CHICAGO — A major, slow-moving storm has led to a flurry of Amtrak cancellations today (Friday, April 4) in the Midwest.
Cancellations today, according to the Amtrak Alerts social media feed, include:
— Both directions of the Texas Eagle between St. Louis and Marshall, Texas;
— Both directions of the City of New Orleans;
— The southbound Illini between Champaign-Urbana and Carbondale, Ill.
All are due to “inclement weather conditions,” according to the Amtrak Alerts feed. No alternate transportation is being provided for any of the cancelled trains.
The City of New Orleans has also been cancelled in both directions on Saturday, April 5, according to the train status section of the Amtrak website.
This evening’s National Weather Service forecast includes a warning of “significant severe weather and life-threatening flash flooding” from the Ohio Valley through Texas and Louisiana.
The stubborn winter that refuses to leave is preventing the committed Amtrak trains that want to hit the rails…
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Nice poetry, Dr. Ustun, but I don’t quite follow.
We have always had winter. I can’t recall a milder one. I literally went through an entire Wisconsin winter 2024 – 2025 without once wearing a heavy coat or even a pair of gloves.
There may be weather events that would stop a train — flooding obviously, but also tornados, hurricanes, and the most extreme of cold weather. Winter, however, isn’t one of them. We have had winter every year since trains were invented.
Charles,after more than fifty years of doing my best to see the glass as half full, advocating for Amtrak whenever I could, I have, as 2025 ripens into Spring, given up. Too much disaster, in too many places, to keep whistling past the graveyard. Let the feeble patient be euthanized, fine with me, just save a few parts that still have a semblance of a pulse. “Inclement weather” my ass.
And how did train 40 that originated in Miami on Friday April 4 manage to lose almost eleven hours between Lakeland and Tampa?
DAVID — First I knew that there’s a train from Miami to Tampa. I looked it up. No. 40, the Floridian. Scheduled time 5:26 per the web site. The amount of time you say it lost was about twice the schedule for entire route.