Pre-emptive Cancellation
8th January 2014
The polar vortex that supposedly was caused by global warming should have been a great opportunity for Amtrak to prove the worth of intercity trains, which advocates often claim are “all-weather transportation.” Instead, Amtrak preemptively cancelled trains in both the Midwest and Northeast Corridor.
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Admittedly, three trains were stuck in the snow in Illinois in the middle of the night. Fortunately, Amtrak was able to rescue the passengers–with buses.
January 8th, 2014 at 11:41
When I was in college, Amtrak made a big spectacle of replacing the track going through town and bringing in a brand-new train to show off. That happened to be a very cold winter and (surprise) nobody at Amtrak bothered to consider that the new cars they designed and purchased needed to be insulated against the cold. Service was stopped for months as the cars had no working toilets or flowing water.