On Jan. 11 an FAA computer outage had grounded over 11,000 flights.
Between last Thursday and Sunday, back office server issues with Amtrak I-ETMS (PTC) resulted in over 50 Amtrak train cancelations out of Chicago alone along with numerous spot cancelations. The FRA had a preliminary report the next day - we haven't seen anything from the FRA or Amtrak even offering to investigate. At least 15,000 and perhaps over 20,000 passengers suddenly had to find alternate means of reaching their destinations. It appears that neither Amtrak nor the company that offers the server service had backup facilities.
Continuous transportation can be provided if the carrier is willing to accommodate some redundancy in its facilities. Recently when CSX had a situation that affected the computers used by train dispatchers in the systemwide facility in Jacksonville, the dispatchers were moved into a back-up facility until the main office was up and running. When I worked for Conrail, their busy Selkirk Yard kept running without a hitch after an October heavy/wet snow felled so many branches that the greater Albany, NY area lost commercial power for several days. Why? Because Selkirk had backup generators.
I firmly believe that everyone who had a ticket who was denied transportation during this period needs to contact his/her elected officials.
Andy
Between last Thursday and Sunday, back office server issues with Amtrak I-ETMS (PTC) resulted in over 50 Amtrak train cancelations out of Chicago alone along with numerous spot cancelations. The FRA had a preliminary report the next day - we haven't seen anything from the FRA or Amtrak even offering to investigate. At least 15,000 and perhaps over 20,000 passengers suddenly had to find alternate means of reaching their destinations. It appears that neither Amtrak nor the company that offers the server service had backup facilities.
Continuous transportation can be provided if the carrier is willing to accommodate some redundancy in its facilities. Recently when CSX had a situation that affected the computers used by train dispatchers in the systemwide facility in Jacksonville, the dispatchers were moved into a back-up facility until the main office was up and running. When I worked for Conrail, their busy Selkirk Yard kept running without a hitch after an October heavy/wet snow felled so many branches that the greater Albany, NY area lost commercial power for several days. Why? Because Selkirk had backup generators.
I firmly believe that everyone who had a ticket who was denied transportation during this period needs to contact his/her elected officials.
Andy