CHICAGO — Amtrak continues to have difficulty operating its full slate of state-supported trains from its Chicago hub, although the reasons for the issues vary.
On Sunday, train No. 364, the Blue Water to Port Huron, Mich., and Chicago-Pontiac, Mich., Wolverine No. 354 were combined between Chicago and Battle Creek, Mich. The trains departed Chicago at 6:31 p.m. — 2 hours, 31 minutes late for the Blue Water and 41 minutes late for the Wolverine — and arrived at Battle Creek at 10:38 p.m., 3 hours, 5 minutes late for No. 364 and 1:09 late for No. 354. The Amtrak Alerts Twitter account cites delays for both trains because of mechanical issues; Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says combining the trains “is an uncommon practice needed because of a personnel shortage.”
The Blue Water eventually arrived in Port Huron at 2:41 a.m., 3 hours, 10 minutes late; the Wolverine reached Pontiac at 2:36 a.m., 1 hour, 18 minutes late.
That move came after Illinois Zephyr trains to and from Quincy, Ill., were cancelled last week, beginning with the last-minute cancellation of Chicago-Quincy train No. 383 on Wednesday night, Aug. 17. Trains 380 (Quincy-Chicago) and 383 were both cancelled Thursday, Aug. 18, as was train No. 380 on Friday. Buses were substituted for those four trains.
Magliari told the Muddy River News website that those cancellations resulted after “we had an employee become unavailable about an hour before departure time on Wednesday.” He tells Trains News Wire that the Quincy situation “was similar, but not directly related” to the one involving the Michigan trains.
Magliari also says Amtrak continues to plan to restore as of this Wednesday, Aug. 24, the Chicago-St. Louis Lincoln Service round trip that has been suspended because of “insufficient rolling stock” [see “Equipment issues lead to reduction of Amtrak Chicago-St. Louis service,” News Wire, Aug. 17, 2022].
Another reason why “Customer Experience” is an oxymoron to Amtrak.
And where is Congress?
-At least by now Congress should have decisively moved to “clawback” bonuses paid out to corporate management between 2020-2022 for their pathetic decision-making that sabotaged Amtrak from the start of the pandemic.
-That one decision that lost trained, experienced crew and maintenance, should have been sufficient evidence to prevent the fix to ensure continuation of Coscia as Board Chair; to prevent promotion/continuation of Gardner as CEO.
-What, if anything, has Congress done to protect the states from being required to pay for such non-performance as consistently cancelled or late trains due to mechanical or crew issues?
-Why has Congress not moved to negate Amtrak’s self-declared monopoly to operate state-supported trains?
-Before dispensing any “Biden dollars,” Congress must establish detailed guardrails and expectations to protect the taxpayer; to be thoroughly and frequently audited by the GAO and OIG.
With the growth of dedicated Flix Rail in Europe and FlixBus routes in America (after taking over Greyhound), salvaging state corridors could be on the horizon to void Amtrak’s role–to inject competent management to prevent the incessant interruption that has prevented a consistently acceptable product.
It all comes back to one thing. Amtrak is run by the government, and nobody cares one bit about the customer or the taxpayers. It is just a job for the employees, the union bosses just want the money that comes to their pockets (legally or illegally). Government is the root of all Amtrak’s problems. Other than the fact that very few people want to ride Amtrak’s trains. If they did you could be sure that they would be fixed and running. Votes count, nobody walks.
If I read this properly, 1 employee not reporting caused severe disruption/cancellation of an entire train? One person controls the whole operaton? I never closed my office because of 1 absent staff member. I plan for contingencies and expect to implement them. sure, was a hard day, but to inconvience 40 patients and staff? This is non-nonsensical management. And I would think the entire staff who did show up, but did not run, got paid for the whole day. C’mon man.
My best understanding is that train crews qualify by route (or routes), whereas airline crews qualify by type or types of aircraft, an airplane that can fly anywhere. A flight deck or cabin crew can report to an airline hub with little or no idea where he or she is headed.
Thus it’s easier to substitute an airline crew than a train crew. Obviously the larger the hub, the more crews available. For example, if an Amtrak crew changes at a base with one or a handful of train pairs, how many men or woman do you think could be kept on standby. There’s a difference between the number of qualified crew United Airlines has at such hubs as Houston or Denver, vs. Amtrak at those same cities.
Also, an airline can fly in a crew, non-rev, though this is obviously expensive for the airline and stressful to the crew members. Amtrak can’t deadhead crew to most crew bases because there aren’t enough trains.
Charles, given the present state of airline service, your wife may be justified when selecting Amtrak. Amtrak’s customer base is solid with those who are uncomfortable leaving this earth to the stratosphere in a hollow tube that bounces around at times. .
Given my recent flight on United, Milwaukee to SeaTac, change in Denver, I’m totally sold on United. Two planes had mechanical problems, giving UAL two reasons to cancel the DEN – SEA flight and leave us stranded in Denver. They got us to SeaTac, five hours late. Amtrak is five hours late on a good day, if the train runs at all.
A bad day on an airline is better than a good day on Amtrak. Want proof? Go to any airport, count the number of people voting with their rear ends in the seats. I’m one of those many.
And Kalmbach Publishing’s David Popp interviewed Marc Magliari and it was all softball questions. Yes, some of these service outages developed after that interview. Hey Trains and David Popp, how about at least trying to get Magliari to do another interview. If he agrees, this time really ask the hard questions. Like asking him if he denies that Steven Gardner and Anthony Coscia dynamited the railroad in October 2020.
The sound of one hand clapping ….
Frankly, Mak Shapp, I no longer care about Amtrak, because there’s nothing I can do about that train wreck so why concern myself to no avail. Amtrak is broken. It can’t be fixed. It won’t be fixed. I have frequent flyer on Southwest, United and Delta. Why worry about the stupid railroad that’s going down the drain no matter what anyone on this forum says. Gardner doesn’t care. He’s okay with stuff as it is, He gets paid whether or not any trains run.
You know the irony? As between my wife and I, it’s me that’s the railfan, me that knows everything there is to know about Amtrak, me with many thousands of Amtrak miles in my log. (And VIA, and in Eurpoe.) As between the two of us, she’s the only one that travels Amtrak LD. I fly.
When SEPTA was subsidizing Penn Central and Reading Company for commuter trains, there was an on-time provision: late trains (or insufficient cars) meant reduced subsidy.
Do the Amtrains have similar provisions? Of course PC and RDG had control over their own operations while Amtrak must beg the freight RR’s for track space. Amtrak does have control over its mechanical and staffing.
So far no problems have hit the Hiawatha, that I’m aware of. Fine with me, it’s the only Amtrak train I ever take …….. or will ever take until (or if) things straighten out.
I’m told that Wisconsin has requested an extra coach on the Hiawathas because many have been sold out.
Amtrak has not obliged.
It’s all on the management. What were the mechanical issues for the Michigan trains? Another failure on the overpriced Siemen’s equipment? Or a problem with Amtrak mechanical in Chicago?
We need someone like David Gunn to bring Amtrak to “a state of good repair.”
And look where that him.
And look where that *got* him.
If I were the state sponsors, I’d pull the Amtrak contract, and bid it to other parties as soon as practicle. Amtrak management is horendous. America sure deserves something better.
Where would IL & MI get the enough equipment (do they own enough of the Siemens coaches?) and the crews to operate the services? Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t?