CHICAGO — On short notice, Amtrak has cancelled one Chicago-St. Louis Lincoln Service round trip for more than a week as of Thursday, July 17, and implemented a complicated Floridian cancellation scenario that began Friday, July 18, and runs through Aug. 3.
Other regional services and long-distance trains continue to suffer hours-long delays, cancellations en route, or tardy departures from terminals.
Buses began substituting Thursday for Lincoln Service train No. 301, the 7:15 a.m. Chicago departure, and train No. 306, scheduled to leave St. Louis at 5:40 p.m. The substitution will continue through Tuesday, July 29. An Amtrak service advisory notes there are four other trains each way. The bus stand-ins, Nos. 3301 and 3306, respectively, improbably list the same arrival times as the trains they are replacing for each intermediate stop. Given Interstate 55 congestion around Chicago and St. Louis, this seems unrealistic.
No reason is given for the change, but “equipment availability” has been cited as the reason for other recent last-minute Midwest annulments, which included the same two trains plus No. 302 on July 15.
Meanwhile, the month-long bus substitution east of Albany-Rensselaer, N.Y., for the Lake Shore Limited’s Boston section that began in late June is continuing indefinitely, despite an Amtrak service alert saying it will end next week. The company’s booking system is showing a Chicago-Boston train No. 448 and 449 itinerary “sold out” through Nov. 30. The seasonal Berkshire Flyer is also affected, with a bus substitution between Rensselaer and Pittsfield, Mass. A sinkhole west of Pittsfield that will require extensive work and expense to repair is the issue; the Berkshire Eagle newspaper and following reports that a sinkhole under CSX tracks west of Pittsfield, Mass., will require extensive work and expense to repair. The Berkshire Eagle newspaper and WNYT-TV are both reporting service disruption could extend until January.
Track outages on CSX have also triggered confusing Floridian cancellations that began Friday, when the westbound train arrived in Chicago seven and a half hours late. As outlined in a recently posted service alert, the train won’t be running two days per week between Chicago and Washington, D.C., and is cancelled one day per week between Washington and Miami.
The eastbound/southbound Floridian departing Chicago on Fridays and Washington D.C. on Saturdays through Aug. 2 is cancelled all the way to Miami; the following day (Saturdays, July 19, 26, and Aug. 2 from Chicago) it is only cancelled as far as Washington, D.C. The northbound Floridian leaving Miami on Sundays (today, July 20; July 27; and Aug. 3) is dropped as far as Washington. Train No. 40 is cancelled from Washington to Chicago on Saturdays and Sundays through August 3. The dates listed on the service notice are not necessarily the same for all intermediate stations, temporarily reintroducing the confusion Amtrak injected with its long-distance cutbacks to triweekly departures beginning in October 2020. This will place a predictable strain on coach and sleeping car inventory, particularly for connecting east-west passengers.
Last week also had its share of lengthy delays to long-distance and regional trains. Hard-hit service included:
— Acela No. 2162 from Washington to Boston died in New Jersey on Monday; No. 2163 from Boston was later cancelled. On Thursday, Acela No. 2124 broke down between Baltimore and Wilmington, Del.
— The Chicago-Grand Rapids Pere Marquette did operate in either direction last Monday after the train to Michigan became disabled at Benton Harbor Sunday night
— The westbound Southwest Chief leaving Chicago on July 16 was delayed almost 15 hours into Los Angeles by severe weather, freight congestion, and a “locomotive assessment.” To their credit, Los Angeles mechanical forces executed a relatively on-time departure for the evening’s eastbound train utilizing stand-by equipment.
— The eastbound Texas Eagle was delayed four hours at Mineola, Texas, on July 17 as a result of a Union Pacific track blockage, then detoured to Texarkana. Passengers from Marshall and Longview, Tex., were bused to Arkadelphia, Ark.
— The eastbound California Zephyr was delayed seven hours on Friday between Reno and Winnemucca, Nev., due to a “disabled [Union Pacific] locomotive blocking the route,” according to an Amtrak advisory. That delay extended throughout the trip, departing Denver at 2:26 a.m. today and arriving in Chicago at 8:56 p.m., six hours, 17 minutes late. That arrival only allowed arriving passengers to make connections with the eastbound Lake Shore Limited, scheduled to depart at 9:30 p.m.
— Updated at 9:35 p.m. CT with California Zephyr arrival in Chicago.
My guess is that I’ll live out my years riding the corridors but never again an LD. I can barely count the number of Amtrak or VIA routes I enjoyed but have since been discontinued, or have had reduced frequency, or have bombed out as far as reliability or amenity.
Reading David Everitt’s comments, I’ve ridden the Lakeshore both to/from Boston and to New York, and on this end, to/from Chicago and Toledo. Why would I do that again? Who wants to ride a train that’s chronically 3, 4, 5 hours late?
The Lake Shore will probably never ply the Boston Line again. The train is only on time west bound because it is at the beginning of its journey. East bound it is 3,4 or 5 hours late all the time. It is a poor excuse of a train too. Usually, more engines getting moved than passenger cars. The sink hole hasn’t disrupted freight trains on the line.
After some research, the problem track is on the cut-off to Albany.