CHICAGO — Lack of serviceable equipment and qualified staff have again caused a series of Amtrak state-supported service cancellations out of Chicago.
Late last week, the company announced morning eastbound Wolverine service train No. 350 to Pontiac, Mich., and its evening return counterpart, No. 355, would be cancelled today (Monday, Aug. 29) through Friday, Sept. 16, due to a combination of, “a lack of manpower and available train equipment.”
On Sunday, Aug. 28, no extra-board engineer was available to take the Blue Water east from Chicago to Battle Creek, Mich. The regularly-assigned operator had been scheduled to miss the run after involvement in a grade crossing incident, according to Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari.
Magliari tells Trains News Wire that buses were called to expedite travelers to their destinations, but the equipment was combined with Wolverine No. 354 as far as Battle Creek. The crew based in that city then took the Blue Water to Port Huron, Mich., where it arrived at 1:03 a.m., about an hour and a half late. The two trains had been combined on the Wolverine’s schedule earlier in August without the bus option.
Elimination of the 350/355 round trip from Chicago to the Detroit area severely limits travel options for intra-Michigan travel from the western part of the state; this round-trip was the last to be restored after Covid-19 reductions.
The lack of qualified engineers and conductors operating out of Chicago has caused cancellations on other Midwest routes [see “Operating issues continue …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 22, 2022], but lack of staff also precipitated a months-long schedule reductions on the Sacramento-San Jose, Calif., Capitol Corridor through September [See “Crew shortages force Amtrak cancellations …,” News Wire, Aug. 5, 2022].
Meanwhile, sellouts continue for long-distance and regional trains throughout the country, especially on or adjacent to weekends. In the Northeast on Sunday, Aug., 21, for instance, every Empire Service train operating between New York City and Albany-Rensselaer, N.Y., was sold out in both directions after 10 a.m. Those trains’ standard consist is four Amfleet I coaches and a cafe car providing business-class seating.
All we need to know is that the politicos and administrators responsible for Amtrak, do not ride Amtrak, not even Butigeg (sp.?). Do they not have any conscience?
Charles… David Gunn was fired in 2006 & succeeded by Kummant which was when the financial trouble escalated.
Whether it’s Amtrak or the airlines, The transportation system in this country is in a mess and not getting any better. Any doubt as to why the highways are jammed pack with cars and the car manufacturers trying to sell even more and local municipalties building and adding more roads and highways to accomodate the added increase of more cars and trucks ? People will use their cars for travel and to get to places and could care less about trains and planes. America became a nation of cars and highways and more to come. I the future, Airports will become parking lots and garages and railroad tracks will become highways. Dont be surprised if the Northeast Corridor becomes America;s verison of the Autobahn The private auto rules the transportation scene in America and will only grow and expand more as the woes and troubles of both Amtrak and the airlines increase and get worse
Joseph C. Markfelder
Charles, I don’t think you could ever have a bad word for the airlines even if they seated you in the landing gear compartment. As for previous U.S. President’s Bush Jr brought Amtrak closest to collapse & bankruptcy.
I would imagine the closest Amtrak came to bankruptcy had nothing to do with who was president. That was after the Amtrak 188 crash in Philly. I’m very surprised Amtrak didn’t go under. Had zero to do with Obama being in the White House then.
Galen, was a long time ago that Bush the Younger was in the White House. Searching my memory I can’t seem to correlate any Amtrak events (fiscal or otherwise) with his administration, so I’d appreciate further information as to your post above. Who was Amtrak CEO then and what was the issue?
Not trying to defend the incompetence of current Amtrak mgmts short sightedness & poor planning but the airlines seem to be in the same situation with a record setting numbers of cancelled flights this summer.
I scanned the monitors at three airports MKE, DEN and SEA (going and coming) last month, saw one flight (of many dozens) listed as cancelled. One of the flights I was scheduled on, the airline (United) first had to substitute a plane, then repair the second plane at the gate. Giving UAL two reasons to cancel. Flight wasn’t cancelled. Got to SeaTac five hours late but got there. Five hours late is day-in, day out business at Amtrak.
I suspect a case could be made that the cutbacks the airline industry made in 2020 was cutting fat. At least the top officers thought they were only cutting fat. When Gardner and Coscia made the cuts in early October 2020 (LDs to tri-weekly operation, furloughs of line employees with decades of institutional knowledge, the equipment mothballing) they knew they were cutting bone. They wanted to cut bone. They wanted nothing left but the NEC. And congress had plenty of notice and did nothing to stop it. It was only in late October, after the “massacre” that a handful of Senators met with Gardner and then-CEO William Flynn to ask for assurances the LDs would return to daily operation come Spring. That was like locking the barn door after the cows got out and disappeared over the hill. The point is the politicians don’t ride. They don’t think it’s socially acceptable to ride. To them it’s trains for thee but not for me. Even the Dems don’t ride unless it’s for a photo op. Boston’s Mayor Michelle Wu and NY Governor Kathy Hochul at separate times “made pilgrimage” to DC for meets and greets with the party faithful. And they both flew! Not even in the NEC would they ride. FRA administrator Amit Bose traveled to CHI on the eve of the passage of the IIJA to give a talk at the Great Hall at CUS about all the wonderful improvements to Amtrak services that would be coming as a result of that bill’s passage. Anyone reading this think for a millisecond that Bose rode Amtrak WAS-CHI even one way? But as FRA administrator that should have been his job.
How about bringing David Gunn back to put Amtrak in a “state of good repair”? That would be too much to hope for. Gunn couldn’t stand the meddling of the Bush (“the younger”) Administration; he sure wouldn’t stand for “Amtrak Joe’s” staff trying to run the railroad.
There is no point hoping for a good Amtrak CEO until Biden (and all his people) are out of office.
Nixon, Carter, Bush the Younger, and other presidents, mishandled Amtrak. Joe is destroying it.
Gee why did you leave out Ford, Reagan, GH Bush, Clinton and Obama and especially the Donald. I think that’s all of them since 1970. I know you hate Biden, but i don’t think its because of Am Smack .
Too bad Sam Rayburn is no longer Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. This country Texas politician had no patience for stupidity and excuses. He would have put his boot in the back of any politician covering for Amtrak’s failures. And we know how Mussolini fixed the problems with Italy’s passenger trains…
Instead, Congress is packed today with attorneys who never understood the sign, “do not flush toilet while train is in station.” The public be damned, as Congress persists in not demanding a “clawback” of the bonuses parachuted upon the failed corporate management group. (Gotta wonder how Amtrak’s corporate counsel secured a sizable chunk of bonus–perhaps for remaining mum to the internal devolvement of this so called rail operation?)
When will Congress schedule hearings to demand answers to Amtrak’s operational failures; inquire of the value of the Board lacking rudimentary knowledge to even attempt to be good stewards of the business; propose recruitment of competently experienced corporate management skilled in railroad operations? Losing the corridor market during high season is worse than sabotage.
Who will resist the obvious need for change? How will Schumer protect the funds earmarked for his Amtrak?
The time has long passed for any attempt to continue to protect Amtrak, as Congress should realize the national passenger rail system needs a new name, competent leadership, and a Board looking beyond furthering their own vested interests in real estate opportunities.
In the federal government, any amount of money can be authorized, but can’t be spent unless appropriated in each year’s budget. Don’t assume the $66 B’s will actually show up at the depot in the budget years to come.
“When will Congress schedule hearings to demand answers to Amtrak’s operational failures…”
Never. They’re much too busy with political witch hunts to be bothered with real work.
Amtrak could totally implode and bonuses will still be paid.
Why not use Michigan crews, if available, who are qualified into Chicago to take the train out? And all that equipment sitting under the old post office is are those shiny new toys that don’t work right and can’t be used.
So what happened to the $66 billion (+) that the ‘Amtrak Joe’ regime is giving to Amtrak? Yes, yes, I realize the lions’ share of it is going to the Northeast Corridor (NEC – ‘Nothing Else Counts’) and that it is allocated out over a number of years into the future.
HOWEVER, this (presumably) short-term operating debacle on the Michigan corridor demonstrates what a mess Amtrak currently is and why proposals for new “corridor” services in the mid-west and elsewhere in the U.S. seem to be totally delusional.
I trust Amtrak’s upper “Leadership” will not be getting their “Performance Bonus(es)” this year (2022) like the millions of $$$ they received last year. Totally unwarranted and undeserving.
Amtrak’s business model strikes me as being truly broken at this point …..
NRPC’s business model: 90 cents of every dollar coming in, regardless of source, goes to the NEC. Everyone one else can starve.
Lack of equipment? What’s all that rolling stock parked under the Chicago post office, never having been put into service.
Amtrak lost me years ago. I used to take the train from Wisconsin to Detroit. Starting several years ago, I switched to the airlines. Now it doesn’t even matter, there’s no train to ride anyway.
What a mess!