Auto train delays continue.

Since Amtrak changed their departure schedule from 4 PM to 5 PM 1 of the 2 auto trains has been late everyday since .
Yesterdays southbound #53 departed at 7:11pm arriving today 4 hours and 11 minutes late in Sanford ,Florida and today's North bound #52 is scheduled to leave Florida at 7:11pm.
At this rate they'll never get back on schedule.

Mr. Firetiger, let's give the adverse weather conditions affecting the Southeast at present time to stabilize; then we address train performance through the region.

But at present, your observations are well founded. Doing my own "status check", as of a few moments ago, 91(6) is reported over six hours late into JAX. There is no report for 53(6) at SFA, nor for 52(6) at LOR.

All told at this time, setting back the Auto Train departure time as giving rise to the delays you note, I believe are unfounded.

Now, as a "veteran" of 24 "voyages" aboard AT (have now suspended such; just got too pricey for my blood considering the reduced utility it affords me), if a run gets so delayed that it will be difficult to "get back in sync", Amtrak will annul a run and deadhead (fly) the on-board crew home. If the delays you note simply do a "Murphy's Law", this practice will likely come into "play".

Usually, a trip in the opposite direction has to also be cancelled, to avoid deadheading the equipment. If the crew was flown home, then a crew has to also be deadheaded in the opposite direction. It would make more sense to cancel a round trip out of the crews' home terminal.

The major arrival delays are only with same train (yesterdays southbound which is today's northbound.
They are not going to catch up unless they can load a completely spare train with a crew in Virginia,and depart on time.
If you cancel a run you will need to cancel both Otherwise you'll have 2 trains in Lorton and nothing inSanford.

Since the auto train can carry up to 330 cars and around 600 passengers cancel ing is not an option . Reservations for the auto train are made well in advanced so you can just rebook them the next day.

52 is 4hrs and 30 minutes late. It departed Sanford at 5pm and took 9 hours to get to Jacksonville .This is normally a 2 hour trip by car.
This is the same train that's been very late for the past week. The other train has been on or close to on time.

2 more fatalities on 52 Sunday. 52 held for 4:45 by corner.

Two people hit by Amtrak in Biddeford | WGME

west point wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 1:24 am 2 more fatalities on 52 Sunday. 52 held for 4:45 by corner.

Two people hit by Amtrak in Biddeford | WGME

That's not the AutoTrain. Biddeford, Maine is nowhere near the AutoTrain's route. That was Downeaster 691. See the Downeaster thread.

If there was a trespasser strike on the AutoTrain, I could not find it through Google News nor Amtrak Alerts Twitter.

In the interest of laying this mistaken reporting to rest, here is the source Mr. West Point cited:

https://wgme.com/news/local/two-people- ... -biddeford

Fair Use:

BIDDEFORD (WGME)-- Two people are dead after an Amtrak train struck and killed them in Biddeford Sunday morning.

According to Biddeford Police, the two individuals were struck around 11 a.m.

There were 81 passengers on the train at the time.

Passengers tell CBS13 they were initially told the train was stopped due to a "trespassing" incident.

Here's the departure and arrival data for 52 and 53 since April 1st

NORTHBOUND
History for Amtrak 52 at SFA
https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archi ... ns=&dfon=1

History for Amtrak 52 at LOR
https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archi ... ns=&dfon=1


SOUTHBOUND
History for Amtrak 53 at LOR
https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archi ... ns=&dfon=1

History for Amtrak 53 at SFA
https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archi ... ns=&dfon=1

Train 52-8 is now 6 hours late as of 10:45am 5/9/2022.
Estimated arrival 4pm.
That train becomes 53-9 scheduled to depart at 5pm.
Not going to happen.

Sundays #53-16 departed Lorton at 1:29am Monday 5/16.

Does anyone know what happened with 53 on 6/13? Looks like it arrived in Sanford earlier today (6/15). I saw a few tweets from people on board, but seems like Amtrak gave them little to no information.

Both 52 and 53 were cancelled on 6/14 presumably as a reset. Assuming there's simply no way to re-accommodate so many people on later trains as there seems to be full loads, does Amtrak just refund and figure you'll drive instead?

53 hit a shopping cart full of mannequins somewhere between Dillon and Florence
Andy

Shopping carts that were struck went under the train and damaged air lines and other unspecified damage. Took time to get mechanics to the location to fix the problems.