CHICAGO — Amtrak has cancelled Empire Builder departures for a third straight day, the company announced early today (Monday, Feb. 17).
Also cancelled: both directions of the Borealis, westbound between Chicago and St. Paul and eastbound between St. Paul and Milwaukee, as well as both directions of the Adirondack between Montreal and Albany Rensselaer, N.Y. “Impending severe weather conditions” are cited for all three trains, according to the Amtrak Alerts feed on social media.
Also, “ongoing engine issues” led to the cancellation of Hiawatha No. 332, the 8:05 a.m. departure from Milwaukee, between Sturtevant, Wis., and Chicago.
Buses will be substituted for the cancelled portions of the Borealis in both directions.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area is under a cold weather advisory for wind chills as low as minus-38, with an extreme cold warning for wind chills as low as minus-42 tonight, according to the National Weather Service. As of 7:30 a.m. today, the actual temperature was minus-13 with a forecast high of minus-2, according to AccuWeather.
Montreal is dealing with the final stages of a storm that has brought 15 inches of snow, CTV News reports. It led to Sunday evening cancellations of VIA Rail Canada trains between Montreal and Quebec City trains, as well as “significant delays elsewhere.” Delays will continue today, VIA says, with CTV reporting early trains in the Toronto-Quebec corridor were operating up to 2 hours late. Environment Canada has issued a blowing snow advisory that says visibility could be reduced to near zero in places, with winds up to 70 kilometers an hour (43 mph).
— Updated at 9:10 a.m. CT with information on VIA corridor service; updated at 12 p.m. to correct that eastbound Borealis is cancelled between St. Paul and Milwaukee, and note Hiawatha cancellation.
I recommend reading “The Winter of ‘36” in Classic Trains Winter on the Rails special edition to see exactly how it was done back then. The Milwaukee Road faced about as bad of weather as it gets on their Milwaukee Division over a 34 day period and no passenger train was delayed more than about 3+1/4 hours during that span. The difference was a huge amount of manpower, proper equipment, damn the expense, and of course a can do attitude to the max on the part of all involved.
The Adirondack has two railroads to contend with one of them this panel loves to hate
If both were delaying freight operations and one with sketchy MOW operations you think they would send out plows for 2 (non revenue for them) trains?
I think Amtrak who rents time on the tracks should get a pass this time
Amtrak isn’t cancelling the trains because of cold weather. They’re cancelling the trains because their equipment is unreliable in cold weather. Big difference, because it wasn’t always that way.
The Boring-Alice ran with Superliners both directions yesterday. The Superliner cars can handle the cold. The problem is the new Amtrak diesels that can’t. From observing webcam at Columbus yesterday:
WB Borealis had another new diesel up front, and as I recall, no unit on the rear. EB had two units, one on each end – the right arrangement for cold weather. EB Empire Builder was a few hours late, but arrived before dark with (no surprise) a BNSF freight unit pulling three Amtrak units. Fortunately, one of the Amtrak units was P40-P42 so the train had heat and lights.
I can see some reason to not run the Builder through North Dakota with -55 wind chills. But this does not excuse failure to provide any service Chicago-Twin Cities. Running a “short” 7 and 8 as far as Fargo if the cold moderates in MN should also be considered.
Life in my Milwaukee-area community is quite normal today. Everything is open as usual. The only change is some people are getting shopping, etc. done during daylight so they can stay in tonight. Forecast tonight: Air Temp. -10, wind chill -20 to -25F).
I just now checked the Metra website. Everything seems to be running normal. One “system-wide alert”: (an invitation for people to use Metra to get to some big event.)
So if Metra is running fine and buses can run, why no Amtrak?
You are so correct in stating that it wasn’t always like this. I remember the Amtrak Empire Builder (1970’s) with Heritage equipment (steam heat, no HEP) running close to schedule in colder weather than this. The “old guys” of that time prepared for the weather – the train had extra diesels and some sort of “heater car”.
Also, a C&NW memory from about 60 years ago. A cold front following a snowstorm had SE Wis. in a “ground blizzard” situation. Southbound Train 214 “Peninsula 400” with HEP bi-levels was standing in Sheboygan 3 hours late. After coming from Ishpeming, MI (near Marquette) that morning, they were waiting for the snowplow from Milwaukee to reach Sheboygan so they could proceed safely over a plowed track. THAT is how to run a railroad.
Anyone else see the irony of buses substituting for trains. Apparently railroads cannot handle cold weather, but buses can?
MN single digits below for highs, ND, MT teens below for highs -20 to -30’s lows tonight & next night. I’m sure BNSF has their hands full.
The Borealis territory is above zero. West of the Twin Cities may be an issue but the Borealis doesn’t go there.
With the winter winding down, this seems to be the mildest winter (counting both snow and cold) since I moved to the midwest in 1968.
The world is upside down. It used to be we advocated for trains in weather too inclement to drive. Now the trains are cancelled and Amtrak substitues buses on the highways.
So a bus can run but a train can’t.
Can’t speak for the entire Borealis or Empire Builder route. Here in Brookfield Township, Wisconsin, which is part of the route, it’s perfectly clear and sunny, no snow forecast all this week, and the temperature is exactly what it’s supposed to be, 3 degrees F.