I just found out yesterday, that the American Orient Express has cancelled its trips through Mexico's Copper Canyon, because the repairs done to the tracks didn't appear safe enough for AOE to risk it.
In another posting in the forum, "AOE Derailed in Mexico", I reported that in late February of this year ('05) that an AOE train derailed in Mexico because of track failure, and apparently the repairs aren't the best. I don't know whether this effects the AOE Mexico trips scheduled for Feb. & Mar. of '06, or any of the other passenger trains on that route, such as the Sierra Madre Express or the motorhome train.
The bad news for me is that I was origianally booked on that AOE Mexico trip, for March of '05, and I was rebooked for a (now cancelled) AOE trip thru Mexico in November 1 - 7 of '05. They offered a replacement trip for those same dates, the "Rockies & Sierra's" trip (S.F. to Denver) but I chose not to take it because there is so little time aboard the train and only on the Amtrak CZ route (which I've done several times) plus most of this trip is done via buses going to national parks (which I've also been to, and bus ridin' sucks).
I'm still going to do (albeit a rebooked version) the connecting Amtrak trip (from my home in Wisconsin) I had scheduled around the AOE trip (their AOE thru Mexico trip would started and ended in El Paso) - I'll pass on a quick report in this forum when I return.
In another posting in the forum, "AOE Derailed in Mexico", I reported that in late February of this year ('05) that an AOE train derailed in Mexico because of track failure, and apparently the repairs aren't the best. I don't know whether this effects the AOE Mexico trips scheduled for Feb. & Mar. of '06, or any of the other passenger trains on that route, such as the Sierra Madre Express or the motorhome train.
The bad news for me is that I was origianally booked on that AOE Mexico trip, for March of '05, and I was rebooked for a (now cancelled) AOE trip thru Mexico in November 1 - 7 of '05. They offered a replacement trip for those same dates, the "Rockies & Sierra's" trip (S.F. to Denver) but I chose not to take it because there is so little time aboard the train and only on the Amtrak CZ route (which I've done several times) plus most of this trip is done via buses going to national parks (which I've also been to, and bus ridin' sucks).
I'm still going to do (albeit a rebooked version) the connecting Amtrak trip (from my home in Wisconsin) I had scheduled around the AOE trip (their AOE thru Mexico trip would started and ended in El Paso) - I'll pass on a quick report in this forum when I return.
