Zephyr, Builder routes playing catch-up; more equipment challenges

CHICAGO — California Zephyr passengers across the entire Chicago-Emeryville, Calif., route are suffering the lingering effects of downed power lines early Saturday (Aug. 9) on BNSF Railway tracks between Lincoln and Hastings, Nebraska. Elsewhere, the lack of available cars and locomotives continued to trigger lengthy delays and cancellations.

Zephyrs chase each other west, one round trip cancelled

In Nebraska, both eastbound and westbound Zephyrs languished for 14 hours into late Saturday afternoon. The eastbound train eventually made its Windy City entrance at 5:43 a.m., Sunday, while its similarly-delayed westbound counterpart wound up departing Grand Junction, Colo., at 2:56 p.m. Sunday, more than 22 hours late. The train that had left Chicago Saturday afternoon was delayed four hours by high wind and flash flood warnings in the same area of Nebraska early Sunday, so it climbed Colorado’s Front Range after lunch. With trainsets and operating crews out of position, Amtrak cancelled both Chicago and Emeryville, Calif., Zephyr departures today (August 10).

Empire Builder’s nocturnal turn

The nasty weather sweeping east deluged southeastern Wisconsin with up to 14 inches of rain, causing flooding in downtown Wauwatosa and affecting the Empire Builder and Borealis today. [See “Flooding closes CPKC main line …,” Trains.com, Aug. 10, 2025].

But an ill-fated Empire Builder round trip earlier in the week racked up monumental delays when the westbound train that left Chicago on August 7 began losing time — lots of it: six hours between St. Paul and Minot, N.D. It was seven hours late into Spokane, Wash. Rather than turn the train and bus passengers between Spokane and its western destinations to keep the eastbound departure on time, it was allowed to proceed west, where it lost an additional three hours, arriving in Seattle just before 10 p.m. Saturday night. As a result, the eastbound train departed Seattle at 3:36 a.m., 10 hours and 41 minutes late. It had lost another hour approaching Whitefish, Mont., this evening.

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The Southwest Chief’s departure from Los Angeles nearly four hours late at 9:04 p.m. on Saturday night has been attributed on Amtrak’s train status app to “a mechanical assessment performed on the HVAC system prior to departure,” although the westbound Chief arrived less than two hours late that morning into L.A.

Among regional trains suffering extensive and cancellations for various explained and unexplained reasons:

— Sunday’s eastbound Pennsylvanian, which was stopped for almost three hours at Altoona, Pa.

— The eastbound Illinois Zephyr, sidelined for the same amount of time by an active shooter reported by police near BNSF Railway tracks in Aurora, Ill. Its Chicago-Quincy, Ill., route has been reduced to one rail round-trip since last Tuesday, Aug. 5, when buses began substituting for the Carl Sandburg due to lack of enough serviceable equipment. Sandburg trains are set to resume next Thursday, August 14.

— On Tuesday, the Charger locomotive of Seattle-Eugene, Ore., Amtrak Cascades train no. 507 failed near Albany, Ore.; buses were called. Buses also substituted for the following day’s morning departure to Seattle, no. 504, and a venerable P42 now handles power chores on the Amfleet set that was waylaid.