WASHINGTON — The Rail Passenger Association is asking for an expedited federal review of the disastrous 19-hour trip of an Amtrak Wolverine train earlier this month — a 304-mile trip that should take less than six hours — and is asking to be allowed to observe that review when it takes place.
That Oct. 7 incident began to unfold with a locomotive failure of westbound train No. 351, and included prolonged periods when passengers had no heat, ventilation, lights, food, or working toilets [see “Amtrak Wolverine to Chicago delayed more than 13 hours,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 10, 2022].
Eventually, as described by the RPA in a press release announcing its request, “passengers took matters into their own hands” during a stop in Gary, Ind., “opening the doors themselves, letting themselves off the train, crossing three sets of active Class I freight tracks, wading across a small gully in waist-high grass in the dark alongside the disabled train to reach a busy highway where passengers hoped to catch ride-hailing cars.”
In a letter to Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Amit Bose, RPA CEO Jim Mathews notes that while the Wolverine incident “did not result in a collision, a derailment, or loss of life, the Association still believes the risk of serious harm to passengers as the incident unfolded was quite real. We assess that this risk grew substantially once passengers elected to self-evacuate from the train.”
And so the organization is calling for the FRA to hold a debriefing and critique session as required under federal regulations “after each passenger train emergency situation … to determine the effectiveness of its emergency preparedness plan” and to improve or amend that plan. The review, under Title 49 of the Code of Regulations, Subtitle B, Chapter II, Part 239, must be held within 60 days. In his letter, Mathews also asks that the Association be granted formal observer status, and that the FRA ensures that the train crews involved “be held harmless … so as to ensure the fullest exploration and candid dialogue about what went wrong and how future disruptions could be better managed.”
Mathews says he has met with Amtrak management about the incident.
“They clearly recognize the seriousness of what occurred,” he says. “But with so many open questions remaining about how the incident was handled, how alternate arrangements were considered, and how poorly passengers understood what was happening, we feel an obligation in representing our members and the traveling public to elevate our request for a formal debriefing and review whose results, with appropriate redaction of personally identifiable information, can be shared with the public.”
What was actually wrong with that loco? And how long did it take to repair it?
Here we use a lot of Vectrons and in the beginning drivers had trouble with them too. Often a simple reset was enough to get them running again
Are you paying attention¡ the freights want as little to do with the public let alone running passenger trains as possible
It seems that Brightline in Florida uses the same basic type of locomotive with no trouble, as far as I see. Correct me if I am wrong but doesn’t the Cascades use the same engine? Maybe it is not the engine itself but maintaining it. Are there any questions whether shop personnel have been adequately trained as to how to service Siemens products?
All Amtrak got is high tech crap with it’s new locomotives. The Siemens built engines are Tier 4 compliant.
The Class 1 railroads have purchased very few NEW locomotives that are Tier 4 compliant. They have instead upgrades or rebuilt older locomotives to Tier 3 standards. The older locomotives are more reliable. The Tier 4 locomotives have more wiz bang tech to get them over the hump to meet emission standards. The more complicated you make a product the easier it is to break.
Why not return passenger service back to UP, CSX, NSC and others paying
them a 1/4 subsidy for on-time arrivals. Plus other funding to operate their passenger service and maintain stations. The major railroads do a decent
job with UPS consists with a high priority on scheduling so they can visualize
their passenger service as another ‘hot-shot consist’ with priority.
Bill Grant
Cols, OH
Are you paying attention¡ the freights want as little to do with the public let alone running passenger trains as possible
What is the issue that blindsides everybody? To what extent does the Rail Passengers Association (RPA) believe it actually speaks for all rail travelers? Is Congress now silent believing that the RPA will handle the matter? Has Amtrak relaxed now that the RPA has taken a comfortable, non-threatening position, given the silence of the fed DOT and FRA?
If we had competence in Amtrak’s leadership, and a Board that held management accountable, these corporate neophyte managers Amtrak would not be resting on their laurels, but looking over their shoulders concerned about facing an energized DOT and FRA. Certainly what doesn’t help is the silence of a vapid media as far as the lack of experienced transportation and investigative reporters.
Sadly, the ol’ NARP does not fill in the gap today created by the DOT, FRA, and media. Just as we demand a change in Amtrak leadership, it is imperative to concomitantly to create new leadership at RPA. Remember how the media perked up its ears and listened when Haswell spoke? RPA needs leadership that approaches Amtrak, Congress, and the media with vigor if it is to have a place at the table.
Amtrak has problems finding charter buses. Last year NS derailed a coal train on Amtrak North of Baltimore, taking out all tracks on a weekend. Amtrak cancelled all NEC service between Philadelphia and Washington with minimal bus substitution.
It was a weekend. There must have been over 1000 school buses in the Baltimore-Wash-Wilmington area to form a bus bridge between Baltimore and, say, Perryville. Some of these could have been chartered, had anyone cared to find out.
You need drivers to run the busses. School bus drivers generally don’t work weekends or after school hours. Also a huge shortage of them as well
The same thing happened to my train on the San Joaquin route a few years back. It was a nightmare. All because a 5+million dollar locomotive does not have a separate pony motor for the HEP. I guess they didn’t learn from using the P-42s in regional service without a separate motor. Give me an F-59 anyday, reliable and if you have prime mover problems you still have hotel power.
When Jet Blue left passengers stranded on a taxiway for 6 hours, it triggered a full FAA investigation and a new law from Congress. I would think this would have the same level of gravity inside the beltway.
If this had happened between Boston and New York, believe me, there would be a lot more noise in the press and in DC.
As it stands today, if you asked anyone at Amtrak about the Wolverine, they would say Hugh Jackman is an excellent actor! Aren’t you glad he is returning in Deadpool?
Federal review? Amtrak is federal.
If the feds were going to do something about this miserable railroad, they’d have done it by now.
And why on earth the Norfolk Southern couldn’t have sent a ‘rescue’ freight locomotive before it got to this level of craziness during the “stop” in Gary, Indiana? Luckily no one getting “off” the train there was struck by another passing train ….
Or/and why they couldn’t have just annulled the disabled train in Ann Arbor, or Jackson (?), or Battle Creek (?) and just sent everyone on to Chicago on chartered buses.
Some major failures in this debacle and it seems Amtrak operations management really screwed up. Is anyone going to be held accountable at Amtrak? (insert laughter here….) .
Throwing $66B in federal ‘infrastructure’ funding to Amtrak isn’t going to fix their considerable existing management incompetence nor fix their institutional shortcomings …….
Amtrak already stated there where no charter buses available to take passengers off the train in any of the places you mentioned. The problem I have is two-fold: why the following trains engine couldn’t power the HEP equipment of both trains and why it couldn’t handle both trains at speed…that tells me something wasn’t quite right with both of those Chargers.
And the review should include an evaluation of the trainworthiness of the Siemens products, as well as why on earth there was no substitute locomotive available — and, within an hour.