CHICAGO — “A shortage of available train equipment” is being blamed for the ongoing cancellation of the Illinois-sponsored service between Chicago and St. Louis scheduled to provide a 10 a.m. arrival into Chicago and 5:15 p.m. departure out of the Windy City.
Lincoln Service train Nos. 300 and 305 originally had been scheduled to resume last week, but their return has been delayed until Thursday, Nov. 17, southbound, and Friday, Nov. 18, northbound, according to an advisory posted on the Amtrak website.
Meanwhile, a Chicago-Pontaic, Mich., Wolverine round trip that was supposed to return Monday, Oct. 24, didn’t relaunch until last Wednesday, Oct. 26. Thursday’s eastbound No. 350 out of Chicago encountered a nearly 3-hour delay into Niles, Mich. This caused counterpart No. 355 to depart more than 2 hours late from Pontiac, Mich. It failed to make up any time into Chicago, arriving at 1:24 a.m. instead of 10:57 p.m. Amtrak then was unable to get Friday’s No. 350 out on time; it departed at 9:26 a.m., 2 hours, 41 minutes past the its scheduled 6:45 a.m. Chicago departure.
The setbacks are the latest examples of ongoing issues with Midwest service that have occurred throughout the summer and fall [see “More Chicago Amtrak cancellations,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 29, 2022]. Equipment unavailability has been exacerbated by a number of factors:
— Continued delays in deployment of already-delivered, state-owned Siemens Venture trainsets that have been undergoing a retrofit program to rectify a variety of production deficiencies discovered well after deliveries began in the summer of 2020.
— No Venture business class or cafe cars have been accepted. Horizon or Amfleet I must continue to substitute on trainsets utilizing either two or four Venture cars.
— Unwillingness or inability of Amtrak to prioritize readying more Horizon and Amfleet coaches and cafe/business class cars in service after assigning 16 Horizons to the Pacific Northwest’s Cascades last year.
The company continues to run hourly service with eight-car Amfleet Northeast Regional consists between Boston and Washington, D.C. A News Wire spot check shows that many of these are at or approaching 90% of coach capacity during peak travel periods. Few departures are sold out, however.
In contrast, there were no seats for sale to Bloomington-Normal, Galesburg, or Carbondale, Ill., on either state-supported or long-distance trains on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 30, repeating a common weekend occurrence on those routes and Michigan service throughout the month.
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