out of LA due to waiting for the crew from 785.

505(29) with 95 customers was was cancelled entirely due to a faulty sensor that could not be replaced by the scheduled departure time. 518 was cancelled Portland to Seattle allowing technicians time to make repairs. 518 then originated in Seattle.

365(29) with engine 58, 6 cars, engine 4616 and 205 customers was delayed just W of Battle Creek, MI due to engine 58 with ITCS issues, no mode light and the train was held to restricting to MP 131. The train then proceeded with ITCS cut out and were restricted to 59mph max. 41 min delay. 350(29) with 227 customers was delayed 2 miles E of Kalamazoo due to a bad meet with 365 causing a 1 hour delay. 48 min delay to 365 running 59mph.

521(29) with engine 2103 and 5 customers onboard was delayed at Oakland due to the engine losing HEP. TASI mechanical responded and was able to rectify the issue. 38 min delay. 10 min delay 10 min delay.

175(30) with engine 658 with 9 cars and 350 customers onboard was delayed in Boston Back Bay station due to losing HEP upon arrival. The crew was working with the road foreman and they planned to short loop the engine. The crew was not able to fix the engine and reversed back into the station where mechanical met the train.

684(30) with engine 123, 5 cars and 0224 with 140 customers onboard was delayed at Haverhill, MA due to engine 123 overheating. The crew was trouble shooting and checking water levels. The train maintained HEP. The crew was able to reset the engine. The train proceeded to Boston North station. Upon arrival, the equipment was doubled up with 687 and 685 was cancelled.

2159(30) and 2162(30) were cancelled due to next gen set 22 being bad ordered for hunting/truck issues. 2119(30) with next gen set 11 was bad ordered upon arrival into DC. This caused 2124(30) to be cancelled.

587(30) with cab car 6905, 5 cars and engine 313 with 129 customers onboard was stopped at San Clemente Pier, CA due to traction issues. While HEP remained operational, the locomotive’s fault was determined to be unrecoverable. 584 was assigned to rescue 587 and the double set operated to LA. The 587 customers were transferred to 786 for continued travel to San Diego. 593 was cancelled with customers to 595. Other trains experienced delays due to congestion with delays of up to 1 hour and 21 minutes.

22(30) - 422(28) with engines 57, 25, 9 cars and 208 customers was delayed 10 miles E of Mineral, TX due to striking an empty chemical truck. The strike occurred at a private crossing equipped with crossbuck signage. The strike was not a fatality. No injuries to passengers or crew reported. Damage was reported to the ditch lights and UP mechanical made repairs to the ditch lights. Local police, Amtrak RFE and UP corridor manager along with UP mechanical responded. A pregnant woman was removed by EMS after complaining of abdominal pain. Another customer who was a diabetic was also removed by EMS. Once the scene was released, the train advanced one mile to Fade siding to await a redrew. The recrew went O/D at 20:50 at Fort Worth. Once the crew arrived, the train met UP trains MMNMX-30 and ISHEGR-30 before departing Fada siding. 6 hour and 40 min delay.

20(30) with engines 341, 350, 8 cars and 94 customers struck a vehicle 10 miles S of Birmingham, AL. The strike was a fatality. It occurred at a highway crossing equipment with advanced warning signs, pavement markings and over traffic flashing lights. No injures to crew or passengers reported. Local police, NS management, and an Amtrak RFE responded to the scene. The train had minor plow damage. The crew was able to shove the train back to free the equipment from the vehicle which was then pulled into the clear by a wrecker. Once the police released the scene, 20 departed for Birmingham for a recrew who went O/D at 19:45 in Meridian, MS. 3 hours and 55 min delay, as well as a 1 hour and 30 min delay for recrew.

516(30) led by WS 1407 and carrying 220 customers came to a stop 13 miles E of Everett, WA due to throttle related issues. The crew reported master controller fault 1583 to both Seattle mechanical and CNOC mechanical. The crew adjusted the MU cable between the engine and first coach which cleared the fault. 33 min delay.

534(30) with cab car 8306, 4 cars and engine 2002 with 46 customers onboard was delayed E of Fairfield, CA after engine 2002 shut down losing propulsion but maintained HEP. The crew worked with mechanical to perform a reset on engine 2002 which restored tractive effort. 40 min delay.

97(01) with engines 206, 368, 12 cars and 280 customers was delayed by 1 hour and 14 mins in Washington, DC due to waiting on diesels formulate train 178 and 138.

19(01) with engines 37, 151, 8 cars and 209 customers was delayed by 2 hours and 11 mins in Washington, DC due to waiting for diesels off late train 80.

40(30) with engines 326, 339, 12 cars and 177 customers was delayed in Washington, DC due to engine 326 having bad cab signals. The engines were switched so that 330 was now in the lead. 1 hour and 26 min delay.

2120(01) with 190 customers inboard was stopped 6 miles N of BWI airport due to a broken pantograph that was not secured. The train maintained HEP. The train was terminated where it stood. A train masters was onboard. Customer were transferred to to 2124. Mechanical responded and secured the pantograph. 45 min delay to 2124.

63(01) with engine 108, 5 cars and 120 customers was delayed in Niagara Falls due to mechanical meting the train t blow out the condensers on cars 82660 and 82688. 41 min delay.

2112(01) with legacy Acela set 17 was delayed due to a pantograph alarm requiring the crew to reconfigure the pantographs and operate with the pans raised on the rear power car. At Wilmington, electrical techs found pantograph damage requiring the train to be terminated in Wilmington. Customers were transferred to trains 2158 ad 134 for continued travel. 2112 and 2123 were then cancelled. 41 min delay to 134.

97(01) with engine 643, 12 cars and 152 customers was delayed out of New York due to needing 4 coaches, a diner and a sleeper off inbound 98(30). Once the equipment was made up and serviced, 152 customers boarded and departed 1 hour and 17 mins late.

391(01) with engine 375 with 7 cars was delayed 6 miles S of Mattoon, IL due to PTC issues on engine 375. After resetting the breaker, the train was on the move after a 39 min delay.

1333(01) with engine 29, 3 cars and engine 171 with 180 customers was delayed out of Chicago due to car 34024 being bad ordered for inoperative toilets. Car 34091 was added off the yard to the east end of the consist as a replacement. 1 hour and 13 min delay out of Chicago.

23(01) with engine 507, 3 cars and engine 82 with 90 customers was delayed departing Mobile, AL due to PTC issues on engine 507.The crew contacted mechanical and a RFE was enroute. After numerous troubleshooting attempts, the issue was unresolved. The train departed mobile with engine 82 shoving and 507 dead in tow and proceeded to MP 679 to wye the train. The train continues to New Orleans with 82 in the lead. The train was delayed at Orange Grove by a short time train X606 and 24(01). 1 hour and 40 min delay, 1 hour and 40 min delay to wye the train then 34 min delay due to two meets.

239(02) with engine 708, 5 cars, engine 111 and 285 customers was delayed out of New York by 59 mins due to 290 arriving with ACSES issues which required the train to be looped. 239 ended up using 280’s equipment that was being serviced in the yard to minimize delays. 241 was delayed 49 mins while 290’s train was looped.

49(02) with engines 701, 9707, 712, 9 cars and 200 customers was stopped 5 miles N of Croton-Harmon, NY due to losing HEP. Metro North mechanical responded to the train. The problem was with the train line. The train was short lopped behind engine 701and behind the baggage car. 48 min delay.

20(01) with engine 628, 8 cars and189 customers was delayed in Washington, DC during the routine engine swap on account of 628 being bad ordered and replaced with 628. 35 min delay.

97(02) with engine 635, 12 cars and 200 customers was delayed out of New York due to needing 1 coach and a diner off 50(30) to fulfill the consist plan. Once the trains made up, it proceeded to Penn Station where the customers boarded and departed 1 hour and 5 mins late. 97(02) departed New York with dining car 68012 having no power or refrigeration.

178(02) with engine 107, 9 cars, 115 customers was delayed 3 mile S of Lynchburg, VA due to loss of HEP and train line issues. The crew ran 3 more miles into the Lynchburg station to work the issue for customer safety. The crew was able to short loop the engine and complete the train line which restored HEP. 35 min delay.

40(01) with engines 305, 316, 10 cars and 197 customers onboard was delayed 8 miles S of Hamlet, NC due to engine 305 experiencing an I/O station 45 fault. CNOC mechanical advised the crew to advance to Hamlet and recycle the engine while doing the crew change. Trail engine 316 was used for HEP. At Hamlet the crews were able to to clear the stored faults which restored tractive power. After departing Hamlet the same fault returned. Engine 305 was then set up as a control stand with 316 for traction and HEP. At Raleigh, a RFE assisted the crews with replacing the COMM and MU cables in a troubleshooting attempt. 3 hour cumulative delay.

685(02) with engine 87, 5 cars and 219 customers bad ordered car 82698 for HVAC in Boston which created overcapacity conditions. 1 express bus was secured Boston to Portland. 680, 681, 686 and687 were all reduced by 1 car for capacity.

19(01) with engine 37, 151, 8 coaches and 161 customers was delayed 14 miles E of Meridian, MS due to performing a daily inspection which had to be completed by midnight. The crew stopped at Smith siding do perform an inspection on the 2 locomotives.

719(02) with engine 2009 was stopped near Fresno, CA Calwa yard where the train was met by a fuel truck. The train departed Bakersfield with 657 gallons of fuel. The pump on the fuel truck was very slow. 51 minute delay.

48(02) with engines 374, 122, 11 coaches and 320 customers experienced an HVAC failure on the B-end of coach 25083. The inventory was reduced by half and the train was over capacity. A bus was sourced that ran express to Cleveland.

41(02) was delayed out of Chicago due to late arriving inbound equipment. 41(02) was set in the yard at 2:39pm at 5pm engine 339 was bad ordered due to an engine oil sump that needed to be cleaned. Engine 339 returned to the train at 7:12pm and was made up at 8:41pm. Mechanical released the train at 9:02pm. The train arrived into CUS at 9:27pm and 274 passengers boarded and departed at 10:08pm running 3 hours and 28 mins late.

21(01) with engines 53, 58 with 6 cars was delayed in Fort Worth due to HVAC issues in multiple cars. Mechanical was able to restore HVAC in the B-end of the 37013 and fully restore it on coach 31031. 1 hour and 19 minute delay.

1333(02) with engine 375, 3 cars and engine 147 suffered a radio failure on lead engine 375. The Milwaukee road foreman responded and provided a replacement radio to the crew. 1 hour and 7 minute delay.

332(02) was held at MP 3.4 on the C&M sub due to a power outage at tower A3. A signal maintainer responded and resolved the issue after a 33 minute delay. 1333(03) departed Chicago 55 mins late due to late inbound equipment and a required consist change with the Laye inbound 332 set. Engine 306 was removed and added engine 375. The move was delayed due to a track light on inside of the plant that the switch move required.

22(02) was delayed by 1 hour and 33 mins in Fort Worth due to a planned locomotive swap for preventative maintenance. Engine 59 was removed and 192 added. During servicing, engine 315 was found to have faulty HVAC resulting in 192 being placed in the lead.

2/422(01) with engines 15, 201 and 9 cars was delayed 37 miles E of Palm Springs, CA due to engine 15 not loading. CNOC mechanical helped the crew troubleshoot. 1 hour and 38 min delay.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/26 21:16 by sethamtrak.

Thank you as always for your excellent reporting of fact.
—Mac

Thanks for the interesting reading.

Posted from Android

CNOC mechanical seems to really know their stuff.  They get a lot of work.

How can Amtrak say that 75% of the delays to its trains are the result of freight train interference when over these 6 days there are all these delays that appear to be caused by mechanical and other Amtrak related issues? Me thinks that Amtrak is making things up to cover its own sorry ass.

runnerdude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How can Amtrak say that 75% of the delays to its
> trains are the result of freight train
> interference when over these 6 days there are all
> these delays that appear to be caused by
> mechanical and other Amtrak related issues? Me
> thinks that Amtrak is making things up to cover
> its own sorry ass.

An Amtrak delay report might have 20 items, many for freight train issues of between 1 and 5 minutes. 

Than you for the reports Seth.  on the train 41, with engine 339, if the oil sump needed to 
be cleaned seems strange a 2 day job only took 5 hours...........
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/26 13:59 by Mike6640-2.

runnerdude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How can Amtrak say that 75% of the delays to its
> trains are the result of freight train
> interference when over these 6 days there are all
> these delays that appear to be caused by
> mechanical and other Amtrak related issues? Me
> thinks that Amtrak is making things up to cover
> its own sorry ass.

75 percent of them are, and the ones I post here are the 25 percent mechanical issues. I filter out the 75 percent freight interference delay reports. 

Mike6640-2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Than you for the reports Seth.  on the train 41,
> with engine 339, if the oil sump needed to 
> be cleaned seems strange a 2 day job only took 5
> hours...........
>  

How do you know it's a 2 day job?

Many of the freight delays occur when Amtrak is out of their normal time slot due to the aforementioned Amtrak problems.

Amtrak conductors do make things up to blame others and not Amtrak. We used to do private car trips and Amtrak would have problems or be late and always blamed it on the private cars. In all the years we ran the trips, our private cars never had a delay due to mechanical issues.
Joe

One time when I was riding the WB LSL we arrived in South Bend about 2 1/2 to 3 hours late. The passengers were starting to get antsy about making their westward connections in Chicago. The train stopped and passengers got off and others got on. All but one of the doors closed and the conductor walked over to the station and stood in the doorway with the station agent and smoked a cigarette. When he was finished he threw it on the ground, stamped it out , walked back to the train, gave the engineer a highball and we departed west. As we started to roll the engineer came on the radio and said that he would need an explanation for the excess dwell time. The conductor responded "passenger loading and freight train interference". The engineer's comment was "If you say so". I never trust what Amtrak says because a lot of it is just made up and self reported.

Unfortunately, there are still conductors out there that will cause as much delay as they can get away with in order to pad their overtime. Being on a job with one of those guys is painful.

Someone should form a passenger rail advocate group.
Membership could pay for somone to do the work Seth does for free.
Info could be used to lobby congress.

Englewood Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Someone should form a passenger rail advocate
> group.
> Membership could pay for somone to do the work
> Seth does for free.
> Info could be used to lobby congress.

One would think that would be RPA's job.......but clearly they've deviated from their original objective to advocate for rail passengers and improved passenger rail service. 

Again, Amtrak should be FLUSH with new diesels. They should be holding Siemens accountable for what I would say are excessive breakdowns extending over yearS at this point. And yeah, I get it, there's "no other rail passenger equipment provider left in the United States." As some would say.........The 9 hour delay to find a diesel for the southbound Silver Meteor (4 hours for the Crescent!!!) at Washington DC was ridiculous and disrespectful to all the passengers onboard. 

runnerdude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One time when I was riding the WB LSL we arrived
> in South Bend about 2 1/2 to 3 hours late. The
> passengers were starting to get antsy about making
> their westward connections in Chicago. The train
> stopped and passengers got off and others got on.
> All but one of the doors closed and the conductor
> walked over to the station and stood in the
> doorway with the station agent and smoked a
> cigarette. When he was finished he threw it on the
> ground, stamped it out , walked back to the train,
> gave the engineer a highball and we departed west.
> As we started to roll the engineer came on the
> radio and said that he would need an explanation
> for the excess dwell time. The conductor responded
> "passenger loading and freight train
> interference". The engineer's comment was "If you
> say so". I never trust what Amtrak says because a
> lot of it is just made up and self reported.

For years the standard way for operators at THORN or PAOLI towers on the Keystone Corridor to cover up minor signaling mistakes was to blame an ADA boarding at Exton. Exton had mini-highs at the far end of each platform and  spotting the train to get a wheelchair user on or off  took a few extra minutes. THORN and PAOLI had their quirky 1930's era signaling equipment so if an operator "forgot" about some approaching train movement and said movement got dinged on bad signals the delay could easily be written down as "handicapped at Exton". Because the signaling was pre-computer there was no way to audit what had actually happened. This practice likely contributed to Exton getting full high level platforms as any study would have shown an abnormal amount of delay at Exton from ADA boardings.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mike6640-2 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Than you for the reports Seth.  on the train
> 41,
> > with engine 339, if the oil sump needed to 
> > be cleaned seems strange a 2 day job only took
> 5
> > hours...........
> >  
>
> How do you know it's a 2 day job?
> its 55 gallons, lots of crevices to clean, then to refill, and prime oil system,
>  and, its a union shop.