InsideTransit

Service Alert: Amtrak Cancels Some Service in Preparation for Tropical Storm Hanna

September 4, 2008 - 4:00 pm ET

In preparation for Tropical Storm Hanna, which is expected to reach hurricane strength before making landfall this weekend, Amtrak has cancelled some service along the east coast beginning September 5, 2008.

The following trains are cancelled with no alternate transportation provided:

• Palmetto, trains 89 and 90 between New York and Savannah
• Silver Meteor, trains 97 and 98 between New York and Miami
• Auto Train, trains 52 and 53 between Lorton, Va. and Sanford, Fla.
• Northeast Regional, train 78 between Newport News and Richmond

The following trains will provide partial service:

• Silver Star, trains 91 and 92 will operate between Miami and Winter Park, Fla
• Carolinian, trains 79 and 80 will operate between Raleigh and Charlotte
• Northeast Regional, train 67 will operate Boston to Washington; however, it is cancelled between Washington and Newport News

Passengers with confirmed reservations for the affected trains are currently being contacted.

Amtrak will continue to monitor the storm's progress and make additional service adjustments, as needed, to ensure the safety of its passengers and employees.

Passengers may call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for additional information and train status updates. This information is correct as of the date and time above and will be updated as needed.

I wonder if this type of litigation would even be allowed in other countries besides the U.S.A. Two years ago Brian Hopkins was visiting friends in Boston when he decided that he wanted to go home. It was about 2AM in the morning and he headed over to the Boston transit center. The New York Post reports that he tried to pry open a train and was unable to do so. Then he had the smart idea to jump on top of one of the trains.

In doing so, he fryed himself and was set on fire. Post reporter Kathianne Bonello notes, "He suffered third-degree burns over 85 percent of his body, and doctors have since amputated his left hand and leg, according to the lawsuit filed last month in Brooklyn federal court.

Amtrak "should have known that persons trespassed" in the South Station area where Hopkins was found, he and his parents contend in court papers. The family claims that Amtrak should have monitored the area, cut off the electricity going to the overhead wires, and even parked its trains somewhere else when they weren't in use."

I can't even come up with something witty to say.

Amtrak has made the following announcement regarding train travel in the region that could be affected by Hurricane Gustav.

Service Alert: Hurricane Gustav: City of New Orleans, Crescent, Sunset Limited Service Affected

August 29, 2008 - 7:00 pm CDT

The approach of severe weather and a declaration of an emergency have prompted Amtrak to temporarily suspend service to and from New Orleans for the safety of passengers, employees and equipment.

Amtrak train equipment currently in New Orleans will be made available to federal and state authorities to assist in the evacuation of the city and to help maximize capacity for the evacuation. Amtrak is taking this action as a national transportation asset in accordance with its contract with the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which is preparing for the evacuation of New Orleans.

All passengers who have travel plans through the affected areas on routes of the New York-Atlanta-New Orleans Amtrak Crescent; Chicago-Memphis-New Orleans Amtrak City of New Orleans and the Los Angeles-San Antonio-New Orleans route of the Amtrak Sunset Limited are urged to call Amtrak at 800-USA-RAIL.

Those passengers with telephone contact information in their reservations are being called by Amtrak and offered options including future travel dates. Ticketed passengers affected by this service suspension will be eligible for refunds.

City of New Orleans, Trains 58 & 59

Service is suspended for the length of the route, through September 1. Alternate transportation will be provided between Chicago and Carbondale by Trains 390, 391, 392 & 393.

Crescent , Trains 19 & 20

Service is suspended south of Atlanta, including Birmingham, Ala., through at least September 4. No alternate transportation is available.

Sunset Limited , Trains 1 & 2

Service is suspended east of San Antonio, through at least September 4. No alternate transportation is available. Amtrak Thruway Motorcoaches continue to operate from Longview to Houston and other points in Texas.

Amtrak regrets any inconvenience. This information is correct as of the above time and date. Information is subject to change as conditions warrant. Passengers are encouraged to call 800-USA-RAIL or visit Amtrak.com for schedule information and train status updates.

Here's one straight out of Atlanta. This woman apparently forgot to stop by CVS to pick up her pills before she got on MARTA. I miss riding the MARTA system - I can assure you this type of behavior wasn't normal. The subtitles are funny even if they are wrong.

Today I was waiting for the bus at my bus stop. The bus arrived and two old/elderly women got on before me. Both of them needed a lot of extra time to get up the steps and could barely walk. When I got on the bus, I didn't see either woman seated in the front. They were about 10 rows back. So why didn't they take the first two seats? Simple, these five douches were in the first five seats. Four young kids and either the mother or a handler. I can't really blame the kids but they are learning douche behavior early in life.

When I got on the bus, I looked right at her and said "that's how you teach them, eh?" - When I got to my seat, another woman tapped me on the shoulder and said, "thanks, no respect today at all". I can only tell you this... if I was on the bus and didn't get up, my mother would have beat my ass. The seats also say, "this seat must be vacated for the elderly or handicapped".

Update: Apparently these kids are like 8 years old - certainly old enough to understand how to get up when an elder gets on the bus. The handler or parent should have taken them to the back of the bus which was empty.

DigitalSignageToday has a good story out today about a test currently running in the Montreal subway/metro. The concept is to bring casual gaming into the subway to make waiting for your train a bit less painful while injecting advertising into the games as well.

DST notes, "Where's Koodo? is an interactive game that can be accessed by touching the backlit display screens in any of the 12 kiosks located in six of Montreal's subway stations. The game encourages users to search for one of the iconic Koodo characters amongst a cluttered, illustrated, urban landscape and communicates the benefits of Koodo's new Nationwide Talk & Text rate plan. Thanks to new, proprietary interactive digital-signage software developed specifically by iGotcha Media for MetroMedia Plus, which sells media in the Montreal subway, commuters, in addition to playing "Where's Koodo?" are also able to navigate through Koodo Mobile's phone and additional rate-plan information."

I seriously don't know what in the hell these two people were thinking when they jumped in front of a huge train coming around a corner. I can also only imagine what the train operator was thinking or feeling. The idiot got out of the way but it was damn close.

This video contains some foul language and a pretty scary scene - don't watch it if you are easily shocked. I found this on BoingBoing.

This bit of news comes out of California and an Amtrak train from Los Angeles to San Diego. The train is powered by an engine using diesel fuel. About half way through the trip, there was no gas to go any further. Passengers were stuck for an extra two hours while they waited for an engine with gas to push the train to San Diego. Here's the story from the AP:

From the Associated Press

It was the little engine that couldn't.

A quick train trip down the coast turned into a long haul for dozens of stranded Amtrak passengers when their train from Los Angeles to San Diego ran out of fuel late Sunday night.

Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole says the train sat for about two hours in the Sorrento Valley neighborhood in northern San Diego before another engine came along to push it to its final destination. It arrived early this morning.

Cole says a train running out of fuel is "an unusual occurrence" and Amtrak officials will be looking into how it happened later today.

This story comes out of Seattle, Washington. Apparently on Saturday afternoon the Seattle monorail stalled and passengers were stuck for several hours 33 feet above the ground. An hour later another train that was currently in for refurbishment pulled alongside the stalled train and slowly moved passengers in batches off the stalled train.

Stuart from the Seattle Times notes that, "no one was injured, although a few passengers became overheated and nauseated while stuck inside the stuffy train. The rescue lasted a little more than an hour. Firefighters opened doors to let in fresh air and took bottled water and fans on board to help passengers cool off."

The monorail was back in service this morning.

This story comes from Warsaw, Poland. A team building a new tunnel for trains to pass through has been found to be too short for trains to actually pass through it. You see, the tunnel workers apparently didn't account for the fact that trains run on tracks and those tracks would mean the trains will run higher than if there were no tracks.

No word on the cost to fix this mess as of yet.

From Ananova:

Rail bosses claim the mix-up happened because workers who were laying new tracks didn't talk to the team that was building the tunnel.

"During work on the tunnel, tracks were laid down on newly-raised ground which meant the distance between the tracks and roof of the tunnel became shorter," said Polish Railways spokesman Marta Szklarek.

The cock-up is the latest in a series of public transport construction fiascoes in Poland.