Amtrak NEC Delay and Service Disruption Thread

[Jeff Smith]

I can't believe we don't have a dedicated thread for this! So here it is.

I'll start off with an article on the subject: Train delays are up from D.C. to Boston. It will not get better soon. WaPo

Likely paywalled...

...
Delays have plagued travelers from D.C. to Boston in recent months, many attributed to heat-related speed restrictions and train breakdowns. Track work has also hampered trips up and down the route.

“This is really part of the conundrum we face,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said, citing decades of deferred maintenance on the 457-mile route, part of it dating back 190 years. “Now we have the money to do work. And to do work, you have to do things like take tracks out of service to get the work done.”

The carrier, which transports more passengers in the Northeast than airlines, is launching major construction projects along various segments of the route as it begins to use some of the $66 billion made available for rail in the infrastructure law. Most of the money, federal transportation officials say, will go toward upgrading track and replacing century-old tunnels and bridges along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.

As work moves forward, train operations will be affected as the company considers overnight track shutdowns to speed the repairs. Among the ongoing work is a major overhaul of the 1950s-era catenary system that carries electric power to trains, as well as improved draining and track upgrades to replace aging wooden ties.
...

[twropr]

One thing alot of people may not be aware of is that there have not been many incidents on the NEC or Harrisburg Line of trees falling on the right-of-way and taking out signals or catenary. In
July there were 8 tree incidents that delayed multiple Amtrak trains for hours in July, 6 in VA, 1 in Upstate NY and one west of Harrisburg, PA - but nothing on Amtrak. If there are more delay minutes on the NEC so far this year, they are probably related to trespassers, minor mechanical or signal issues.
Andy

[STrRedWolf]

One thing alot of people may not be aware of is that there have not been many incidents on the NEC or Harrisburg Line of trees falling on the right-of-way and taking out signals or catenary. In
July there were 8 tree incidents that delayed multiple Amtrak trains for hours in July, 6 in VA, 1 in Upstate NY and one west of Harrisburg, PA - but nothing on Amtrak. If there are more delay minutes on the NEC so far this year, they are probably related to trespassers, minor mechanical or signal issues.
Andy

Amtrak's good with the track maintenance and keeping trees a bit far away. The other thing to note is that "trespassers" don't exclude those who aren't human -- yes, deer do get run over from time to time.

[ohioriverrailway]

Seems like the 'alerts' that used to be tweeted are now showing this message: "No tweet(s) found.
No tweet(s) found for given search conditions." Maybe something to do with the rebranding to 'X'???

[ChesterValley]

Overall having to travel on the NEC hasn't been great. I know of the track work issues, but there was a Acela train I was on that got routed behind a local NE Regional train from New Rochelle all the way out to Boston which made me very grumpy enough to complain to Amtrak to on my survey. I did ask the conductor about it and he said it happens all the time from dispatch, granted that's his opinion and I don't know what the data actually reflects.

Regarding the heat issue I know it has been hell for one person I know who routinely uses Amtrak from Boston to 30th Street, and with the heat related delays and snarls they have gotten back to Boston at 1 am. I know Amtrak has all the issues listed in the article, but for a casual rider speed and reliability is the most critical elements for continued ridership. I know for me the price that Amtrak's been asking for is a bit hard to swallow with how bad the delays can get relative to flying. Granted, air travel with a storm gets majorly jacked up and they all then pile into the NEC like we saw yesterday.

Seems like the 'alerts' that used to be tweeted are now showing this message: "No tweet(s) found.
No tweet(s) found for given search conditions." Maybe something to do with the rebranding to 'X'???

There was a thread I saw elsewhere that had a workaround so you didn't have to use what was formally known as twitter https://nitter.1d4.us/AmtrakNECAlerts It frustrates me that Amtrak's notification system is on Twitter and not on its own website

[Gilbert B Norman]

Washington Post:

As work moves forward, train operations will be affected as the company considers overnight track shutdowns to speed the repairs. Among the ongoing work is a major overhaul of the 1950s-era catenary system that carries electric power to trains, as well as improved draining and track upgrades to replace aging wooden ties.

Hey, MacKenzie's ex (and Lauren's "squeeze"); I think you mean 1935 for the PRR side of things. On the New Haven, try about 1907.

[STrRedWolf]

Seems like the 'alerts' that used to be tweeted are now showing this message: "No tweet(s) found.
No tweet(s) found for given search conditions." Maybe something to do with the rebranding to 'X'???

It's similar. Musk pulled back API access to Twitter.

[FatNoah]

I'm currently on 174 to Boston and we're holding at Old Saybrook due to fire and wire problems near Mystic. Looks like 2160 ahead of us is holding at New London while 175 to NY is chilling at Kingston.

To quote the conductor: "If it's not late, it's not train 174."

[NortheastTrainMan]

This is from July 2023, but it's relevant. I was on Keystone 609 and we ran into signal problems near Newark.
Made my approx 90 min ride a 4.5 hour ride.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw0tiw0s8hI

Sidenote, how can I embed YouTube videos here to make them playable directly in the forum?
When I try to I get the error message "You cannot use certain BBCodes."

[STrRedWolf]

This is from July 2023, but it's relevant. I was on Keystone 609 and we ran into signal problems near Newark.
Made my approx 90 min ride a 4.5 hour ride.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw0tiw0s8hI

Ugh, I've been there. The train goes 15 MPH until the next signal that's not lit, and they have to stop, call up to CTEC, get clearance, then continue creeping to the next signal.

It's just s...l...o...w...

[Gilbert B Norman]

While I have no recent personal experience to share, as my trips out to Greenwich nowadays seem to be "road trip" or "fly and rent", Amtrak CEO Mr. Harris should have seen the "state of repair" of the Corridor on C-Day (April 1, 1976).

I did "first hand".

[rcthompson04]

There have been some weird signal issues on the Harrisburg Line recently. At Bryn Mawr interlocking trains couldn’t go from track 2 to 3 and vice versa one day. Locals that deadhead from Frazer Yard to Bryn Mawr or Bryn Mawr to Frazer Yard were fine, but anything that had to turn at Bryn Mawr was cancelled.

[TheOneKEA]

There have been some weird signal issues on the Harrisburg Line recently. At Bryn Mawr interlocking trains couldn’t go from track 2 to 3 and vice versa one day. Locals that deadhead from Frazer Yard to Bryn Mawr or Bryn Mawr to Frazer Yard were fine, but anything that had to turn at Bryn Mawr was cancelled.

How old is the interlocking plant at Bryn Mawr? Does it frequently have problems like this?

[rcthompson04]

There have been some weird signal issues on the Harrisburg Line recently. At Bryn Mawr interlocking trains couldn’t go from track 2 to 3 and vice versa one day. Locals that deadhead from Frazer Yard to Bryn Mawr or Bryn Mawr to Frazer Yard were fine, but anything that had to turn at Bryn Mawr was cancelled.

How old is the interlocking plant at Bryn Mawr? Does it frequently have problems like this?

I have seen this issue a handful of times in the last 6 years. The last time I saw it was summer 2019 where I was on a Great Valley Flyer heading outbound on Track 3 when the switch between 2 and 3 failed requiring the train to back-up all the way from Haverford to Overbrook to switch back to Track 4. This most recent issue was a signal issue not a switch problem.

[ChesterValley]

I guess this is as good of a thread as any to post this, but does anyone know what's going wrong with the NE Corridor today? SEPTA reports it as a "Radio Failure" with service suspended on all Amtrak lines, NJ Transit reports it as a "Service Disruption" with delays into and out of NYP but suspension for AC RR section from 30th to Cherry Hill, MARC reports its as a "Communications Failure" with cancellations. MBTA and Metro North aren't reporting any Service disruptions.

It doesn't look like anyone knows whats going on other than trains are getting cancelled as their time comes around