SELECTED ON-TIME PERFORMANCE 10/11/21 THROUGH ???????

It was suggested that I post some of the more egregious errors as they occur in the period under review.

#30 eastbound "Capitol Limited" of the 18th covered the 116 miles Sandusky to Alliance in 36" at a rate of 193 mph. Not quite as good as a few days earlier when the average was 248 mph from Toledo to Sandusky.

Can't help but wonder why Amtrak's computer programs don't automatically reject such nonsense.

Let's hear it for #30 (19th) which was so fast that it arrived at Sandusky 1' 29" before it departed from Toledo.

I wonder if Amtrak uses the same computer program for their financials?

Pennsylvanian 42 was approximately 40 minutes late to Philadelphia when my SEPTA train passed it at Zoo this afternoon.

Things seem to be slowing down for #30 eastbound "Capitol Limited" as the train of the 19th only averaged 105 mph from Sandusky to Alliance.

Obviously Amtrak has taken no corrective action for its reporting errors.

Looking at the schedule of #303 on the STL Corridor:

#303 has 5' 35" timing for the 284 miles for an average speed of 50.8 mph.

In the 1950's / 1960's the GM&O and WAB had 5' 10" timing for an average speed of 55 mph, not to mention better equipment and on-board food services.

Sooooo, given the $$$$$ spent to upgrade this route, why are the present schedules longer and slower? Also, #303 has 52" of padding built in (as shown on the 10/22 performance), so when it is late the true tardiness is the padding plus the amount of the delay from the posted schedule.

And so it goes, on and on.

Somewhere, Don Wetzel is smiling over these new speed records over his old ROW....

R.B.

Once again #30 (22nd) eastbound "Capitol Limited" arrived at Sandusky 38" before it departed Toledo.

Makes one wonder just how screwed-up other Amtrak IT programs might be.

A few notes from the performance of the 23rd and 24th:

High Speed reigns on #30 (24th) "Capitol Limited" as 116 miles Sandusky to Alliance in 27" ='s 258 mph

#306 on the STL Corridor lost 1' 55" SPI to LCN after a 35" late start fr om STL with no reason given

#48 (23rd) "Lake Shore Limited" lost 1' 22" CHI to SOB with no reason given

Apparently, nobody in senior management keeps tabs on actual performance and the reasons for not keeping scheduled times.

No ultra-high-speed performance this time around.

However:
#311 (25th) on the KCY Corridor lost 1' 08" between Independence and KCY, but no cause given;

#19 (25th) southbound "Crescent" lost 5' 52" from Manassas to Culpepper, no cause given.

Does anybody in the Amtrak senior management give a .............??

#30 (27th) eastbound "Capitol Limited" was so fast that it arrived in Sandusky 42" before it departed Toledo.

It appears that nobody at Amtrak cares about the accuracy of the reported times, nor do they care about explaining the delays at various terminal points, such as:

#49 (27th) westbound "Lake Shore Limited" taking an extra 41" @ ALB;
#283 (27th) on the BUF Corridor taking an extra 30" @ ALB;
#48 (27th) eastbound "Lake Shore Limited" taking an extra 37" at Toledo; or
#352 (27th) on the DET Corridor taking an extra 27" at DET.

On 10/31 on the STL Corridor:

#301 & #304 were annulled, and #21 "Texas Eagle" was 1' late Dp. CHI, but no explanations on the Amtrak Twitter site.

If these are state-funded trains, somebody from the paying states should be questioning Amtrak.

#19 (25th) southbound "Crescent" lost 5' 52" from Manassas to Culpepper, no cause given.
Flat wheels on second unit, which was set off.
301/304 annulled act no crew
21 had to wait for 22 to arrive in order to have an engineer
Andy

Now one must wonder, Mr. Andy Tower; did the Engineer handling 22(30) STL-CHI make it home handling 21(31) or did he "die" somewhere en route?

That would have just escalated Amtrak's staffing issues.

Sample of recent delays at terminals or en route major stations for which no explanation was provided:

#22 (31st) northbound "Texas Eagle" - 40" @ STL
#306 (1st) - 15" @ STL
#63 (1st) westbound "Maple Leaf" - 28" @ ALB
#58 (1st) northbound "City of New Orleans" - 56" @ MEM

Apparently most schedules have so much padding that Amtrak's attitude is "Why bother reporting as the train will probably end up OT at its final destination".

As one example, both #58 & #59 have over 2' 30" padding in their schedules.

There was quite the mess yesterday for both east- and westbound Southwest Chiefs, with Amtrak actually divulging a freight had become "disabled" on the route. The affected #4 is 19+ hours late as of this morning, with the next day's #4 close behind - almost in the same state.

49/449 kept slowing or stopping in Ohio and Indiana for "mechanical issues," and arrived in Chicago 6 hours late. Amtrak did get it turned around for a post-midnight departure, and 48/448 has kept to that 3 hours behind progress.

R.B.