PORTLAND, Ore. – Heavy rains in the Pacific Northwest caused a mudslide near Kelso, Wash., on Thursday morning that temporarily shut down BNSF Railway’s main line between Portland and Seattle.
BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent tells Trains News Wire, “The mud slides north of Kelso have impacted both freight and passenger service. Our crews have been working to clear the debris and expect to have the line open for freight movement.” All Amtrak Cascades service has been cancelled north of Portland on Friday; a passenger advisory says alternate bus service is being provided for passengers already booked, but Amtrak’s website shows no availability.
The last passenger train to move through the area in the wee hours of Thursday morning was a badly delayed northbound Starlight that departed Los Angeles on Tuesday morning but spent 7 hours waiting at Klamath Falls, Ore. It was delayed further on the way to Seattle, where it arrived more than 10 hours late at 5:58 a.m. The equipment turned to become Thursday’s southbound Coast Starlight, which ran without passengers (as a safety precaution) to Portland once one track was cleared. Travelers headed south departed from there at 8:31 p.m.; The train arrived into Klamath Falls Friday morning more than 9 hours late after waiting for a recrew en route.
Farther north, Thursday’s eastbound Empire Builder was cancelled from both Portland and Seattle by stalled freight trains on each route when their westbound counterparts were unable to get through; the eastbound Portland section was also cancelled on Wednesday.
East of Chicago, Tuesday’s New York-bound Cardinal made it as far as Rennselaer, Ind., before Amtrak decided to terminate the train; passengers returned to Chicago via “substitute transportation,” according to Amtrak. With a winter storm predicted for West Virginia, Wednesday’s westbound Cardinal was cancelled. Rather than operate a train between Chicago and Indianapolis on Thursday and returning to Chicago Saturday morning, Amtrak chose to cancel the train over its entire route Thursday from Chicago and Friday from New York.
About 8 inches of snow fell in Charleston, W.Va., Thursday and up to 4 inches of snow were predicted in Northern Virginia on Friday morning in the same area where significant cancellations occurred earlier in the week. [See “Amtrak struggles to recover from winter weather challenges,” Trains News Wire, January 5].
Also cancelled Thursday were Northeast Regional train 171 to Roanoke, Va., No. 93 to Norfolk, Va., and train 85 to Richmond, Va., as are their Friday morning counterparts from the same destinations, trains 176, 84, and 86. Wednesday’s northbound and Friday’s southbound Miami-New York Silver Meteor have also been annulled, but none of these specifics were specified in a cryptic “temporary service adjustment” notice on Amtrak’s website. Eight additional Northeast Regional trains were cancelled Friday as more snow and ice moved through New York toward Boston
Delays continued between Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va., on Thursday. Both northbound and southbound Auto Trains arrived at their terminals in the afternoon on Thursday, and the southbound train didn’t depart Lorton, Va., until 9 p.m.
