Amtrak remains a joke
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2022 9:56 pm
This is bad, even by Amtrak's piss poor standards!
https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/10/pass ... icago.html
https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/10/pass ... icago.html
https://mibuzzboard.com:443/phpBB3/
https://mibuzzboard.com:443/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=60869
It’s simply not that simple. They are having reliability issues with their Siemens made locomotives. Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin DOT’s were the first to buy them and they are a disaster. They are registered to Illinois DOT so they may actually own them. It’s a Midwest partnership at at any rate. Amtrak is getting over a hundred for their fleet as well. Hopefully they have improved.MWmetalhead wrote: ↑Sat Oct 08, 2022 9:56 pmThis is bad, even by Amtrak's piss poor standards!
https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/10/pass ... icago.html
Thank you for the post. Very informative.Rate This wrote: ↑Sat Oct 08, 2022 10:09 pm
It’s simply not that simple. They are having reliability issues with their Siemens made locomotives. Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin DOT’s were the first to buy them and they are a disaster. They are registered to Illinois DOT so they may actually own them. It’s a Midwest partnership at at any rate. Amtrak is getting over a hundred for their fleet as well. Hopefully they have improved.
Between this and the bus it’s 6 of 1 and a half a dozen of the other so I can speak to the real logistical problems being stuck somewhere because of a failure. What exactly would you suggest they do to fix the problem they were having on the train in the moment? Mechanical help is hours away and doesn’t grow on trees. Equipment is in Chicago and can’t just rush out to you. It doesn’t work that way. Good luck finding a bustitution to get your passengers to Chicago… you need several buses to do that and most companies are strapped for drivers so they can’t do that sort of work. You might find someone hours away.
Honestly coupling the trains together and trying to make it to Chicago was the best they could do. It sounds like the equipment simply was not cooperative for whatever reason. Then some asshole had to have a medical problem. Then the federal hours of service laws are absolute. You stop literally wherever you run out of hours. It’s the same on the bus. I run out of drive time and I stop wherever I am. On the railroad it’s referred to as going dead. And I can do paperwork at least. They can’t even do that. Once they are at the limit they literally can’t lift a finger. “But can’t they have somebody ready to get on it whereever they might go dead?” you ask… well that depends… is their a rested crew qualified to operate over that piece of track? You have to know every inch of that territory be certified and pass a knowledge test on it.
I assume you want some sort of immediate solution like this was a restaurant or a retail store. It doesn’t work that way. When something like this gets going there is no quick solution and no easy answer. And all of that is what comes immediately to mind. Not to mention whatever realities we don’t know about. That’s just the nature of the beast.
Oh and the best part. The folks who jumped off were trespassing at that point and Amtrak would have had no liability had they been hit by a freight train. Where they were bailing off at that would be extremely easy to do. Same goes for the freeway. Someone gets whacked by a semi that’s their problem.
As a semi-professional passenger, I am firmly behind concrete limits for pilots conductors and anyone who's transporting a lot of passengers.
I completely agree that greater regulation of railway space needs to occur.The biggest problem Amtrak faces these days is the shift that the freight industry has made by running longer trains that can't be parked on sidings. This has fouled the smooth operation because they no longer are using the rail system the way it was designed. Since Amtrak is only a guest on freight lines in most cases they get delayed much more often than they used to.
I think the passengers who were stuck for hours upon hours don't care so much about the "why" or "how." Also, the issues were not solely engine related. Did you read the MLive article?It’s simply not that simple. They are having reliability issues with their Siemens made locomotives. Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin DOT’s were the first to buy them and they are a disaster. They are registered to Illinois DOT so they may actually own them. It’s a Midwest partnership at at any rate. Amtrak is getting over a hundred for their fleet as well. Hopefully they have improved.
I will never - ever - EVER take an Amtrak train anywhere, and that's despite the fact I live only two or three miles from the nearest Amtrak station!“We’re feeling like we can’t stay on this train anymore. We’re getting no information from Amtrak. Again, we’re cold, hungry, people need to use the bathroom. It smells awful. And a percentage of people are having acute anxiety symptoms and screaming,” he said.
Yes, I read the article. The issues were engine related and equipment related, then they were stuck for a medical emergency, then the crew ran out of hours. The toilet issue… see the engine not working. No electricity = no flush. Even the article said that. The food issue… they carry enough for a 5 hour trip not one lasting as long as that one did so they ran out of food basically. The person claiming they only got a bag of peanuts or whatever is an idiot that didn’t go to the cafe car when that option was still available. Then they ran into a crew time issue. I’m here to tell you that forcing them to go beyond their 12 hours is extremely dangerous in a job as stressful and tiring as that one. The rules regarding hours of service are written in blood.MWmetalhead wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 7:06 amI completely agree that greater regulation of railway space needs to occur.The biggest problem Amtrak faces these days is the shift that the freight industry has made by running longer trains that can't be parked on sidings. This has fouled the smooth operation because they no longer are using the rail system the way it was designed. Since Amtrak is only a guest on freight lines in most cases they get delayed much more often than they used to.
I think the passengers who were stuck for hours upon hours don't care so much about the "why" or "how." Also, the issues were not solely engine related. Did you read the MLive article?It’s simply not that simple. They are having reliability issues with their Siemens made locomotives. Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin DOT’s were the first to buy them and they are a disaster. They are registered to Illinois DOT so they may actually own them. It’s a Midwest partnership at at any rate. Amtrak is getting over a hundred for their fleet as well. Hopefully they have improved.
The experience was mental & emotional torment for some of the passengers:
I will never - ever - EVER take an Amtrak train anywhere, and that's despite the fact I live only two or three miles from the nearest Amtrak station!“We’re feeling like we can’t stay on this train anymore. We’re getting no information from Amtrak. Again, we’re cold, hungry, people need to use the bathroom. It smells awful. And a percentage of people are having acute anxiety symptoms and screaming,” he said.
The train should've been de-boarded in either Ann Arbor or Jackson, and the passengers should've been taken to Chicago via charter buses.
I know enough to understand it works like a gigantic pile of horseshit.Keep not knowing how this works… it’s fun to respond to. You keep assuming things… this is one area where that is a bad plan indeed.
Where's the "LIKE" button??MWmetalhead wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:18 amI know enough to understand it works like a gigantic pile of horseshit.Keep not knowing how this works… it’s fun to respond to. You keep assuming things… this is one area where that is a bad plan indeed.
Not gonna get an argument from me. It’s underfunded.MWmetalhead wrote: ↑Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:18 amI know enough to understand it works like a gigantic pile of horseshit.Keep not knowing how this works… it’s fun to respond to. You keep assuming things… this is one area where that is a bad plan indeed.