The polar vortex that supposedly was caused by global warming should have been a great opportunity for Amtrak to prove the worth of intercity trains, which advocates often claim are “all-weather transportation.” Instead, Amtrak preemptively cancelled trains in both the Midwest and Northeast Corridor.
Trains between Chicago and the Twin Cities and between Chicago and St. Louis were all cancelled. The Empire Builder between the Twin Cities and Spokane was also cancelled. Then it cancelled Chicago-Detroit trains. Finally, it reduced service in the Northeast Corridor.
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Admittedly, three trains were stuck in the snow in Illinois in the middle of the night. Fortunately, Amtrak was able to rescue the passengers–with buses.
The Antiplanner wrote:
Admittedly, three trains were stuck in the snow in Illinois in the middle of the night. Fortunately, Amtrak was able to rescue the passengers–with buses.
Silly me, I thought modes of transportation that ran on steel rails was supposed to be immune to problems caused by weather.
I do wonder how much money Amtrak spends on emergency bus service annually.
The preemptive cancellations were no different than the airport closures and the closures of Interstates. Most were because of anticipated in ability to make a train start due to snow/cold or accomodation of reduced operating flexibility from shutting down interlockings during a storm, or anticipating a need for extra capacity to fix rail and wire breaks from the cold temperatures (both of hwich happened). Some trains kept operating on all routes except the three Long Distance routes heading into the worst of the weather which is more than can be said for other modes.
The bus rescues only happened after nearly a day once the roads were opened. At least its civilized on a stuck train – imagine being stuck on a bus caught in a snow drift.
Similar problems also occurred in days of yore in the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s. There just wasn’t an internet and weather channel to provide 24/7 news coverage of trains running 16 hours late or stranded in NE Iowa in the snow, or PRR GG1’s shutting down due to eating a fine mist of snow flakes.
“I do wonder how much money Amtrak spends on emergency bus service annually.”
I do wonder how much … spend(s) on … … … annually (from extreme weather events)?
City streets and sanitation departments … road salt, heavy equipment, personnel overtime
Local governments … increased emergency protection, accident response and inter-agency coordination
Airlines … cash rebates, hotel rooms, meal vouchers
I could go on but I guess you get the point.
If we spent more on Amtrak, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem as it is.
prk166 wrote:
If we spent more on Amtrak, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem as it is.
Considering that Amtrak “loses money on every customer and does not make it up in volume,” how’s about we spend no tax money on Amtrak instead?
I realize the Antiplanner is just countering a talking point by rail advocates, but I think it is a great idea for Amtrak and other industries and people to react to actually react to the weather! Too many people act like the weather shouldn’t interfere with their lives, and many die because of it.
For example, if you live live near the ocean and near sea level, you shouldn’t think that weather won’t cause a problem. And if you live below sea level and a Class Four hurricane is heading for your city…..
CP, I agree with you. But at the end of the day, politically Amtrak has to serve these long routes. They have to sprinkle the pork to get enough politicians on board.
The problem with these routes is Amtrak doesn’t have enough equipment to serve them on the schedules they maintain. For example, IIRC, something like every Empire Builder stop in Montana in October was late. They canceled some trains just to get the schedules back in sync.
If Amtrak had more equipment and crews they wouldn’t have to do this. Amtrak and others aren’t wrong to claim more capital spending would alleviate the issue. They’re just avoiding the bigger question, is it worth the cost?