June 16, 2014 7:49pm
Exactly 5 hours ago we were supposed to step off the train in Chicago. Now we were supposed to be in the Millennium park listening an open-air concert.
Didn't work out. We are still in the train and still have about 8 hours ahead.
So, how did this all happen?
They told us that this was actually an exception and a really ridiculous accident, because there was nothing wrong with our train or with the rails on our way.
It all started with the tornados in Nebraska. The California Zephyr opposite to ours didn't get affected by it itself as far as we are concerned, but some part of the rails was. And here starts the ridiculous chain of circumstances. So, the rails had to be repaired and cleaned. It was done. But then the train couldn't just go on moving, because all the rails in US do not belong to Amtrak, they belong to some private party. The owner's representatives had to come over, review the status and approve that the rails could be used. So, it added some more time. After that it turned out that the crew's working hours have expired. That's why we were waiting for that train in Denver yesterday. We had to pick up some of it's cars. So, we waited for those, got them and went on. But then at some point, the working hours of our crew also expired and this was one of my previous posts about. We just had to stay where we are and wait for the re-crew. So why couldn't that one be sent to us beforehand so that we wouldn't have to wait that long? Guess what - they didn't have the real back-up crew, they had to use one of the crew that was working just before and according to the federal law had to get at least 13 hours of rest before moving out for the next assignment.
Additional delay was added by the fact, that the freight trains have priority here before the passenger ones. So as soon as the passenger train goes out of schedule, it doesn't fit into planned distribution of the rails anymore and has to wait more in some places to let the freight train pass by.
This all gave us 13 hours of delay in total.
Our estimated arrival time to Chicago is Tuesday instead of 3 pm Monday.
IT's a pity that we will miss the concert. Also we have signed up for a free walking tour at 10am on Tuesday and won't be as fit as we planned for it anymore. In the end, we will just miss half of a day in Chicago where we didn't have that much time planned. Our next flight is already on Wednesday.
We got free meals twice. Once it was that beef stew and second time we received some terrible lunch boxes with disgusting white-bread sandwiches, chips and cookies in it. Oh, yeah, and pickles. There were also pickles in that lunch box for some reason. Better than nothing though.
It was surprising for us to find out that there was nothing on any of the stations we had a stop. We were expecting at least some kiosk with snacks, maybe even a place to buy a real coffee... nothing. Most of the stops we made were just nothing. Ruined buildings and very hot.
Another thing that we regret to miss is crossing the Mississippi River. It is couple of hours before Chicago, which according to our new schedule is 2am.
Overall we don't regret taking this train trip. Even with all these troubles we are enjoying it in many ways.
But we wouldn't recommend Amtrak to anybody who might get easily upset if his/hers plans get disturbed or has to be in some place strictly on time.
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