Amtrak’s Southwest Chief is once again facing cancellations on the central portion of its route because of a freight train derailment, according to the Amtrak Alerts feed on X.com.
The westbound train that departed Chicago today will be canceled between Kansas City and Albuquerque, with no alternate transportation provided, while the eastbound train that left Los Angeles on Monday, July 29, will be cancelled between Albuquerque and Chicago. That train arrived in Albuquerque at 12:32 p.m.; westbound No. 3 is scheduled to arrive in Kansas City at 9:48 p.m.
BNSF has confirmed that a train derailed at approximately 12:15 p.m. at Peabody, Kan. There were no injuries to the crew and no threat to the public, a spokeswoman said in an email, and personnel are on site to clear the site as quickly as possible. No other details are available.
Peabody is 15 miles northeast of Newton, Kan., on BNSF’s La Junta Subdivision.
The latest disruption to Chief service comes just six days after a derailment near Garden City, Kan., led to cancellation of the passenger train between La Junta, Colo., and Kansas City [see “BNSF derailment in Kansas leads to Southwest Chief cancellations,” Trains News Wire, July 24, 2024].
— Updated at 10:08 p.m. CT with information on BNSF derailment.
I remember such an incident in Northern Ontario in the 1970’s. We were on the Northland, overnight from Toronto to Cochrane and Kapuskasing. There was a derailment on the Ontario Northland and we all joined School Buses to go around the derailment. The crew had turned the Southward train and we boarded and continued our trip North. The passengers going South fared similarly, and we all got where we were going.
It’s a shame we don’t have that technology in the USA.
Technology isn’t the issue, Phillip. The issue is will. (Or maybe intellectual fortitude….)
The timeline is interesting here. Did Amtrak advise any of the passengers destined beyond Kansas City that their train could or would be terminated there?
The incident happened at 1215 PM CDT.
At 225 PM CDT, No. 3 leaves Chicago.
At 235 PM CDT Amtrak advises “Stand By For Further Information.” (It doesn’t say information on what, however)
At 334 PM CDT Amtrak announces the train will be annulled at Kansas City.
At this point, those wishing not to be stranded in Kansas City might have wanted to detrain at Galesburg and return to their origin station on train 382 that evening. However, Amtrak abruptly terminated that train yesterday, and it will continue to not be operated for a week.
.
While the derailment can be blamed on BNSF, it’s likely that the inability to detour the train is on Amtrak. Since host railroads generally only provide pilots for Amtrak crews, the shortage of Amtrak crews evidently made a relatively-short detour via Mulvane, KS not possible (though I doubt it was considered at all).
* Train 3 of 07/30/2024. Map Details Formatted Data
* THIS TRAIN HAS EXPERIENCED CANCELLATIONS.
* THIS TRAIN EXPERIENCED A SERVICE DISRUPTION.
* Southwest Chief (PDF Schedule)
* +—————- Station Code
* | +———– Schedule Arrival Day
* | | +——– Schedule Arrival Time
* | | | +—– Schedule Departure Day
* | | | | +– Schedule Departure Time
* | | | | | +————- Actual Arrival Time
* | | | | | | +——- Actual Departure Time
* | | | | | | | +- Comments
* V V V V V V V V
* CHI * * 1 225P Departed: On time.
* NPV * * 1 258P * 300P Departed: 2 minutes late.
* MDT * * 1 349P * 400P Departed: 11 minutes late.
* PCT * * 1 411P * 424P Departed: 13 minutes late.
* GBB * * 1 504P * 518P Departed: 14 minutes late.
* FMD * * 1 605P * 637P Departed: 32 minutes late.
* LAP * * 1 719P * 746P Departed: 27 minutes late.
KCY 1 948P 1 1017P 953P Arrived: 5 minutes late.
* LRC * * 1 1127P CT Station Stop Canceled
* TOP * * 2 1204A CT Station Stop Canceled
* NEW * * 2 220A CT Station Stop Canceled
* HUT * * 2 255A CT Station Stop Canceled
* DDG 2 448A 2 454A CT Station Stop Canceled
* GCK * * 2 545A CT Station Stop Canceled
* LMR * * 2 613A MT Station Stop Canceled
* LAJ 2 715A 2 730A MT Station Stop Canceled
* TRI * * 2 850A MT Station Stop Canceled
* RAT * * 2 952A MT Station Stop Canceled
* LSV * * 2 1137A MT Station Stop Canceled
* LMY * * 2 123P MT Station Stop Canceled
ABQ 2 254P 2 334P MT Station Stop Canceled
* GLP * * 2 614P MT Station Stop Canceled
* WLO * * 2 703P MST Station Stop Canceled
FLG 2 809P 2 815P MST Station Stop Canceled
KNG * * 2 1109P MST Station Stop Canceled
NDL * * 3 1214A PT Station Stop Canceled
BAR * * 3 343A PT Station Stop Canceled
VRV * * 3 422A PT Station Stop Canceled
SNB * * 3 551A PT Station Stop Canceled
RIV * * 3 612A PT Station Stop Canceled
FUL * * 3 709A PT Station Stop Canceled
LAX 3 757A * * PT Station Stop Canceled
_
_
_ **** D E L A Y S ****
_
_ 07/30/24 3:35pm EDT
_ Please standby for further information.
_
_ 07/30/24 4:34pm EDT
_ Service Adjustment: As of 3:15 pm CT Due to a freight train
_ derailment in the area Train 3 is canceled between Kansas
_ City (KCY) and Los Angeles (LAX) with no alternate transportation
_ provided. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause
_ and we appreciate your understanding.
Bad luck indeed for our beloved Southwest Chief!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
In days long gone, the railroads detoured passenger trains, in this case over the southern “transcon” or another freight-only route or even another railroad. Guess it’s just too complicated these days.
It’s been a bad week on the BNSF’s La Junta Subdivision ….