Weather leads to some Amtrak issues during holiday period

CHICAGO — Despite challenging weather conditions on both coasts and in the upper Great Lakes region, Amtrak trains generally reached their destinations unscathed during the holiday travel period. “Mechanical assessments,” however, did continue to impact service throughout the network during the period ending today (Sunday, Jan. 4).

Starlight and Builder disruptions

Amtrak’s long-distance operations generally do not contend with as much freight traffic during extended holiday periods, and the last week was no exception. There were few delays on routes that have been recently hammered by host railroad congestion, such as that of the Southwest Chief west of Albuquerque, N.M.

Heavy Union Pacific traffic often stymies the Coast Starlight between Dunsmuir, Calif., and Eugene, Ore., but recent track problems occurred south of San Jose. Northbound trains departing New Year’s Eve; Saturday, Jan. 3; and Sunday, Jan. 4, were all held south of Santa Barbara, Calif., by track inspections following landslides or flooding, as were the southbound Starlights south of San Jose on the weekend.

As of this afternoon, Seattle-bound No. 14 was running more than 6 hours late at Chumult, Ore. Track damage from the combination of king tides and storm surge at Elkhorn Slough, along Monterey Bay, led today’s southbound Starlight be held at Morgan Hill, then returned to San Jose, where it was cancelled. Today’s northbound No. 14 has also been canceled between Santa Barbara and Oakland. The Amtrak website and Amtrak Alerts social media site do not address whether alternate transportation has been provided.

Route blockages and below-zero temperatures did trigger extensive Empire Builder tardiness, but short scheduled West Coast turnarounds, mechanical setbacks, and crew availability exacerbated the situation.

Amtrak advisories to passengers reported a three-hour “communication outage” in the Grand Forks, N.D., area on Dec. 29 that affected both freight-delayed eastbound train No. 8 and westbound No. 7, which then had to wait almost 5 hours at Minot, N.D., for a rested crew. The following eastbound Builder also was sidelined 3 hours at Shelby, Mont., on the same day for the same reason.

Bigger problems awaited the eastbound train that departed Seattle on Jan. 2, when the Seattle section apparently hit an obstruction west of Spokane. Reports indicate several passenger cars were also damaged. The train was 7 hours late at Minot early today. But after losing another two hours at Grand Forks while the crew conducted “mechanical maintenance,” management decided to terminate the reduced-consist train at St. Paul and bus passengers overnight to Chicago. It arrived at St. Paul, Minn., at 5:52 p.m., some 9 hours, 19 minutes late. As of late today, Monday’s westbound Builder hadn’t been cancelled out of Chicago, so presumably the damaged trainset will be deadheaded to the Windy City.

Also on the day after New Year’s, the westbound Borealis was terminated at La Crosse, Wis., after an electrical problem developed in one of the coaches that apparently damaged the train’s head-end power capability. It was sent back to Chicago without passengers and buses were substituted for Saturday’s eastbound train.

Northeast Corridor wire problems

Meanwhile, legacy and NextGen Acela equipment continued to be the subject of “mechanical assessments” that caused late departures or unscheduled pauses en route. Otherwise, the week’s biggest Northeast Corridor interruption occurred Monday, Dec. 29, when the pantograph on early morning Acela No. 2151 snagged catenary at Boston, creating cascading, hours-long delays for the rest of the morning. Several other cancellations occurred during the week, including today’s southbound NextGen No. 2247.

After a week of shuffling Acela equipment assignments, information on the Amtrak website indicates that beginning Monday, Jan. 5, four of seven Boston-New York Acela departures will be NextGen consists. Between New York and Washington, five of 10 Acelas will feature the new equipment. This is a reduction in overall Acela departures, which have been fluctuating during the past month, but now the NextGens will be scheduled throughout the day.

— Trains editor David Lassen contributed to this report. Updated Jan. 6 at 8 a.m. to correct details of cancellation of train No. 11 on Jan. 4. To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.