The inbound Texas Eagle passes Amtrak’s Chicago coach yard on May 25, 2021, with three coaches, a sleeping car, and a diner-lounge. The train’s capacity hasn’t changed since then despite regular coach sellouts into and out of Chicago, which prevent passengers from booking travel for longer distances. Bob Johnston
CHICAGO — With the threat of a national railroad work stoppage prompting travelers to make alternate plans, many long-distance trains that are normally sold out for at least a portion of their journeys had space available as service resumed.
Trains that had been suspended Tuesday through Thursday, Sept. 13-15, all returned as scheduled Friday [see “Amtrak long-distance trains set to resume,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 16, 2022]. Iinitial trips for some were marred by long delays, such as Friday’s eastbound California Zephyr, which lost 3 hours between Colfax, Calf., and Reno, Nev. The eastbound Texas Eagle that left San Antonio Sept. 17 lost 7 hours between Arkadelphia and Malvern, Ark., while its westbound counterpart was held for 3 hours at Little Rock. With a few exceptions, sellouts were rare in coaches but common for longer journeys in sleeping cars.
As usual, no one could ride the Eagle into or out of Chicago on Saturday or Sunday because its three Superliner coaches were at capacity to and from Normal, Ill. However, overnighters such as the Empire Builder, California Zephyr, and Southwest Chief that usually experience sell-outs entering or leaving the Windy City were all showing limited coach availability, though most sleeping car space was sold out.
An exception: On Saturday, both the Seattle and Portland, Oregon-bound Builder sleeping cars had a Chicago-Spokane bedroom available for $2,263, but the Seattle section offered a $630 price for at least one roomette. The train has operated this year with only one Chicago-Seattle and one Chicago-Portland sleeper (both sections had two Superliner sleeping cars during the summers of 2019 and 2020), but the transition sleeper in the Seattle section offers roomettes and no bedrooms.
Slow return for Midwest Corridor round trips
Meanwhile, a shortage of serviceable equipment or personnel continues to delay the return of key frequencies on three regional routes. While firm return-to-service dates have not been publicized, Amtrak’s website is not accepting reservations for certain trains for weeks:
Lincoln Service: Reservations become available for the 5:20 p.m. Chicago departure for St. Louis (No. 305) on Sunday, Oct. 23; its 10:00 a.m. Chicago arrival (No, 300) is first showing availability the following morning. All-day sellouts around or during weekends have regularly occurred even before this round trip was dropped.
Michigan Wolverines: Morning eastbound Train 350 and evening westbound Train 355 also show availabilities on Oct. 24.
Illini-Saluki: The morning southbound-afternoon northbound Chicago-Carbondale, Ill., trains (Nos. 391 and 392) aren’t accepting bookings until Dec. 5. The route’s patronage has been further weakened by Amtrak’s decision to keep the City of New Orleans on a Monday through Friday-only schedule until Oct. 8, given the fact that Saturday through Monday are the train’s busiest travel days. The City and the New York-New Orleans Crescent are the only long-distance trains yet to be restored to daily operation after being reduced to five days a week earlier this year; other such trains returned to seven-day operation in May.
Another challenge complicating the return of this second Illini-Saluki round trip is that Canadian National continues to insist the trains use Superliners, which are in short supply, and that all trains must have 32 axles to insure proper signal shunting. This is a route-specific concern Amtrak, CN, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Illinois Department of Transportation have been attempting to resolve since 2006.
Lightweight DMU’s short lightly used track circuits all over the world. Time to call BS on CN.
got caught up in trip Thursday 15 Sep WFH to MSP being cancelled. AMTRAK had 2 options.. book a future trip or get 100% refund (which we did). No other options,buses nothing. Lots of folks left stranded in WFH and those I talked to are done with AMTRAK including the 2 of us, and we were fairly frequent riders. I thought this shabby treatment was only by airlines. AMTRAK attendant in WFH extremely heartfelt but could do nothing. Felt sorry for the grief she mostly was to receive. Also, I wonder how much the 1st class folks are paying in their fares to offset what the coach passengers where paying till AMTRAK declared the diner was off limits to them all. Oh and thank you “Delta Dick” for your wonderful cost preservations.
Otto
Who says people don’t ride trains anymore? WRONG Amtrak needs more equipment to carry passengers. We need a company built to service this very market….jobs jobs jobs
Need further discussion as to why CNR insists on Superliners for the Illini – Saluki. This is new info. Thirty-two axles on a Superiner train is a lot of seats for a corridor train. Before this dispute the train ran with four single-level coaches, which is twenty axles.
Unresolved since 2006? That can’t be. Must be a typo.
Oh, the photo. There are no overpasses in Western Springs (where we were last week). The photographer stands in Western Springs (east of the I-294 Tollway) but the long-lens telephoto shows the famous overpass in Highland (Hinsdale) and Hinsdale’s Adventist Hospital (might not be the current name). Prior to the COVID lockdowns this hospital was a great place for a meal and bathroom stop for BNSF fans.
Current name is AdventHealth Hinsdale.
The requirement is for proper signal shunting which may not be had because the route is badly maintained possibly having rusty rail or ancient insensitive signal systems. CN doesn’t want to fix it so they put the Onus on Amtrak
I was told by a Conductor on the Northbound Illini last winter, the CN track from Mattoon to Kinmundy, IL, require Superliners.
BNSF requires 12 axles to activate crossings signals.
Wayne Johnston must be spinning in his grave watching what CN has done to his beloved IC
I don’t know when Wayne Johnson retired. His (olr his successors’) “beloved IC” was very rough riding in the early Amtrak years. Even by the standards of the 1970’s it was bad track.
So, for all the reduction in speed and capacity as Mike Lustig refers to, the ride is way way way smoother. As is true for many railroads across the country.
Wayne Johnston retired in 67. Died shortly after retirement
I thought Wayne Johnson was trying to sell the railroad.
The BNSF train is passing under the Hinsdale overpass while the Amtrak train is passing the Highlands station platforms. I think the photographer is on the Highlands platform. Western Springs is East of the bridge over the I-294 Tollway which is currently being replaced.
You’re right, of course. The entire scene is in Hinsdale, none of it in Western Springs. I should have caught TRAINS’ error but I’m too much a beleiver in TRAINS as the true gospel.
A new addition to the area is a footbridge over the tollway. This closes a gap for BNSF fans who like to walk. You now can safely and legally walk parallel to the tracks all the way from LaGrange to Western Springs to Hinsdale.