And You Think YOU’VE had a Bad Day?
As I write this, it’s not quite midnight on Sunday here in Hawaii and I was about to go to bed. But, I said to myself, I think I’ll take a quick peek at the Intercity Rail Map–I wrote about it a couple of days ago–and see if any of Amtrak’s long-distance trains are having problems at a quarter past 4:00 a.m. Chicago time at he start of a brand-new week.
Big mistake! It isn’t pretty.
Train No. 1, the westbound Sunset Limited, en route from New Orleans to Los Angeles, is in Maricopa, Arizona, and is 3 hours late.
Train No. 2, the eastbound Sunset Limited, en route from Los Angeles to New Orleane, is in Palm Springs, Califorrnia, and is running on time.
Train No. 3, the westbound Southwest Chief, en route from Chicago to Los Angeles, is in Flagstaff, Arizona, and is 4 hours late.
Train No. 4, the eastbound Southwest Chief, en route from Los Angeles to Chicago, is in Lamar, Colorado, and is 3 hours 49 minutes late.
Train No. 5, the westbound California Zephyr, en route from Chicago to Emeryville, California, is in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is 2 hours 32 minutes late.
Train No. 6, the eastbound California Zephyr (yesterday’s departure), en route from Emeryville, California, to Chicago, is in Fort Morgan, Colorado, and is 5 hours, 2 minutes late.
Train No. 6, the eastbound California Zephyr (today’s departure) is in Reno, Nevada, and is 7 hours and 47 minutes late.
Train No. 7, the westbound Empire Builder, is in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is 3 hours 39 minutes late.
Train No. 8, the eastbound Empire Builder (yesterday’s departure), is in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and is on time.
Train No. 8, the eastbound Empire Builder (today’s departure), is in Spokane, Washington, and is 6 minutes late.
Train No. 11, the southbound Coast Starlight, is in Chemult, Oregon, and is 6 hours and 37 minutes late.
Train No. 14, the northbound Coast Starlight, is in Chico, California, and is on time.
In fairness, I have no idea what’s causing these problems. It could be bad weather. It could be freight train interference. It could be any number of things. But we know one thing for sure.
It’s a mess!
