Amtrak’s westbound Empire Builder suffered a minor derailment in the station on Wednesday in Milwaukee.
An online report indicated that the derailment involved one truck of a coach behind the dining car and occurred after one of its three locomotives, No. 815, was removed from the train due to a mechanical issue.
The online report indicated that the 815 had been flagged by a dragging equipment detector at milepost 72.7 on host railroad Canadian Pacific.
No. 7 had arrived in Milwaukee at about 4:40 p.m. and did not depart until 12:35 a.m. @AmtrakAlerts had described the delay was due to a “malfunction with one of the railcars.”
The derailed car was removed from the consist and left in Milwaukee.
Early Friday morning, Amtrak reported No. 7 was operating nearly nine hours late west of Malta, Montana.
In an unrelated development, mechanical woes led to the cancellation of Wolverine Service No. 352 last Tuesday.
The train departed Chicago Union Station 80 minutes late and halted two miles away due to a mechanical breakdown.
The train was returned to the depot and canceled. Passengers were either rebooked aboard Wolverine Service No. 354 or given a refund of their fare.
The next day Wolverine Service No. 351 from Pontiac, Michigan (Detroit), to Chicago was canceled on account of no equipment being available. Normally, No. 352 turns to become No. 351 the next day.
An online report indicated a breakdown of the SC-44 Charger locomotive assigned to No. 352 caused the problems. The unit reportedly malfunctioned after the equipment arrived in the station and again after leaving.
The report indicated that mechanical issues with Charger locomotives led Amtrak to replace them with P42DC units on corridor trains operating in the Chicago-Quincy, Illinois; and Chicago-Carbondale, Illinois, corridors.
The Wolverines have had a rough week with many of them operating late. Amtrak reported Thursday night that No. 354 was operating more than five hours late east of Battle Creek, Michigan.
It left Chicago three hours late due to mechanical issues, Amtrak reported.
Earlier on Thursday, a late arrival of inbound Wolverine Service No. 350 in Pontiac resulted in a 40-minute late departure of No. 355. That delayed had reached an hour and 20 minutes by the time No. 355 reached Hammond-Whiting, Indiana.
Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak's Empire Builder, Chicago-Detroit Corridor, Empire Builder, SC-44 Charger, Wolverine Service
Amtrak in the Heartland 
February 18, 2022 at 12:00 pm |
Looks like the #8 Empire Builder has been re-routed to come into Minneapolis from the west instead of the usual Mississippi river route for Feb 18 2022.