CHICAGO — As predictions of high winds and subzero temperatures move east, Amtrak has cancelled all service on some regional and long-distance routes while maintaining reduced service on others.
Amtrak had originally planned to maintain full service on Friday, Dec. 23, after projecting cancellations for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday [see “Amtrak cancels Empire Builder, thins Midwest departures …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 19, 2022]. An advisory issued late Wednesday now extends and modifies the earlier cancellations into Friday.
Also cancelled:
— The St. Louis-Kansas City, Mo., segment of Lincoln Service trains 318-319 to and from Chicago through Dec. 25, leaving no service on the route through Christmas.
— The eastbound Pere Marquette Dec. 22 and westbound from Grand Rapids on Dec. 23.
— Illini-Saluki Chicago-Carbondale, Ill., morning trains on Dec. 23.
— The Capitol Limited (Chicago-Washington, D.C.) and Lake Shore Limited (Chicago-New York/Boston) Dec. 22 and 23
— The Cardinal Friday Dec. 23, from New York, and Thursday and Saturday from Chicago. The Wednesday New York departure had already been cancelled.
— The Southwest Chief westbound from Chicago on Dec. 23. Tuesday’s eastbound Chief from Los Angeles had been cancelled after a BNSF Railway freight derailment blocked the route west of Barstow, Calif.; Monday’s westbound train terminated there Wednesday after being delayed 6 hours by mechanical issues leaving Chicago.
Empire Builder departures have now been cancelled through Friday, Dec. 23. Before the Tuesday and Wednesday cancellations, Builders leaving the West Coast suffered significant weather and mechanical delays. All three ALC42 Chargers leading Sunday’s eastbound train broke down near Detroit Lakes, Minn., on Tuesday morning; the train’s fourth locomotive, P42 no. 203, maintained head-end power during the all-day delay. A BNSF unit came to the rescue, pulling the train into Chicago 17 hours late Wednesday morning.
The eastbound Builder that departed Seattle and Portland, Ore.,over 6 hours late on Monday after a weather-delayed inbound arrival was more than 21 hours late headed across Wisconsin on Thursday.
The California Zephyr has been plagued with Union Pacific freight congestion delays in Nevada all week. Two eastbound Zephyrs arrived into the Windy City on Wednesday, Dec. 21: The previous day’s train at 11:48 a.m., almost 21 hours late, and Wednesday’s arrival at 6:05 p.m. But that day’s westbound Zephyr departed Chicago less than an hour and a half late. The Chicago-Emeryville, Calif., train has so far escaped Amtrak’s cancellation list, though the train heading into the Midwest winter storm Thursday was running more than 6 hours behind schedule across Iowa.
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