Trip Report: October 5 through 14, 2002
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
THREE WEEKS BY LAND AND BY SEA
October 6, 2002
DAY 2: EUGENE TO SEATTLE
After an excellent breakfast at the Hilton, we gather our bags for the short walk to the Amtrak station. Train 552, a Talgo Cascade is waiting in the station. Departure time is 9:30am. A transfer is still required in Portland to Train 752. This is scheduled to occur between 12:05pm and 12:30pm with arrival in Seattle at 4:00pm. We settle down in our comfortable business class seats and select a Eugene Guard Register to catch up on the latest news. The conductor collects our tickets and gives us $3.00 vouchers good for food in the lounge car, one voucher per person for Train 552 and one voucher per person for connecting Train 772. Shortly afterwards he returns to give us seat assignments for Train 772, assigning the same seat locations that we have selected on Train 552. We notice an announcement taped to the wall, warning us of delays between October 17 and 23 due to Union Pacific track work on this route. But today is Sunday, October 6, and freight traffic is still light due to the dock worker lockout at West Coast ports. What could go wrong?
Plenty, as we would soon find out. North of Salem, we became stalled on a siding, and we began to listen in to the conductor's conversations by radio and cell phone. This is easy to do, and requires no special equipment. You just go to the dining car where the conductor has his office set up in the last booth, take a table, and listen in.
The Union Pacific Railroad decided to change their track work schedule, but without telling anyone at Amtrak. This completely tied up all Amtrak traffic on the line through the Portland's Brooklyn Yards. We waited while freight trains rolled by, pulling empty lumber cars. Then we proceeded along the Willamette River until we were stopped again.
We overheard a radio conversation about the main line through the yards being occupied by two freights, one too long for a siding. Thus the UP dispatcher in Omaha elected to use an adjacent track as the main, and instructed our train to use a "lead line" coming in. While we didn't understand all the technicalities, we did hear the instructions our Amtrak conductor received about which track to use, and heard him repeat the instructions back, "This is Amtrak #552 instructed to come into Portland on track such-and-such," to make sure he got it right, which he was told he had.
We creep the yards, then come to a halt. A voice on the radio crackled, "Amtrak 552, where are you? We've been expecting you to arrive on Track # so-and-so" (not the track instructions our conducted had repeated back originally and had confirmed).
The conductor, who had evidently had similar conversations in the past, didn't waste a breath trying to argue, but said, "Then we'll need permission to back up to get onto Track #so-and-so."
"Well, we'll have to put two trains around you first," grumbled the voice on the other end.
The dreaded M word, "motorcoach," was uttered for the first time as the conductor announced to passengers that he was trying to get a bus to come out and ferry us into Portland rather than waiting for the dispatcher to give us the go-ahead. However, this had to "go through channels" and before long, we were proceeding under slow orders past dozens of track workers and pieces of equipment.
We finally arrived into Portland at 2:15pm, two hours and ten minutes behind schedule, and with some mighty unhappy passengers who hadn't heard the communications from the UP and were annoyed with Amtrak. The assistant conductor announced that Amtrak was very sorry for the delay, over which, she emphasized, Amtrak had no control without explaining that it was the fault of the Union Pacific. We do overhear from the crew in the dining car, however, that it is the policy of the deep pockets UP to just pay the fines to Amtrak for delayed trains, and then go on delaying them some more.
Naturally, our connecting train had long ago departed for Seattle, after waiting for us 45 minutes past its own scheduled departure time. While the onboard personnel assured us that we had a guaranteed connection to Seattle, there was no specific information as to how connecting passengers would be accommodated until we pulled into the station. We were then told to gather our bags and take them to the driveway in front of the station, where a bus chartered from Raz Transportation would be waiting for us. They estimated our time of arrival into Seattle to be anywhere from 5 to 6pm. Not being interested in a bus ride on Interstate 5, we stopped at the ticket counter where the agent reissued our Cascade Business Class ticket to the only First Class space available on the next scheduled departure, the Coast Starlight. This turned out to be Deluxe Room E in the 1431 car. We don't know if this is official Amtrak policy, or if they were doing us a special favor to make up for the inconvenience of the delay. At this time Train 14 was only 17 minutes behind schedule out of Albany.
The on-time southbound Starlight, No 11, was in the station and passengers were already boarding for the 2:30pm departure. The Empire Builder which had arrived from Chicago was still in the station headed south. It was explained to the waiting passengers that the Union Pacific would not permit the Empire Builder to be turned, due to track work south of the station. At 4:15pm the Empire Builder backed out of the station to be turned somewhere to the north. At 4:30pm, the southbound Coast Starlight left, after sitting in the station two hours beyond its scheduled departure time. Union Pacific claims it had to strand the train and its passengers during this time due to track work south of the station. However, three freight trains had passed through the station while the Starlight was resting there. It was then announced that the northbound Starlight might pull in 45 minutes later, or possibly sooner.
It is now 4:40pm, departure time for the Empire Builder, and the trainset is nowhere to be seen. The northbound Starlight should have pulled out of here forty minutes ago, but it also was nowhere to be seen. All this due to the Union Pacific, whose proud slogan was "We Can Handle It." This motto, no longer in evidence or in practice -- has been painted over on all the company's property since their merger with Southern Pacific.
Portland Station is, by now, overcrowded by at least 100%, with all benches occupied and other passengers either standing or sitting on the marble floors, waiting for the delayed Empire Builder, the delayed Coast Starlight, and also for the 6:15pm departure of a Cascade Talgo for Seattle .
At 5:05pm, after waiting 20 minutes, the Empire Builder was called for boarding, though connecting passengers from the stranded #14 Coast Starlight were seemingly not going to make it, as they were still stranded slightly south of the station.
We overheard a conversation between two Amtrak employees. "Somebody from UP said they didn't see why they should spend money on track maintenance just for Amtrak. Somebody from BNSF said, 'Why not just run Amtrak on time so you can collect the bonuses Amtrak pays and then you can use the money to fix the tracks and it won't cost you a dime?'"
It sounds like a sensible and easy solution. But apparently UP would rather take an adversarial position.
The Coast Starlight northbound No 14 pulls into Portland at 5:40pm, two hours behind its scheduled arrival. Fortunately for the connecting passengers, Amtrak held the Empire Builder more than an hour beyond it scheduled departure time. We quickly board the Starlight and find seats in the Pacific Parlour Car. I order a Glenfiddich single malt Scotch for Sylvia and a Knob Creek small batch bourbon for myself. The other passengers in the lounge say they had been sitting across the river from the station for two hours while the Union Pacific ran their freight trains across the bridge over the mighty Willamette. One male passenger, wearing shorts and shower shoes, looked at my Knob Creek single serving bottle, and exclaimed, "Wow, 100 proof, do you drink this often?" I had to explain that it was for special occasions, like riding on the Coast Starlight.
Our appetites whetted, we stroll up to the dining car and order two filet mignon with baked potato and a glass of Merlot, followed by apple pie and ice cream. It was excellent, we are happy to report! While we enjoy our meal, two coach passengers join us, then decide to go to the snack bar to purchase something lighter. Then we are joined by a young man from Southern California who works in the film industry as a script editor. He completes his dinner even as we are served our dessert, and he returns to his compartment to join his wife who was too unwell for dinner. He claimed she was just sick of being on the train so long. This leaves us to eavesdrop on the loud conversation across the aisle where an attractive and perky young Asian woman wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the word "Absolutely!" has engaged an aging American male in a lengthy and animated conversation. They exchange phone numbers as he returns to his coach seat and she to her sleeper.
I always enjoy being on the Coast Starlight, as long as the air conditioning, food, and beverages hold out. It is still the most elegant train that Amtrak operates. We were really rolling on the BNSF tracks between Portland and Seattle, arriving at King Street Station only one hour and fifteen minutes behind, at 9:45pm. Several passengers on this fully booked Starlight were making the bus connection to Vancouver, but we had reservations at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, just a short cab ride from the station. Tomorrow was soon enough to leave for Vancouver, and we would do that on the Mt. Baker International Talgo.
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