CHICAGO — Amtrak has extended cancellations on a number of Midwestern routes for several days following a week of well-publicized ice storms and heavy snows. Those conditions caused thousands of airline cancellations nationwide, as well as the suspension of the City of New Orleans and Texas Eagle for days through the central U.S. [see “Amtrak weather cancellations continue,” Trains.com, Jan. 26, 2026].
Brutal conditions triggered cancellations prior to last weekend. However, even as conditions improved on Monday, Amtrak said in an advisory to employees that “ongoing cold temps/weather-related equipment issues” resulted in the following cancellations:
- Chicago-Port Huron, Mich. Blue Water eastbound train No. 364 (through today, Feb. 3) and westbound No. 365 (through Feb. 4)
- Chicago-Pontiac, Mich., Wolverines: eastbound trains Nos. 352 and 354 (through Feb. 6) and westbound Nos. 351 and 353 (through Feb. 7). There were a number of other Michigan cancellations last week, including one Pere Marquette round trip.
- Chicago-Quincy, Ill., Illinois Zephyr trains No. 383 westbound (through Feb. 6) and No. 380 eastbound (through Feb. 7)
- Chicago-St. Louis Lincoln Service train Nos. 305 and 307 southbound (through Feb. 6) and Nos. 300 and 302 northbound (through Feb. 7)
The company says it is providing substitute bus transportation to affected passengers, but a check of www.amtrak.com shows the affected service as “sold out.” This likely indicates the bus service will only accommodate travelers who already had bookings at the time of the cancellations.
The common thread among the cancellations is that the affected trainsets spend the night away from Chicago and are assigned state-owned Siemens Charger and Venture equipment. Passengers have reported non-operable toilets, lack of heat, mid-route locomotive breakdowns, or late departures on many of these routes.
Trains asked Amtrak to explain the nature of the remaining operating challenges causing the extended cancellations, but a spokesman would only say there were “several weather-related issues” responsible. Siemens, which provides on-site technical support to the states and Amtrak, has also been asked to provide relevant information about specific issues being addressed.
Other challenges
The City of New Orleans was cancelled over its entire route from Jan. 22 through Jan. 29. Ice storms in northern Mississippi and Kentucky caused widespread power outages that threatened continued operation of highway warning devices and signal systems. Anticipating a possible repeat and reacting to local travel bans, Amtrak, in consultation with host railroads, cut service during the past week.These included:
- Cancellation of two Floridian round trips departing Chicago and Miami on Jan. 30 and 31. Some Charlotte-Raleigh Piedmonts were also cancelled. Heavy snows predicted through Raleigh, N.C., did not materialize, although high winds and blizzard conditions did occur further east along the route of Auto Train, Palmetto, and Silver Meteor. Those trains continued to operate, but Auto Train’s 1 departure from Lorton, Va., left 9½ hours late at 1:27 a.m. on Feb. 2 following an unexplained mechanical failure. That delayed trainset is still playing catch-up: Tuesday’s arrival in Lorton occurred after the southbound train was scheduled to depart, and the departure for Florida was pushed back to midnight.
- The Lake Shore Limited was canceled in both directions Feb. 2 after the equipment of the Jan. 31 apparently encountered problems getting through the only East River tunnel that directly connects to platform tracks leading to the Empire Connection. It departed six hours late. Meanwhile, its eastbound counterpart of the same date arrived in New York more than nine hours late following a Chicago departure delayed by four hours. Other Empire Service trains were also dropped.
- The Cardinal failed to depart on Tuesday, Jan. 27 out of Chicago and Jan. 28 from New York. The impending winter storm was given as the reason.
- At least 24 Acela trips were cancelled last Thursday though Saturday as snow blanketed the East Coast.
Also cancelled through Feb. 6 is the Montreal-Albany, N.Y., portion of the Adirondack, though no explanation has been offered for that lengthy outage in an area that regularly sees lots of snow.
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