Travel

Lake Shore Limited redux

I wrote a long post in March enumerating seven reasons why I wasn’t going to take the Lake Shore Limited on future trips to the Midwest. To these I might also have added that the ex-New York Central route between Cleveland and Buffalo is particularly vulnerable to weather-related delays in the winter. Unfortunately I was called back on short notice to Michigan and the Lake Shore Limited was the only train I could catch in time. Let me quote from what I wrote in March:

CSX’s handling of the train in western New York. Amtrak is dependent on the freight railroads for dispatching. CSX does an absolutely terrible job between Schenectady and Rochester. They’re incapable of getting the train though on time. It’s just frustrating.

Now, here’s how my train fared across western New York last night, courtesy of the invaluable Amtrak Status Maps:

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* ALB  1  620P  1  705P  618P  750P  Departed:  45 minutes late.
* SDY  *  *     1  731P  *     821P  Departed:  50 minutes late.
* UCA  *  *     1  844P  *     1009P Departed:  1 hour and 25 minutes late.
* SYR  *  *     1  941P  *     1130P Departed:  1 hour and 49 minutes late.
* ROC  *  *     1  1100P *     137A  Departed:  2 hours and 37 minutes late.
* BUF  1  1155P 1  1159P 300A  320A  Departed:  3 hours and 21 minutes late.
* ERI  *  *     2  136A  *     533A  Departed:  3 hours and 57 minutes late.
* CLE  2  327A  2  345A  818A  829A  Departed:  4 hours and 44 minutes late.
* ELY  *  *     2  418A  *     915A  Departed:  4 hours and 57 minutes late.

We were late leaving Albany because we had to wait for the eastbound Lake Shore Limited, which was late, to arrive. CSX is an equal-opportunity railroad; having stabbed the eastbound train it makes sure to stab the westbound train in compensation. Add that to the heavy snow and ice along the coast of Lake Erie and it’s not gone well.

I’m not complaining exactly. I’ve had a good trip: good meals, good company. My roomette is comfortable. I will arrive in Michigan well within my timetable. The snow is messing with the airports too. It’s just that the Capitol Limited, having come up from Washington and missed most of the weather, was only 57 minutes late out of South Bend and will probably hit Chicago within 20-30 minutes of its arrival time.

This is why I don’t take the Lake Shore Limited.