NEW YORK — In keeping with recent practice, Amtrak has cancelled some trains and modified schedules for others this Saturday and Sunday because of a forecast for a major winter storm.
Service has been cancelled on Saturday and Sunday for three trains: the Chicago-Washington Capitol Limited; the Chicago-New York/Boston Lake Shore Limited, and the Indianapolis-New York portion of the Cardinal (the New York-bound train on Jan. 19 and the Indianpolis-bound train on Jan. 20).
Changes and cancellations planned for Sunday include:
— Keystone Service trains (New York-Philadelphia-Harrisburg) trains 662, 664, 672, 661, 667, and 671 are cancelled, as are Pennsylvanian trains 42 and 43, which extend to Pittsburgh.
— Acela Express trains 2250, 2254, 2249, 2251, and 2253 will not operate between New York and Boston; train 2290 is cancelled.
— Northeast Regional trains 88, 160, 164, 88, 161, 135, and 167 will not operate between New York and Boston,
— The Vermonter (trains 54 and 57) will not operate between St. Albans, Vt., and New Haven, Conn.
Confirm train status at Amtrak’s website or on its smartphone app before traveling, and contact Amtrak to address reservations on trains affected.
I guess Mr. Anderson is concerned about icing on the wings. Why did passenger trains stop being the all weather mode of travel?
It’s simple economics: When Amtrak trains don’t come close to paying their own way, there is no economic reason to run them. and lots of incentives not to run them.
This is crap. As a former upstate New Yorker, I can tell you that all of the big upstate, lake effect cities are no strangers to this kind of weather. It’s disruptive, but life goes on. They deal with it, and keep going. I can recall on more than one occasion getting 8 to 10 inches of snow overnight, and hearing the plows go by my house on a back road by 5 AM. My kids went to school, on time.
You’d think organizations as big and with the resources of Amtrak, CSX and NS would be able to keep the trains running. I can’t imagine the likes of NYC, Pennsy, or Nickel Plate, which had a lot of exposure to lake effect from Buffalo to Cleveland, folding up in a heavy snowstorm. I worked with a man years ago whose dad was in the car department at Dewitt Yard in Syracuse. The philosophy was, every day is 70 and sunny. The snow made things take longer, but the work got done.
I realize the mail doesn’t ride on passenger trains any more, so that impetus is gone, but as others have noted, the railroads were always an all weather form of transportation. When other modes failed, the trains ran. I know this didn’t start with Andersen, but the airline mindset has to go. I was dumbfounded when I heard on ABC news that Amtrak was cancelling the Lake Shore. Are we going to bring transport to a quarter of the nation to a standstill(no planes, no trains, roads closed) over a snowstorm?? Have the operating managers gotten so wimpy they’re afraid of a little snow, or even a lot?? Or have the suits just become so risk averse that they won’t make the effort to do what railroads have done for almost TWO CENTURIES for fear of some backlash and a few idiotic lawsuits??
I read somewhere years ago, and I may be mistaken about this, but if it isn’t true it should be, that Chicago & Northwestern had signs in their facilities-yard offices, car department offices and the like-that said “winter is no excuse.” Apparently now it is.
For many years the train was always the only method of transportation that could get through any type of weatherand no matter how long it might take or delays, the train always found a way to get through fierce snowstorms and blizzards. The railroads of the past made sure of that and it was a source of company pride and spirit as well as good business to keep the trains running and serve the public.
But of course we live in the modern age of bottom lines. cost control and a microwave generation who think of trains as something ancient. Also I might point out that Amtrak runs things on a shoestring budget or whatever crumbs our train hating federal government throws at them. This also includes severe equipment shortages not having trains to cover basic service or if something breaks down it just goes as being canceled.
Today’s equipment such as locomotives and passenger cars are poorly made and not as durable or made to last as those old rugged steam locomotives or early diesels who could blast through snow drifts or icy rails wih ease. Today’s equipment is not able to handle rough weather or snow without it getting stuck or breaking down
While the current Amtrak management leaves much to be desired, Amtrak is taking a very cautious way in their operations because of equipment shortages and durability n being able to operate in bad weather and of course due to financial constraints and cash shortages don’t want to deal with lawsuits or refunds to their riding publicin the event of accidents or cncellations. Not the best way or practical way when you are trying to build a customer base or develop a practical alternative to bad weather travel and cancellations
Under Anderson, Amtrak is running now like an airline. Passenger trains are no longer the go to mode in bad weather. They are cancelled just like the airlines. Too, Amtrak does not the the resiliency that the old railroads had. Getting crews in bad weather is another challenge I suppose. For Amtrak, it is just easier to throw in the towel.
My question is if any of the LD cancellations are due to the host freight road telling Amtrak they don’t want them operating during the storm?
All the Keystone cancellations now look suspicious. I suspect that due to Monday being the MLK holiday, maybe they decided there wouldn’t be enough patronage so they cancelled some of them to save some bucks as others have suggested. Same thought regarding the Pennsylvanian cancellation.
I also rode a lot of trains in bad weather around the Christmas holidays coming home either from Chicago or St. Louis to Altoona in the first half of the 1960’s plus the return trips after Jan. 1. Out of the 4 round trips, several going east were a little late arriving but less than an hour. Going west, they all departed on time with several again being a little late but no more than 30 minutes. It says a lot about how the railroads (or at least the PRR) handled winter passenger service at that time. However, as Dennis pointed out this practice has been going on before Anderson arrived so it can’t be claimed he started it.
What the dinosaurs among us forget is at that time (50 or more years ago) most trains had an RPO and REA baggage cars that were contractually obligated to depart and arrive approximately on time, or face a penalty. As such, passenger trains had priority over everything else. In effect, on most roads, there existed a two tier system that operated almost independently of one another. The physical passenger tier has been eliminated on all except commuter lines and the NE Corridor. For
the money invested in Amtrack, we should, as a matter of sane public policy, insist that trains run during storm events, particularly when road traffic is severely impacted and airlines are shutdown. It’s a matter of public safety to say nothing of convenience. The tax money expended would be well worth the occasional use.If nothing else, a truncated shuttle service to get people to open airports would be valuable. It’s not a matter of can we, but of should we. We know it can be done because it was for decades.
One other antidote. As a kid, I spent my Saturday’s in NYC and on what else, trains. I lived in Fairfield Co. CT and used the BANKRUPT New Haven to and from GCT. One Saturday am, heavy snow. That storm dumped 12″ by evening. In those days, before the internet, just show up at the station and see what happens. My am train, appeared in the heavy snow, of course on time. My evening train home, a 6:02 pm local, right on time leaving GCT and arriving home. And that was the New Haven, bankrupt but dependable.
Given any opportunity Amtrak will choose not to run trains.
If CSX has not halted traffic, I wonder why Amtrak does? Pretty sure Deshler will still be busy. We are defined by the challenges we meet.
While I agree with the majority of the posts here, we have overlooked one thing. Frivoulus lawsuits and the lawyers ready to submit them.
If Delta Dick would get out of the airport and out on the trains, meeting employees and actually learning the system, this garbage MIGHT stop. We are expecting around ten inches of snow in Toledo. No trains. It’s sad, sorry and inexcusable. Just more degradation of what service is left.
I too had a similar experience as Mr. Larson on the Morning or Afternoon Hi just before Christmas of 1967 or 1968. I was traveling from graduate school at the University of Chicago to my family home in Minneapolis, I recall sitting in the rear lounge of the Skytop Parlor as we cruised across central Wisconsin in near white-out conditions, the snow swirling around behind me in the wake of the moving train The Milwaukee airport had shut down, and the Parlor was packed (a very unusual situation!) with business suits who had found an alternative to their cancelled flights. When I could see any roads, there were essentially no moving vehicles on any of them, yet we were traveling at what seemed to be the “normal” track speed, and we got to the Twin Cities pretty much on time. That was then, but this is now.
I’m old enough to remember when the trains ran weather or no…. from an old NYC adv.
Sad…..
Amtrak cancelling trains before a perceived storm started before Anderson came along. Was wrong then and is still wrong now. I believe that’s the bean counters trying to save a buck and the customer be damned.
And the Milwaukee ran PR blurbs on how advantages its trains were to driving in bad weather. An anecdote: late Dec.1965 on the westbound Morning Hi. Chicago to Columbus, Wisc. riding in the Super Dome amidst blowing snow. Was it a blizzard or the wonderfully surging at speed?
BTW..late.breakfast in the diner out of CUS: 2 over easy, hash browns, bacon, OJ, milk, crisp linen, bud vase. Columbus and the bus to Madison came all too quickly.
Ten inches of snow? For Buffalo that’s pocket change. Ditto Erie, Rochester, Cleveland, etc. What are these jackasses going to do if we have a real snowstorm like New York Central got through on a regular basis. As between Amtrak and CSX, that’s worthless and worthless.
So much for trains being “the all weather mode of transportation”. Just another sad example of “airline Anderson” at the top. I sadly must agree—- just another way to make the product unacceptable and then proclaim “see, no on wants to ride, so do away with it!
Can you imagine the 400, Hiawatha, or Zephyr being held for snow?
We have become such snowflakes. With attitudes like this 300 years ago we’d all still be huddled east of the Mississippi River.
Yup, this is what the former New York Central has come to. A few inches of snow, no train.
One of trains big advantages and a viable reason to exist as a transportation alternative to the airplane,is their ability to operate in times of inclement weather when other modes of transport are unable to provide service. Anderson and the powers that be at Amtrak surely can’t be as ignorant as they seem when it comes to cancelling trains for every forecasted snowstorm. I believe that this is just another tactic to take away another advantage that passenger trains have over other modes of transportation under the guise of “safety”. There once was a time when the old slogan was “WHEN THE WEATHER SAYS NO,THE TRAINS STILL GO”!