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Rail Travel News is a twice-monthly print publication, published since Dec 10, 1970.
Publisher: Message Media Company,
PO Box 9007,
Berkeley CA 94709.
Website copyright © 1997-2005 by Message Media Co.

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     Another huge storm in a continuing series dumped more snow and rain on California this past weekend. Snow depths in the Sierra Nevada are now greater than they have been since 1916. The two main highways over the mountains, I-80 and Hwy 50, were closed for about 24 hours, while the Reno airport was shut down, a rare occurrence.
     The Union Pacific Railroad likewise had plenty of snow, but trains were moving through until Amtrak's eastbound California Zephyr, train 6 of Jan 8, suffered a derailment of sleeping car 32026 35 miles west of Truckee at a speed of about 6-8mph. The derailment was probably due to packed ice and snow in the rails. The cars was rerailed and the train was pulled backwards to Sacramento by UP forces, reaching there at 6am Jan 9, after passengers had spent part of the night immobilized in the mountains.
     From Sacramento, the train detoured via the former Western Pacific line through Feather River Canyon. Because of the derailment, the westbound train 5 terminated at Reno and passengers were bused on. The train turned there to become train 6 of Jan 9, while there was no train 6 between Emeryville and Reno.
     The detoured train 6 was expected to be over 24 hours late by Winnemucca NV, but it would have no train 6 of Jan 9 ahead of it, since the two locomotives of the train that was turned at Reno derailed at Sparks NV, and the train was cancelled entirely.
     Passengers boarding at Winnemucca and more easterly points will board train 6 of Jan 8. Some of them might even think the train is remarkably close to schedule!
Source: Gene Poon.
     There were also Amtrak disruptions and cancellations on the Coast Line due to heavy rain problems.   
     In 1952 the Southern Pacific train City of San Francisco, predecessor of Amtrak's California Zephyr, became stranded in the Sierra for several days, frozen to the rails. The story is told in the out-of-print book "Storm!" published in the 1950s. 

   Amtrak said on Jan 6:  IN RESPSONSE TO CONTINUED STRONG RIDERSHIP ON MANY AMTRAK SERVICES ACROSS THE COUNTRY AMTRAK WILL INCREASE MANY RAIL FARES, MULTI-RIDE FARES, EXPLORE AMERICA FARES AND ACCOMMODATION CHARGES ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2005.
.  PRICE CHANGES FOR SLEEPING CAR ACCOMMODATION CHARGES WILL
VARY BY ROUTE, MANY INCREASING, BUT SOME DECREASING AND
OTHERS UNCHANGED. 

     The White Pass & Yukon Railway said it wants to extend its service to Carcross, and Carcross businesspeople are hoping to develop more facilities in that town to make it a tourist attraction. It will need hotel space, bed and breakfast facilities, restaurants, etc.

   The railway will have a sizable crew working this summer to upgrade the tracks between Bennett and Carcross and plans to run at least one excursion train, while aiming for regular service by summer, 2006.

     Between 800 and 1000 people aboard the Queen of the Seas passenger train in Sri Lanka died when the train was hit directly by the unprecedented giant tsunami on December 26. There were some survivors who described the horror. Most of the fatalities were by drowning. 

     The large number of fatalities will rank this train accident among the most deadly in history. 

HAS AN AMTRAK PASSENGER EVER DROWNED?

     The answer is yes. This fact came to our attention when we were preparing the report on the Coast Starlight fire that happened in June 1985. In that same month a young woman from Santa Maria CA died in a derailment of the San Francisco Zephyr (the train now known as the California Zephyr) in Iowa in a heavy rainstorm. The woman drowned, probably in rainwater gathered by the storm.
     In the Sunset Limited accident in Alabama on Sep. 22, 1993, 47 people died, many of them by drowning, when the train fell into a bayou.

Summary of major Nov 1 Amtrak timetable changes.
Empire Builder 50th and 75th anniversaries.
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