Amtrak cancelations this weekend

[Tim]

Here are the Midwest cancellations to and from Chicago for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, Dec. 22, 24, and 25. Other trains on these routes will continue to operate, though many are already sold out both Thursday and Friday.
Chicago-Pontiac, Mich.: Train 352 (2:15 p.m. from Chicago); 353 (8:50 a.m. from Pontiac).
Trains Newswire 12/19/22

[Manistique]

Here are the Midwest cancellations to and from Chicago for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, Dec. 22, 24, and 25. Other trains on these routes will continue to operate, though many are already sold out both Thursday and Friday.
Chicago-Pontiac, Mich.: Train 352 (2:15 p.m. from Chicago); 353 (8:50 a.m. from Pontiac).
Trains Newswire 12/19/22

Interesting. I wonder if it because of the snow predictions or equipment availability or lack of crews?

[Saturnalia]

Here are the Midwest cancellations to and from Chicago for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, Dec. 22, 24, and 25. Other trains on these routes will continue to operate, though many are already sold out both Thursday and Friday.
Chicago-Pontiac, Mich.: Train 352 (2:15 p.m. from Chicago); 353 (8:50 a.m. from Pontiac).
Trains Newswire 12/19/22

Interesting. I wonder if it because of the snow predictions or equipment availability or lack of crews?

I'd say both. They're cancelling trains due to bad weather, which their depeleted workforce and equipment roster won't be able to handle. My presumption with cancelling 352/353 is that it gives both Pontiac and Chicago an "extra" trainset in case something goes wrong with the other two.

[Manistique]

Here are the Midwest cancellations to and from Chicago for Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, Dec. 22, 24, and 25. Other trains on these routes will continue to operate, though many are already sold out both Thursday and Friday.
Chicago-Pontiac, Mich.: Train 352 (2:15 p.m. from Chicago); 353 (8:50 a.m. from Pontiac).
Trains Newswire 12/19/22

Interesting. I wonder if it because of the snow predictions or equipment availability or lack of crews?

I'd say both. They're cancelling trains due to bad weather, which their depeleted workforce and equipment roster won't be able to handle. My presumption with cancelling 352/353 is that it gives both Pontiac and Chicago an "extra" trainset in case something goes wrong with the other two.

They haven't lengthened any of the Wolverines this week for the holiday surge as far as I have seen, which is a bit odd.

[NS3322]

Interesting. I wonder if it because of the snow predictions or equipment availability or lack of crews?

I'd say both. They're cancelling trains due to bad weather, which their depeleted workforce and equipment roster won't be able to handle. My presumption with cancelling 352/353 is that it gives both Pontiac and Chicago an "extra" trainset in case something goes wrong with the other two.

They haven't lengthened any of the Wolverines this week for the holiday surge as far as I have seen, which is a bit odd.

No excess equipment.

[Saturnalia]

They've now cancelled 352-353 from Dec 22-25, and now the Pere Marquette EB on the 22nd and WB on the 23rd.

Pathetic.

[GRHC]

It’s amazing to me the lack of respect for mother nature and her awesome power and fury. So they say dam the weather and run the trains no matter what the cost or the consequences may be.


It’s not only Amtrak making cancellations.
https://apple.news/AyjZJqC5lQ-eI07qh7FNJxg

[Chip]

Why is that pathetic? Would you rather them break down and strand passengers in the middle of nowhere during a blizzard?

[justalurker66]

Hopefully everyone who needed to travel are on today's trains. Losing all of the eastern trains in and out of Chicago for two days probably ruined a lot of plans.

[J T]

They've now cancelled...the Pere Marquette EB on the 22nd and WB on the 23rd.

Why not also EB on the 23 and WB on the 24th? Conditions are going to far worse Friday night/Saturday morning than Thursday night/Friday morning.

[GRHC]

They've now cancelled...the Pere Marquette EB on the 22nd and WB on the 23rd.

Pathetic

Why not also EB on the 23 and WB on the 24th? Conditions are going to far worse Friday night/Saturday morning than Thursday night/Friday morning.

I wondered the same thing myself and the first thought that comes to my mind is the swamp the deep state and the fake weather must have something to do with the decision.

[Manistique]

In the not too old days the passenger trains were the only things running in the blizzards. And though they may have run very late, they always arrived.

[GRHC]

In the not too old days the passenger trains were the only things running in the blizzards. And though they may have run very late, they always arrived.

Here’s 3 examples.

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids ... _to_e.html

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qPRWR17oJZ4

https://www.popularmechanics.com/techno ... -13-hours/

[Ypsi]

Preemptively canceling trains kicks the crap out of sitting on one for an extended period of time. It is not just the chargers or the cold that is the issue. There is also the bad things that happen to freight trains in the cold, even if the Amtrak train is running "fine" it is so easy to get stuck behind a bottlenecked Chicago Line or a disabled freight train when there is as much snow and it is as cold as it is supposed to be. Not to mention, if it is as bad as it is claimed to be, there is not much point to traveling through it and not having safe ground transportation or everything else being closed when you arrive. We can't be mad when trains get stuck in poor weather for 12 hours but also be mad when they are canceled to prevent such a thing. While both are inconvenient, If I had to pick one, I would be more mad at being stuck than being canceled.

[CSXBOY]

News flash. You don't travel in the winter unless you want delays, cancellations and bad weather to cope with. Amtrak isn't the only one that's doing that. Flights are about to be cancelled soon enough I can garuntee it. Nobody should be out unless you have a monster truck or a monster jeep to get through the snow.

[GP30M4216]

29/30, 48/49, 448/449 departures cancelled both directions today and tomorrow. Better safe than stuck! I hope someone remembers to close ALL the doors on parked equipment in Chicago during the layup!

[CSXBOY]

Exactly ^

[chapmaja]

I'm sure the decision making has something to do with the issues Amtrak had a few months ago with the forever train across Michigan. In that case people exited the train and called Uber's to pick them up from the side of an expressway. That won't be an option, so Amtrak is being careful about the decision making process.

When you add crew availability, and equipment availability issues into the mix, it is an easy decision to cancel rather than risk another PR nightmere like they just had.

[Saturnalia]

I agree fully with why Amtrak canceled these trains, due to the myriad of issues mentioned above.

My point is that they shouldn’t have most of those issues, and be able to run a full service, even if potentially delayed. The fact that they’re still running four of the six Wolverines tells you that they’re confident enough to run trains, just not all of them given their current predicament of equipment, crews, etc

[LansingRailFan]

29/30, 48/49, 448/449 departures cancelled both directions today and tomorrow. Better safe than stuck! I hope someone remembers to close ALL the doors on parked equipment in Chicago during the layup!

They should scrap all of it and people should just drive. They are idiots for trusting Amtrak