Amtrak track work cancellations hit SoCal and North Carolina

Amtrak track work cancellations are reshaping service in two regions, with a weekend shutdown planned in Southern California and schedule changes continuing in North Carolina. Meanwhile, even as weather-related troubles ease, a few long-distance trains are still feeling aftereffects from recent disruptions.

Amtrak track work cancellations in Southern California

Most intercity and commuter trains running between San Diego and San Luis Obispo, California, will not operate on Saturday and Sunday, March 7–8. The service pause reprises a maintenance blitz that halted all weekend trains in the same corridor last October.

On those two days, Pacific Surfliner cancellations will cover both directions north and south of Los Angeles, as outlined in Pacific Surfliner travel advisories. The Coast Starlight service disruption also continues. The train will not operate south of Emeryville, California. Passengers will connect at Sacramento or Martinez, California, to or from Gold Runner trains through the San Joaquin Valley.

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Separately, the shutdown also reaches commuter operations. Metrolink service suspension will affect trains north of Los Angeles on the Ventura County Line, and service south of Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo to Oceanside will also be suspended, according to Metrolink upcoming advisories. That change impacts Orange County and Inland Empire–Orange County trains. Along this coastal right-of-way, remediation work has been underway to address embankment erosion.

South of Oceanside, NCTD Coaster cancellations will remove all Coaster trains between Oceanside and San Diego for both days. As during the previous maintenance weekend, substitute bus transportation will not be offered by any of the operators.

CSX daytime track maintenance window delays the Floridian and Carolinian

In the Southeast, CSX is building a daytime work window into operations through March 16, and that is delaying both the northbound Floridian and the Carolinian, as reflected in Amtrak Service Alerts and Notices.

Times for both trains are being set back by more than two hours at Raleigh, North Carolina. The shifts are smaller elsewhere: the Floridian’s schedule is adjusted at Savannah, Georgia, while the Carolinian’s is moved back to a lesser extent at Charlotte, North Carolina. Since the revised schedules began last Sunday, CSX dispatchers have also slowed the Floridian by an additional 45 minutes to two hours through the recurring single-track “A Line” choke point from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to Petersburg, Virginia.

Still, even with the later timing — including a revised Chicago arrival 2 hours and 45 minutes beyond its regular schedule — shop forces have generally still managed to turn the equipment and get the Miami-bound Floridian out on time despite the shortened same-day turnaround.

Empire Builder delay and Silver Meteor departure swings

Operational issues have also shown up on other long-distance runs. The Empire Builder delay required a quick equipment turn in Chicago after the eastbound train’s scheduled Friday afternoon arrival on Feb. 27 did not occur until 6:08 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 28. The train was held for more than 13 hours east of Essex, Montana, apparently because of high-wind warnings in the Glacier National Park area.

In addition, the delayed train left St. Paul Union Depot at 10:17 p.m. Friday night. Its overnight timings compared favorably with the Milwaukee Road’s Pioneer Limited: in 1968, before that train was discontinued, it departed SPUD at 11:20 p.m., had a 25-minute Milwaukee layover (which at one time accommodated a sleeper set-out), and arrived at Chicago Union Station at 7:45 a.m. Amtrak shop forces still had Saturday’s westbound Empire Builder out on time.

The Silver Meteor showed a different pattern after last Monday’s Northeast snowstorm. The New York–Miami train, which Sunnyside Yard shop forces have struggled all winter to dispatch on time, departed no earlier than 1 hour and 22 minutes late on Feb. 25 and as much as 2 hours and 36 minutes late on Feb. 27. On Saturday, Feb. 28, it left just six minutes late, but today — Sunday, March 1 — the departure slipped back again to a 52-minute delay.

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