featured stories include mid-February 2022 TCMC Update and the 2021 On-Time charts for the Empire Builder for Wisconsin.
February 25, 2022 – The latest TCMC Newsletter is posted. Also posted is the On-Time monthly data for the Westbound Empire Builder train number 7 for 2021. You can download as a PDF file the newsletter in addition to the monthly On-Time data. When reviewing the monthly data for #7, check out how many times the train was early into St. Paul, and by how many minutes.
March 2, 2022 UPDATE – The Eastbound #8 Empire Builder On-Time has been added.
January 24, 2021 – The January 21, 2021 issue of TCMC Newsletter contains the On-Time Performance charts for the Empire Builder in 2020.
Under review is: Westbound #7 – On-Time performance for arrival at St. Paul, MN. This would be an identical trek for the TCMC regional train when it hits the rail.
Eastbound #8 – On-Time performance is based on Columbus, WI. Prior to this chart, if you saw posted information about #8 it was almost always for Chicago.
New this year is a PDF file showing the daily log for every Amtrak train. Also new this year is a video that goes along with the Newsletter and PDF files. Hopefully this answers many questions about this project. Links for the files are below as is a link that will take you to the WisARP YouTube Channel to see the video that’s a bit more than 10 minutes.
December 12, 2019 – For those of you that attended the WisARP Membership meeting in Madison on Saturday, October 26, you saw my On-Time charts for the Empire Builder, both the #7 westbound and #8 eastbound. For the #8 Builder, the days of heavy freight interference from high numbers of oil trains is over, but late running Amtrak trains isn’t over.
For the month of November 2019, overall the chart looks very good! There were still a half-dozen days of seriously late trains, which I guess is apt to happen. When you consider a 2200 mile trip through the mountains with little or no pressure to maintain performance, aging equipment with maintenance needs; it is likely to produce late trains without any other interference.
As discussed at the meeting, for Amtrak riders needing to get to Chicago to make a connection to another Amtrak train leaving late afternoon/ early evening, the TCMC as it is currently scheduled will not be a solution. The only viable solution right now is writing your lawmakers in Washington D.C. to re-enact some teeth in Amtrak’s On-Time performance standards for the host freight railroads.
Check out the YouTube link below from a recent House subcommittee meeting on Freight trains. The exchange between Rep. DeFazio and AAR President Jefferies that’s roughly in the middle of the clip offers some hope. Happy Holidays to all!!
Wisconsin Association of Railroad Passengers 