Amtrak On-Time Performance (OTP) Delays Reroutes Annulled

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 7:26 am Freakin' Amtrak... I'm having flashbacks to the June 21, 2010 MARC 538 incident near DC. Tell me if this sounds familiar:

• Train breaks down on the busy NEC.
• Engineers and conductors concentrate on diagnosing and fixing the problem.
• Passengers are not notified and left clueless.
• Delays mount until a rescue engine is found and attached.
• Train is terminated.

The connecting relevance here is that in both cases, Amtrak personnel were running the train (by contract for MARC in 538's case). The difference here is 2151 was in colder weather and was kept warm by sunlight, while 538 was in sweltering heat that ended up evacuating the train and pulling in medics late -- a far worse case.

Yeah, cept it's the damn flagship train.
Imagine if B&O let this happen to the Capital Limited, or the Royal Blue.

On one of the news reports, ABC I think, they had an interview with a passenger who seemed quite knowledgeable who said that the brakes were seized up so that may have been part of the issue that took 5-6 hours before they could DRAG the train to NYP. I guess moving the passengers off the disabled train to another one is not feasible given the ACELA’s have no traps and only narrow emergency ladders to exit the train.

...7 hours is ridiculous. The reports said that the train lost all power... but in the end, another Acela coupled to it and towed it to NYP; so it wasn't a catenary power issue. Passengers on the stricken train said that the "screeching" noises made while being towed were terrible. There were also "burning odors" and some smoke. Sounds like seized brakes to me. But why couldn't the train have been towed... back... to the point that a rescue train could be brought along side?

From the pictures on the ABC news site, it appears that a SPRINTER locomotive was being coupled to the dead ACELA

Everyone - Found out yesterday evening about Acela 2151 2/14 stalling out near Hunterspoint Avenue...
I have some questions and thoughts:
1 - Exactly which track was 2151 on heading west - was it being routed into Line Two (as I think it may have been)
or Line Four? (East River Tunnels westbound into NYP) - I was not able to determine the exact location from the
ground photographs - did any media outlet get any airview of the stalled Acela trainset?

2 - Depending on the location of the train an evacuation to the adjacent LIRR Hunterspoint Avenue Station
using evacuation ladders with railroad and rescue personnel could have been undertaken. Remember that
third rail is only present on one side of the train - with supervision passengers could have been led to HPA.

3 - The time of this problem - during the 8AM "Commission Hour" is what actually was shocking (pun NOT
intended) to me - if this train was blocking a direct track into Lines Two or Four a rescue motor (ACS64) or
train for substantially less time could have been used - with Sunnyside Yard so close by...

4 - At one time the LIRR had their own "Protect" diesel units on standby for each peak period weekdays at
Harold Tower - which were one or two SW1001 units equipped with an MU coupler and control stand.
There were two Engineer-only jobs that were (from a 2006 LIRR ETT) from Morris Park-Jamaica:
Report Morris Park 5:30 AM - Engine Lite to Harold Tower - Return to Morris Park - Release 1:30 PM
Report Morris Park 2:00 PM - Engine Lite to Harold Tower - Return to Morris Park - Release 10:00 PM
"Rescue Trains with or without Passengers Lines 1,2,3,4, Hunterspoint Avenue, Long Island City, F and
Harold Areas to Penn Station, Jamaica and Shea Stadium" (Port Washington Branch now named Mets-
Willets Point) - LIRR Protect engines have rescued Amtrak trains and have even gone to rescue NJT
trains stalled in the tunnels - including rare moves west of Penn Station - as necessary. Recent LIRR
ETTs no longer show these two "protects" - could they have been ended for ESA construction?

5 - The broken down Acela trainset had its brakes lock up or were there seized traction motors on one
or both power units? One reason that the train had to be slowly towed into NYP is that one or more
axles were stationary - meaning sliding wheels and flat spots from the train being "dragged" into
NYP by the ACS64 rescue motor - which only added to what was for the passengers and train crew
a very lengthy and frustrating delay - that should not have taken seven hours to get into NYP...

What surprised me is seeing how much media coverage the 2/14 Acela 2151 delay had...MACTRAXX

On that day, all other Amtrak trains from Boston to New York that arrived before 2:30 p.m. were delayed, most of them about 20 minutes.

Has another snowflake been forecast?
Modified Service Due to Winter Storm Miles
Tuesday, February 15, 2022 6:30PM ET
Due to forecasted impacts from the winter storm and for the safety of our customers and employees, Amtrak has made the following temporary service adjustments for Thursday, February 17, and Friday, February 18, 2022:

On Thursday, February 17, the following service is canceled:

Lincoln Service Trains 304 & 305 (operating between St. Louis and Chicago), other round-trips remain scheduled for Trains 300, 301, 302, 303, 306 & 307.
Missouri River Runner Train 313 (operating between St. Louis, Mo. and Kansas City, Mo.)
Pere Marquette Train 370 (operating between Chicago and Grand Rapids, Mich.)
On Friday, February 18, the following service is canceled:

Lincoln Service Trains 300 & 301 (operating between St. Louis and Chicago), other round-trips remain scheduled for Trains 302, 303, 304, 305, 306 & 307.
Missouri River Runner Train 314 (operating between Kansas City and St. Louis)
Pere Marquette Train 371 (operating between Grand Rapids, Mich., and Chicago)

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 7:26 am Freakin' Amtrak... I'm having flashbacks to the June 21, 2010 MARC 538 incident near DC. Tell me if this sounds familiar:

• Train breaks down on the busy NEC.
• Engineers and conductors concentrate on diagnosing and fixing the problem.
• Passengers are not notified and left clueless.
• Delays mount until a rescue engine is found and attached.
• Train is terminated.

The connecting relevance here is that in both cases, Amtrak personnel were running the train (by contract for MARC in 538's case). The difference here is 2151 was in colder weather and was kept warm by sunlight, while 538 was in sweltering heat that ended up evacuating the train and pulling in medics late -- a far worse case.

RW - This was the discussion about the June 21, 2010 MARC Penn Line train breakdown:
https://railroad.net/passengers-strande ... 73152.html
(7 pages - 98 posts from the DC-MD-VA Forum Archives) In my 17 year RR.net membership past topics CAN
be found using a simple search - in my opinion too many members do not use them to their advantage
when they are here for reference and research for any one of us at any time...MACTRAXX

NY&LB wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 10:43 am I guess moving the passengers off the disabled train to another one is not feasible given the ACELA’s have no traps and only narrow emergency ladders to exit the train.

I was aboard an Acela that snagged the catenary just before New Rochelle back in 2001. We sat for at least an hour but eventually they used the emergency steps to have us de-train and board a rescue train on the adjacent track. (There was a large space between trains - the two tracks happened to be far apart there.) I don't know why that couldn't be done in this case, but 7 hours does seem ridiculous.

JimBoylan wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 9:27 pmHas another snowflake been forecast?

Actually a few million of them have been forecast. Thanks for asking.

The lack of a rescue locomotive at a peak period by the busiest train station in the Western Hemisphere seems to be a big oops. If you are that short of crews, cancel a train and send that locomotive out as a rescue. You could have cancelled one of the two Keystones leaving NYP after this issue and sent their ACS-64 out to rescue.