ST. LOUIS — The return date for the second round trip of Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner service between St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., has been pushed back again, this time to Dec. 16.
The train, which has been suspended since Oct. 24, was previously scheduled to resume Nov. 16 and today (Sunday, Dec. 4). The new return date is listed in an advisory on the Amtrak website.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that a lack of available cars is the reason for service suspensions that have “been sort of rotating around the Midwest,” as well as labor shortages. Routes out of Chicago serving Quincy, Ill.; Carbondale, Ill.; St. Louis, and Pontiac, Mich., have also seen some trains suspended.
Amtrak’s state-supported Midwest service continue to have issues placing into service 88 new Siemens Venture railcars built in Sacramento, Calif. [see “Siemens equipment delays aggravate Amtrak capacity issues …,” Trains News Wire, April 1, 2022]. The cars have had problems with their tables and retractable steps, among other issues. An Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman told the Post-Dispatch there are ongoing problems with water filtration systems and onboard electronic displays.
At a Dec. 1 board meeting in St. Louis, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said Amtrak had expected 60 of the new cars to be operating in 2022, but the problems have meant “35 cars fewer” are available [see “Amtrak’s Gardner asserts mechanical ranks not thinned …,” News Wire, Dec. 3, 2022].
The first of the Siemens cars were delivered in August 2020, and made their initial test run almost two years ago [see “News photos: Testing begins …,” News Wire, Jan. 25, 2021]. It has now been 10 months since the cars made their revenue debut in Chicago-St. Louis service [see “First look: Siemens Venture coaches debut …,” News Wire, Feb. 2, 2022].
The second Missouri River Runner round trip, which had been cut in January because of a lack of state funding, was restored with fanfare on July 18 [see “Missouri, Amtrak relaunch …,” News Wire, July 20, 2022]. It ran for 98 days before being halted because of the equipment issues, and will have been suspended for 53 days if it returns on Dec. 16.
I’ve been asking the same question that Gerald has asked. Why is Brightline not having issues with their equipment?
Southern Railway’s Chattanooga – Memphis Trains Nos. 35 & 36 I grew up riding with my parents had been discontinued since 31st January 1967. That is 55 years or the time span of someone born and becoming middle-aged. The delay in restoring the second ‘Missouri River Runner’ after suspension 24th October 2022 due to the alleged flaws in the new Siemens Venture cars and Charger locomotives put into service lies with Amtrak. Any needed maintenance of equipment should be contracted with Siemens so that skills can be learned.
To James and J Robert above…I pose the following question to both of you gentleman. What is different about the Amtrak cars from the Brightline cars other than being individual cars on their own trucks? I think the problem lies more with Amtrak and the State DoT’s than it does with Siemens. Afterall, the Venture cars are just stand-alone cars that comprise the Brightline and VIA rail trainsets…perhaps the State DoT’s and Amtrak would’ve been better off ordering the full set with power units at both ends.
My question is what QUALITY ASSURANCE does Siemens do to make sure they are delivering a car to the specifications and what recourse does Amtrak have?
I agree with James. Why are these cars not tested more before Siemens tells Amtrak they are ready? What am I missing?
This is not a good sign for the Missouri legislators who pushed and obtained the additional funding for this trip. Why should they expend political capital if AMTRAK can’t deliver the appropriated service?