The California Zephyr travels through Emigrant Gap and Donner Pass on its route between Sacramento and Reno.  Between Grand Junction and Denver, Colorado, it goes through the Rockies.  When the weather is fine and the schedules are adhered to, the view is spectacular.  If the train runs sufficiently late, though, passengers miss the Rockies and get to see Nebraska instead.

On January 4, the Sierra Nevada endured the third of three days of snow with several feet on the ground.  We lost about half an hour in Sacramento because snow-starved Californians heading to Truckee by bus were placed on the train instead.  The train rose about 5,200 feet from Sacramento to Emigrant Gap (between Colfax and Truckee), then stopped.  The Union Pacific (UP) insisted on running a snow plow in front of the train, but it had to travel from points east through a snowstorm that had by then closed Interstate 80.  It needed over three hours for the trip, and we arrived in Truckee over four hours late.  Meanwhile the sun had set and we went over the storied passes and bridges in the dark.

The Union Pacific and other freight rail companies own the track upon which Amtrak runs.  They control signalling, so Amtrak trains spend plenty of time stopped on the siding.  In several locations east of Sacramento, the Union Pacific tore out a lane of track to save in maintenance, so after the three hour wait, we had a shorter stop to let another train through.

 

After Reno, the snow let up but the quality of the track limited our speeds.  The national speed limit for passenger trains is 79 mph.  The UP track allowed 70 mph at best, and at 70 mph the ride turned bumpier than a train ride really should be.  At times the engineers slowed down so as not to alarm passengers or get derailed, but these minutes ate into the schedule.  Daylight returned near the Great Salt Lake and faded near Grand Junction, just as the most scenic section of the Rockies loomed.  By Denver, we were five and a half hours behind, thanks to slow speeds through the snow and stops to let westbound trains through.

By central Nebraska, we were over six hours behind schedule.  From there to Chicago, we managed to claw 10-20 minutes from the schedule, arriving six hours late.

The delays could have been reduced from six hours to two or three hours without utopian measures like laying 2200 miles of double, dedicated, Acela-class tracks and signing them over to Amtrak.  A plow should precede the train when heavy snow is in progress.  If drivers on parallel highways need to use tire chains, then perhaps the snowplow should precede the train.  More sidings and longer stretches of double track would reduce delays waiting for trains going the other way.  Railroad tracks should be maintained to the point where passenger trains can travel near the 79 mph national speed limit.

 

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