According to KXLY News, shipments of freight and oil are bumping Amtrak’s use of rail lines, causing the trains to detour.
Amtrak uses BNSF Railway Co. lines and says “severe freight train interference” is causing long delays along the Chicago-to-Pacific Northwest Empire Builder route.
In North Dakota, Amtrak trains are reportedly being forced to bypass Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Rugby, areas of heavy oil activity. Passengers in those cities are being bused to either Minot or Fargo to cath west-and-eastbound trains.
For it’s part, BNSF says it’s investing records amounts of money to expand capacity to help alleviate the problem.
We went out to our lake cabin on February 9th and when in Rathdrum about 11 am Amtrax was heading east then, just a few hours late. 🙂
Wow yeah, just "a few" hours late considering it comes through middle of the night usually. It's been sitting here at the station a lot of mornings too when I get here at 7:30 a.m.