Posted on 08/27/2008 3:23:47 AM PDT by iowamark
LOS ANGELES — An Amtrak train traveling from here to San Diego ran out of fuel on Sunday night, an Amtrak spokeswoman said.
“It’s not uncommon for trains to run out of fuel here,” the spokeswoman, Vernae Graham, said. “It happens from time to time.”
This summer, a locomotive traveling on the same Pacific Surfliner route ran out of fuel, Ms. Graham said, as did a train in the Pacific Northwest last year.
“They are fueled once a day,” she said. “Once the train leaves in the morning, generally there is sufficient fuel for the entire day.”
The six-car train on Sunday night slowed to a halt 15 miles north of downtown San Diego at a station that serves the city’s light rail system, which had stopped running for the night. Another Amtrak train pushed the stalled train the remaining 15 miles down the coast, Ms. Graham said.
The trip, which normally takes two and a half hours, stretched to four. Many of the 83 passengers got out at the light rail station and called friends and relatives to pick them up there. Those without other options arrived downtown just before 1:30 a.m.
...While Amtrak trains in the Northeast corridor are electric, those in most of the rest of the country are fuel driven. All Amtrak locomotives in California run on diesel, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Who is John Galt? Oh well...
Nationalize the oil drilling industry!
One solution - hook a tank car behind the engine.
You would think they would be smart enough to inflate their tires.
Good thing these guys don’t operate aircraft...
They just don’t make diesel like they used to.
“It’s not uncommon for trains to run out of fuel here,” the spokeswoman, Vernae Graham, said. “It happens from time to time...They are fueled once a day,” she said. “Once the train leaves in the morning, generally there is sufficient fuel for the entire day.”
Even though spoken by an Amtrack employee who should be in congress, this is as about as perfect a description of our congresscritters as exists. Remember this the next time a congresscritter-lawyer (who never had a real job outside of congress) tries to legislate physics, social relations, or anything requiring any thought.
LOL! Shades of Atlas Shrugged....
Well I’ll be! That must have what happened to us when we went from SA Tx to LA CA in the 80s, we were three hours late and coming back to San Antonio, we were FIVE hours late.
The last time we took the train. Inconvenienced friends picking us up both ways, and work schedule coming back.
AmTrak is a disaster.
You can't professionalize unless you Federalize".....
The Gimli Glider was my first thought.
Maglev trains never run out of fuel and go 4 times as fast as Amtrak.
I wonder if they regularly audit the fuel supplies and cross-check against distance traveled.
No, the solution is to make sure the pump is filling both sides.
The article was submitted from Los Angeles. How does a train run out of fuel between LA and San Diego? It is not that far away!
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