While national TV news and published reports recounted how thousands of flights were cancelled, trucks jackknifed all over the Midwest, and motorists were stranded by the winter storm that swept across the northern plains just after Christmas, BNSF Railway and Amtrak crews did everything possible to keep the daily Chicago-Seattle/Portland, Ore., Empire Builder running through otherwise-isolated towns in North Dakota and Montana.
“Harsh winter weather like we’ve seen in North Dakota over the last few days presents challenges to all traffic operating on our routes. We have winter action plans we implement,” BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth tells Trains News Wire. “In some cases we’ve had engineering personnel riding Amtrak trains to help with switches when the weather may be a particular challenge. At this point we haven’t had to cancel any trains in Minnesota, North Dakota, or Montana — which we are very proud of — and we’ll continue working with Amtrak to keep the trains running in these extreme weather events.”
It wasn’t easy. The westbound train No. 7 which departed Rugby only 23 minutes late on Monday took over an hour and a half to travel the next 61 miles to Minot, N.D.
But it fared much better than eastbound train No. 8 of the previous day, which it passed on the way to Minot. That train had a star-crossed journey after departing Seattle on-time on Christmas Eve. Held for more than three hours at Spokane, Wash., Christmas morning, it lost another hour-and-a-half on the way to Minot, arriving there at 2:08 a.m. on Dec. 26.
Though it would depart the station at 2:35 a.m., the Chicago-bound Builder was then held for open track and wouldn’t reach Rugby until 10:44 a.m. Now exactly 12 hours late, the train cooled its heels again at Devils Lake, N.D., for more than four hours while BNSF cleared snow. It finally arrived into St. Paul (Minn.) Union Depot after midnight Monday night, more than 16 hours late.
Since there now couldn’t be a punctual servicing turn for Tuesday afternoon’s Chicago departure, the equipment was held overnight in St. Paul where it became Tuesday’s train back to the West Coast. Amtrak spokesman Craig Schulz tells Trains News Wire that passengers were provided bus service through to Chicago; a stub train was assembled Tuesday to bring westbound travelers to a rendezvous with the Builder, but mechanical problems delayed its departure from Chicago Union Station Tuesday until 4:50 p.m., more than two-and-a-half hours late.
Throughout 2016, Amtrak has been running “on-time” buses from St. Paul to Chicago on occasions when the eastbound train was delayed enough to miss connections at Chicago. That happened only twice July through September, but the October grain harvest and recent sub-zero and snowy conditions have prompted the occurrence more often to help protect the train’s crucial Twin Cities-Chicago patronage.
Extensive westbound delays caused buses to be substituted each way between Spokane and both Seattle and Portland four times this December, but this is the first instance the eastbound train didn’t make it to Chicago. Empire Builders on the road Tuesday were averaging about three hours’ worth of delay, but they all were getting through.
The EB may make it through the snow, but only at a crawl. My daughter at the University of Minnesota enjoys sleeping in when catching the train at SPUD since the 8 AM departure is more like 12-2 pm on return trips to Glenview. My Amtrak conductor friend says be thankful it arrives on the expected DAY.
Amtrak during the winter needs to get real and cut the busses. This happens every year. Why not have a pool of standby equipment perhaps built up from some of the cars in Beech Grove that could repaired for such corridor duty? Expensive perhaps, but it keeps all on the rails and service on time. Have to give the railroad and Amtrak credit for doing far better than in the past. At least the core train kept moving under horrific conditions while other modes stalled out. This is the way it use to be.
A few years ago my wife and I made it as far as Wenatchee and were then transferred to a bus for Seattle.
And in November 2015, after enjoying the Trains 75th Anniversary celebrations in Milwaukee, I made it as far as Spokane. We were late and at 5.00am were awoken by the attendant and advised that a bus awaited us for onward travel to Seattle.
I’m sure there are lots of stories from readers about the EB’s onetime performance.
But as Dennis Jeffries mentions, Amtrak and BNSF do deserve some credit for running during some pretty horrific weather.
Mr. Selden makes a good point. If I pay to ride a train, I want to ride a train – not a bus. Amtrak’s efforts to move its passengers onward despite the weather (using buses if necessary) is certainly commendable but it would seem that the addition of an additional train set during the winter would obviate the need for buses and allow passengers to move onward by train in an unbroken journey.
Well then, how about a return of the North Coast Hiawatha between Chicago and Seattle/Portland via the Twin Cities and Billings, MT which Amtrak has said previously that this would be its 3rd in potential ridership if it were implemented. Also, how about a stop in Minneapolis for both trains. There are over a million people in Hennepin County that the Empire Builder does not currently serve well. Also, lets improve connections at Chicago. Currently, the EB doesn’t connect with the Texas Eagle or the Southwest Chief in either direction. There was a time when it did. I agree that more new equipment is needed for the long distance trains.
For years I have wished–and repeatedly suggested–that Amtrak tout the relatively weather-resistant nature of rail service. Trains hardly even slow down for conditions like fog, thunderstorms, and moderate snow and ice that routinely paralyze airports and roads.
Whenever air and highway travel is disrupted by a weather event that does not significantly affect Amtrak’s operations, Amtrak should issue a press release in the affected region announcing that trains are operating as usual in spite of the weather. Sooner or later the media should start to take notice!
Hats off to the BNSF, CP and AMTRAK!! This is why All Aboard Minnesota, WisARP, and the Minnesota Hi-Speed Rail Comm. are pushing for a second train between the Twin Cities and Chicago. This would greatly improve service in these situations, as well as generally increase the passenger counts in this under served corridor.
This story omits as much as it relates. Two Amtrak-caused factors that exacerbate weather-caused problems are Amtrak’s chronic failure to maintain its rolling stock at Chicago (in this case, causing a substantial delay to train 807), and its refusal to add a sixth trainset to the Empire Builder rotation–at least in the winter–to allow for proper servicing of trainsets for on time departures from Portland and Seattle and recovery from delays to westbound trains.
The calls for a second frequency between Chicago and St. Paul will not help these issues, as we know from consistent empirical experience that local trains in this market, without meaningful connections at Chicago and markets west of the Twin Cities, attract only busload quantities of traffic and are profoundly uneconomical to operate.
Good for BNSF and Amtrak for their efforts! This is what railroads used to be…the last to shut down and the first to get running again!