Amtrak NEC Delay and Service Disruption Thread

[Railjunkie]

Regarding the NYP - NHV issue affecting Amtrak on July 6 and 7, it makes sense imo for Amtrak to announce service suspended from NYP - BOS, to whom I presume are those travelling from NYP - BOS, not 100% sure about the other way around.

Why? Because most travelers don't know much about trains, or public transportation. I've run into a ton of people who don't know the difference between GCT & NYP.

Of course us here on this forum can figure a few things out, but I don't think those who aren't familiar with public transportation would be too thrilled to have to travel from NYP to GCT in this sweltering heat. I'm sure Lyft & Uber are expensive too in Midtown. Think for a second, someone unfamiliar with public transportation and / or NY in general, would they be willing to take the subway from NYP to GCT, take a Metro North train to New Haven (not one terminating at Stamford) and then an Amtrak from NHV to BOS, or points east? Possibly yes, there's always a small handful willing to do that, but the vast majority would not, and would probably have some "nice" things to say.

Similar for the inverse. If Amtrak (which I think they did, correct me if I'm wrong) ran trains from BOS to NHV, would they be happy to transfer to Metro North to reach NY? Depending on their final destination it might be easier. If it's NY, they might compromise with GCT. If it's say, maybe somewhere south of NY, it could be an issue.

Plus, there's a difference between deliberate misinformation from news stations & just plain ignorance when it comes to railroads. I'm wagering 90% of the latter (I'm being generous). For example, I highly doubt a news anchor would know the difference between a P32 and a P42. Should they? In theory yes, but we all know what happens in reality most of the time. Misinformation in both cases, nonetheless.

All in all, good points are being raised. Just remember the average person isn't as knowledgeable or cares to be as knowledgeable about trains as we are.

Funny I have seen and been part of numerous hey you need to get over to GCT and meet your train at Harmon or reverse, same idea. Most of the time people grumbled a little but didn't walk around like a bunch of zombies. "IF" Amtrak had it set up with Metro North to cross honor tickets they may had it set up so they would have employees at certain points to make sure passengers were able to make the transfer, I have seen it done both at GCT and Penn. Perhaps not it would have depended on how management wanted to handle the situation.

[CSRR573]

Are the p32s even ACSES equipped?

We have both types of PTC on these things ACSES and I-ETMS. We also have the extra magic box for getting past stop stop signals, with permission of course. It's coming to an electric near you, it works some of the time in Albany but not much of the time in and around Sunnyside. Still waiting to see what happens at the division post with Metro North as they don't use the magic box and without a code the magic button is useless. Because you know everything is going to to exactly what it was designed to do. BBBBWWWWWHHHHAAAAA

You should see the debacle were having with the door bypass switches on the ACS's. They're all tagged out non Complient cuz someone as Seimens came up with a mod and from what I told it backfired pretty good. So now all the units are awating another mod to fix this one

[Railjunkie]

You should see the debacle were having with the door bypass switches on the ACS's. They're all tagged out non Complient cuz someone as Seimens came up with a mod and from what I told it backfired pretty good. So now all the units are awating another mod to fix this one

I know the mods will get their panties in a bunch because this has nothing to do with NEC delays. The 32s with this heat the HVAC has been barely acceptable at best to I wish it was this warm in winter. In talking with the guys at the shop Amtrak grabbed some new HVAC units which are completely useless and are now replacing them with the old wore out HVAC stuff that barely worked. You cant make this stuff up, I could write a book and no one would believe me.

[CSRR573]

Oh I know that, just sharing tales from the battlefield. Management and the people who make all the decisions sure are a special breed. You tell the guys there to treat my 90224 well.

[Railjunkie]

It showed up yesterday I brought her up to the shop. She was sitting next to the car wash when I left last night.

[Jeff Smith]

I know the mods will get their panties in a bunch because this has nothing to do with NEC delays. (SNIP)

I go commando.

[Railjunkie]

I know the mods will get their panties in a bunch because this has nothing to do with NEC delays. (SNIP)

I go commando.

That's enough internet for tonight

[TheOneKEA]

I turned on the Virtual Railfan livestream at Paradise, PA this morning at 0810, just in time to watch an eastbound Keystone Service negotiate a track segment adjacent to the Strasburg runaround loop at restricted speed after being stopped there for what looked like a few minutes. I scrubbed backwards in the livestream and noticed that there was some debris on the track: pieces of a broken up freight pallet and some dirty ballast were strewn all over the four foot and piled up against the running rail. I scrubbed forward in the livestream and watched an Amtrak police officer pull up and investigate the site, then scrubbed forward some more to watch the eastbound Keystone stop at the interlocking home signal, then proceed forward to stop short of the debris. The livestream also showed the officer and the engineer working together to clear the track and the subsequent advance across the site of the debris at restricted speed.

I am curious about some things regarding this event:

1. What aspect would the eastbound Keystone have been shown at the interlocking home to stop the train, and then what aspect would have been shown to allow it to proceed up to the site of the debris?
2. Do all Amtrak Police patrol cars have shovels in them that are intended for use with clearing debris from the track?
3. The live chat on the livestream says that if you scroll back to the 0140-0145 timecode, you can see people on the track doing something nefarious and possibly causing the debris to be left on the track. Does this sort of thing happen a lot on the Keystone line?
4. What role does the conductor play when debris is spotted in advance of a train and needs to be cleared? I saw the conductor exit the train and confer with the engineer and the officer but they didn’t participate in the removal of the debris.
5. Will we see any MOW vehicles on the track today to check for any further damage from the debris?

[Railjunkie]

1. Pretty sure a positive stop was displayed then they would be given rule 241 by the signal. Which would also include permission to press the stop bypass button.
2. If they have shovels it is not there intent to clean debris out of interlockings.
3. It happens everywhere not only on the Keystone
4. The conductor should help, the more hands on deck the quicker the work. This is provided the debris can be
cleared. A couple of my personal "favorites" a old school metal shopping cart filled ballast that got tangled up in
the underside of a coach. A blown main res. hose. From striking debris. Good times
5. I'm sure MOW will/was out there to take a look. Most likely a maintainer in his pickup truck.

[TheOneKEA]

Thanks for the answers! A track maintainer did indeed show up around 0930 and was on site for several hours with the officer. The livestream had an excellent view of the maintainer clearing the remaining debris and repositioning the ballast.

[STrRedWolf]

NEC delay in the Odenton, MD area due to a trespasser strike. No news on any site but from a conductor I know, it was located just outside the south side of the MARC train station near the Northbound platform.

[Jeff Smith]

Not really put in context, but the Times notes the number of hours of delays: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/busi ... -heat.html

[twropr]

Wires down on Tracks 2 and 4 just west of Rahway, NJ. Trains 88 holding near Elmora, 2254 holding near Metropark and 667 near Union. Somehow 87 go thru with little delay.
Andy

[JuniusLivonius]

Wires down on Tracks 2 and 4 just west of Rahway, NJ. Trains 88 holding near Elmora, 2254 holding near Metropark and 667 near Union.

It appears that a PSE&G line fell on catenary. I don't know if that power line started it or Amtrak's started it. If you've ever seen how close utility lines are to catenary, it seems that this was bound to happen.

I found this picture of arcing on Reddit. No context, time or location (which can be inferred anyway) since we've all forgotten how to use the internet or organize information. I tracked the location of this image to W Grand Ave / E Grand Ave in Rahway, near MP 19.



Only tracks 1 and 3 were opened a few hours after that with a 60mph speed restriction from MP 18 to MP 19. Normal speed is 90mph and 125mph, respectively. Rahway is at MP 19.5.

On Twitter I found "Someone posted the video of the catenary snap at Rahway" - Again, no source or hint at where this video even is. If any of you know, please share.

Somehow 87 go thru with little delay.

#87 (track 3) reported a pantograph bounce at Roads (MP20.6) right as this happened. They got through the mess as other trains reported losing power by 30-60 seconds, although maybe track 3 catenary didn't suffer any significant damage as it was reopened a few hours later.

[Jeff Smith]

Broken rail, apparently on the Hell Gate: https://gothamist.com/news/amtrak-suspe ... oken-track