Flood Problems on Shore Line

"No alternate transportation is available."

This should not be standard procedure for Amtrak. Airlines usually go to great lengths to get you to your destination, even if it involves chartering two buses.

Amtrak should have called a bus company and arranged for amtrak tickets to be accepted on a bus line from NYC to Boston (all the bus lines take the inland route) instead of making passengers find alternate arrangements on their own.

I understand that when Greyhound cancels service, you're on your own, but I'd like to think the Amtrak would go the extra mile.

jamesinclair wrote:"No alternate transportation is available."

This should not be standard procedure for Amtrak. Airlines usually go to great lengths to get you to your destination, even if it involves chartering two buses.

Amtrak should have called a bus company and arranged for amtrak tickets to be accepted on a bus line from NYC to Boston (all the bus lines take the inland route) instead of making passengers find alternate arrangements on their own.

I understand that when Greyhound cancels service, you're on your own, but I'd like to think the Amtrak would go the extra mile.

Why? Its weather related. Airlines will leave you out in the rain (no pun intended) if there is a weather issue.

JimBoylan wrote:Saturday and Sunday trains North are 1160, 1154, and 1194, leaving New York at 9a, 1p, and 5p.
Returning, 1161, 1163, and 1165, leaving Boston at 8:15a, 10:15a, and 1:45p.
Monday seems to be the regular schedule.

Thanks for the info, Jim - I appreciate it. I tried to get out today to catch 1165 in Wallingford, but Amtrak had other ideas. It was due into New Haven at 5:30, and up until about 5:25 Julie insisted it was on time, despite the fact that I was staring at a red southbound signal 15 miles away from its destination with no train in sight. Finally at 5:29 Julie relented and admitted to the fact the train was 1:14 late. A check of Amtrak.com after the fact shows that it lost all of its time between Boston and Springfield. At 5:29 this time of year an 1:14 delay = extremely marginal lighting for photography, so I called it a day.

My only concern at this point, is that when the road bed, especially on embankments are submerged, you can get massive excavations of the ballast and soil due to the earth being saturated, and therefore unstable. Anywhere where there's a curve or the road bed abuts a low laying area, it is a possibility that there will have to be rebuilding of said areas prior to resumption of regular traffic. The rails will need to be washed to prevent corrosion from anything in the water, and even if the roadbed is ok, you could still get sediment & debris deposited over the area.

Lets just hope there arent many or any washouts, and that the roadbed & related earthworks are intact.

- A

jamesinclair wrote:"No alternate transportation is available."

This should not be standard procedure for Amtrak. Airlines usually go to great lengths to get you to your destination, even if it involves chartering two buses.

Amtrak should have called a bus company and arranged for amtrak tickets to be accepted on a bus line from NYC to Boston (all the bus lines take the inland route) instead of making passengers find alternate arrangements on their own.

I understand that when Greyhound cancels service, you're on your own, but I'd like to think the Amtrak would go the extra mile.

Why should Amtrak be any different from Greyhound in your scenario?Amtrak is basically on a shoestring budget. Although myself and others at Amtrak appreciate the monies that Mr. Obama has given, it still is minor compared to what is needed. With that said, you cant expect the company to compensate paasengers when these situations are indeed out of the company's control. I think you should be praising the companty for at least trying to provide 3 round trips via the inland route when its on someone else's railroad and with crews that they dont really have that are qualified over the detour route. As I mentioned, Amtrak's budget spending is much greater then a bus company, when you have to pay crews, and railroad infrastructure, infrastracture that Greyhound doesnt have to pay to upkeep. Sorry I hate reading these rants on these boards how people think that they should do they or that.

BuddSilverliner269 wrote:

jamesinclair wrote:"No alternate transportation is available."

This should not be standard procedure for Amtrak. Airlines usually go to great lengths to get you to your destination, even if it involves chartering two buses.

Amtrak should have called a bus company and arranged for amtrak tickets to be accepted on a bus line from NYC to Boston (all the bus lines take the inland route) instead of making passengers find alternate arrangements on their own.

I understand that when Greyhound cancels service, you're on your own, but I'd like to think the Amtrak would go the extra mile.

Why should Amtrak be any different from Greyhound in your scenario?Amtrak is basically on a shoestring budget. Although myself and others at Amtrak appreciate the monies that Mr. Obama has given, it still is minor compared to what is needed. With that said, you cant expect the company to compensate paasengers when these situations are indeed out of the company's control. I think you should be praising the companty for at least trying to provide 3 round trips via the inland route when its on someone else's railroad and with crews that they dont really have that are qualified over the detour route. As I mentioned, Amtrak's budget spending is much greater then a bus company, when you have to pay crews, and railroad infrastructure, infrastracture that Greyhound doesnt have to pay to upkeep. Sorry I hate reading these rants on these boards how people think that they should do they or that.

I totally agree with you on this. Where does this guy expect Amtrak to just come up with buses when the roads are flooded
too. Maybe the buses are under water too. I doubt if Greyhound is operating normal service in this area either. I have
said this before but it bears repeating, most on here do not know the big picture and some don't even know the little picture.
Noel Weaver

jamesinclair wrote:"No alternate transportation is available."

This should not be standard procedure for Amtrak. Airlines usually go to great lengths to get you to your destination, even if it involves chartering two buses.

Really?... what airline is that. Only time I've seen that type of service by an airline was on a Jetblue fight to Tuscon a few years back, they held our flight for a bit to accommodate fliers who missed their Jetblue flight to Phoenix.
Any other airline and you'd be sitting at the counter paying hefty change of travel fees.

Considering I-95 was recently reopened and that area received significant flooding, I'd say Amtrak has gone well above and beyond in accommodating their passengers ( as best as physically possible ). The fact that they're rerouting some services over the Boston & Albany line shows they aren't just leaving passengers out in the cold without any information.

Here is a video from Palmer, Massachusetts of the enhanced Inland Route activity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSpAmXO2EBM

Here are some links to pictures of shoreline (flooded), pictures by Mr. George Kenson taken on april 1st

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20100 ... 914412.jpg

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20100 ... 514257.jpg

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... age=2&key=

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... age=3&key=

jamesinclair wrote:"No alternate transportation is available."

This should not be standard procedure for Amtrak. Airlines usually go to great lengths to get you to your destination, even if it involves chartering two buses.

I work for an airline and can assure that it is NOT standard procedure to charter buses to replace a cancelled flight. When it is done, it is almost always to replace the continuation of a diverted flight and then only when it's a fairly short distance. Common examples are an Orange County (SNA) or San Diego (SAN) flight diverts to Los Angeles and cancels (somewhat typical due to late evening fog at SAN and the curfew at SNA). And when it does happen, you would be surprised how many people decline the bus and make their own arrangements. I've actually been on two SNA flights that went to LAX and both times declined the bus. The first because my ground destination was Anaheim and it was easier to get to Anaheim from LAX directly than go to SNA and then Anaheim and the second because LAX was my real destination - I only went for the SNA flight because it was too late to make the curfew and it already been pre-diverted to LAX (got on board and had to remind myself that while I was happy we were going to LAX rather than SNA, most other people were less than happy although considering we were in the middle of a blizzard, were probably glad just to be going anyplace in the right direction).

Here is another photo i found. I would assume this is what we're waiting for.

More Inland Route videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBX2OlawA2A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EAT9rkl ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GSkHfoKT7E

This is probably a stupid question, but I'm curous anyways. Would it have been at all a possibility to send an Inland route train from Boston to Worcester then down the P&W to Groton and back onto the corridor there? I realize the P&W track is proabably rather slow, but it seems to me that it would be faster, even at 40mph, than going out to Springfield then down that way.