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.
They certainly don’t make them like they used to years ago. Train equipment built years ago that lasted for 50 and even 60 years ago and provided reliable service for their owners. Today we have results of that quality workmanship when we visit many a rail museum or travel on a tourist line . Locomotives and passenger cars, some almost 100 years old providing service and entertaining both railfans and tourists alike. I don’t see the new Venture coaches 50 years or even 100 years from near providing service on a tourist line. One other point to mention, in New york there is a transit agency that would be considered worse than Amtrak and that is the MTA. an agency run by bumbling executives and bureacrats who don’t know the first thing about transit and trains. Look how many executives have either quit or have been fired over the last few years. The good ones are either run off or give up in frustrated and defeated in their quest to bring quality service to the riding public
Joseph C. Markfelder
All the idiots from Mayor Pete on down through upper level management at Amtrak (basically anyone involved in the Venture Coaches fiasco) should’ve been fired a long time ago. Three years and still not in service??? What a flippin’ joke and you guys want more tax dollars. The manufacturer should have their pants sued off.
Disgusting. And I like trains!!!
Perfect storm WA got rid of the Talgo’s & Siemans sells junk that will never perform as well as existing equipment because passenger car design is a lost art same for the Charger locos.
The thing I find astounding is the lack of accountability for all the problems that have beset the Chicago services for months. How come ILDOT hasn’t raised a stink with Siemens for all the SC44 failures and the problems that have sidelined the Venture coaches? That those coaches have been held out of service for this long should be the stuff of scandal either for Siemens or Amtrak Chicago Mechanical. Same for the Charger failures. For sure FRA administrator Amit Bose and SecTrans Buttigieg are asleep at the switch. Utterly useless they are.
So let’s roll the calendar back to pre-pandemic days when all the PRIIA209 trains were operating systemwide. Taking Illinois and Michigan as examples, they were paying Amtrak x dollars back then. So are they now paying less with all the trains mentioned in this article suspended? Did payments start to be reduced as soon as the trains came off months ago? Does the PRIIA209 even contain language that covers service levels?
you have to remember Amtrak was created for the convivence of it’s employees.
While the focus here is on Amtrak’s Midwest services, there is plenty of issues with the NEC as well. Issues that Amtrak management is covering up to enhance and make people believe that the NEC is running perfectly and making money for Amtrak. That most of if not all their Northeast Regional trains are running below capacity and not sold out speaks volumes about service on the Northeast Corridor.
Speaking of equipment issues, what happened to the new Acela Express trainsets that were expected to make their apperance by next year? The new trainsets are also having their issues and don’t seem to be running any time soon. Eventually Amtrak won’t have any equipment left to run systemwide if the present trend of mothballed cars and locomotives waiting for repair keeps piling up and a shortage of compent skilled workers to repair this equipment and get it out on the tracks. Equipment sitting on storage tracks or in the repair shops don’t make money or serve the riding public
Joseph C. Markfelder
Pardon me for showing my age. When I was at U-Michigan 1968 – 1970, the Michigan Central was a double-track freight route that continued east to Buffalo via St. Thomas, Ontario. How much freight? I could generally see a freight after class if I waited an hour or so. Lots of CP boxcars, from a connection at Windsor.
The Michigan – Ontario route hosted remnant through passenger service Chicago to Buffalo. In a pinch if a passenger locomotive were to break down, I’m pretty sure Penn Central could have found a freight engine to schlep it down the line, providing the passenger loco’s steam generator could continue to heat the passenger cars.
Nothing was as good as the good old days, as they say. Penn Central’s passenger fleet was dying before our eyes, which is why Amtrak came in a year after I left Ann Arbor. Penn Central was no great railroad. Is Amtrak?
I am no friend of Joe or Pete. To much faith was put in them to vastly improve Amtrak. But don’t blame them for the problems of today as those roots go deep into the past and a dysfunctional management. At the top is nothing more than a Congressional aide who only cares about the NEC. The entire Ivory Tower occupants only care about themselves and, like a lot of politicians, keeping themselves in a job. Amtrak does have some good management people who try to do the right thing. But they are generally overruled or give up in frustration and go back to their craft. Penelope makes a lot of sense in my book. Why is Brightline not having any problems with their equipment?
I bet Brightline, if it had the management base to do it, could turn Amtrak into an efficient operator and a joy to its passengers. Contract operations out and fire all the upper management. But alas, never happen. Where is Biden and Pete?
Who knows; bigger fish to fry? But I do think each can get out opf bed in the morning!
Amtrak is Joke of a train system for past 2 to 3 years Now.
2-3 years? You are generous.
The decline started in the early 2010’s. Then delta dick came along and started the rapid decline that continues to this day.
Pulling the plug in MI is not wise at present. The equipment would just go to other routes not working. Afraid that might be what Amtrak is hoping one or more of the states might do??
Now a lawsuit for full disclosure might be more fruitful. Maybe even some kind of injunction ??
yes, I meant to say that the state of MI does own that portion of the line it bought from NS, but is Amtrak responsible for maintaining and dispatching it? The main point that I raise is why has either candidate not raised Amtrak’s poor performance in this campaign season? Since MI subsidizes these trains that Amtrak operates in this state, I would think that it would at least be a minor issue.
Amtrak dispatches and maintains the Michigan Line. State and Amtrak owned.
As a retired journalist with some knowledge of how political campaigns work, Amtrak is a non-issue to both candidates. They realize very few of their constituents care. Why waste valuable time talking about an issue that very few care about?
What amazes me is that in a midterm election year, it seems neither Michigan candidate for Governor has raised Amtrak service, or the lack thereof, even though Amtrak dispatches most of the trackage. If I were Tudor Dixon, I would threaten to pull the plug on all of this if Amtrak can’t get its act together.
Correct me if I’m wrong. I think what you meant to say was that M-DOT owns most of the trackage east of K’zoo,
Bring back private passenger train operations. Brightline sets a fine example of what should be done.
Freight railways should be given incentives to allow passenger trains on their lines or even to operate the trains themselves through upgrading infrastructure to accommodate both freight and passenger trains as privately done by Brightline’s parent company Fortress on the Florida East Coast Railway.
Totally agree with you Penelope. I always felt that if your name is on the side of the train, you are going to make sure it runs on time and looks good. The freight railroads of way past would never allow trains to be dispatched and run like they do Amtrak, whom they see as an unwanted tenant.
You are quite correct. Could someone please explain why Brightline Siemens coaches are operating, but not Amtrak’s and why Brightine Charger locomotives run quite well, unlike Amtrak’s.
Amtrak coaches from Siemens had some issues in the bathrooms that required some in the field rework. Not so much a design issue, more like a supplier to Siemens issue because the Amtrak spec was different that the Brightline spec.
As for the Brightline motive power situation, I am armchairing this, but I suspect Brightline is not yet pushing their locos as hard as Amtrak does. Also the Chargers just finished their first hard winter of service, something a Brightline consist would never see.
The Michigan line sees regular 100+ mph service, Brightline is still running 78mph and just now started 110mph testing with the new signal stands.
Can’t say anything about the Beech Grove or Chicago shops for Amtrak, but it is a new engine and it will take some time to get all their staff the expertise, not just for maintenance & duty cycles, but for the weather cycles.
Where is Amtrak Joe? Where is Mayor Pete? These two uber-incompetents promised us a better Amtrak. Neither one can think their way out of bed in the morning. Where are the Great Lakes politicians, either party. My state, Wisconsin, has a far-left Senator and a far-right Senator. Neither one seems to give a damn about Amtrak’s problems.
Where is the media? I read three newspapers each day.
Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel (jsonline.com) hardly ever mentions Amtrak, maybe because we have one of the small handful of dependable routes here in Wisconsin. The Detroit Free Press (freep.com) briefly covered the dreadful Wolverine incident a couple of weeks back, but with no analysis, no followup, and no real criticism of Amtrak.
Much further to the political right wing, the Wall Street Journal (which I read in print) hasn’t gotten around to mentioning the three-year-old Siemens coaches sitting in Chicago, not having earned a copper penny in revenue service.
Being a retired journalist, perhaps you might consider sending the Wall Street Journal a letter to the editor or just a news tip to the national news desk. I imagine the WSJ has no clue as to what is going on at Amtrak now that Don Phillips is gone.
Thanks for the suggestion, Mark. Per your suggestion, I have done so.