Train Schedules

Anyone who rides Amtrak between St. Louis and Chicago knows that the train schedule is seldom an actual schedule. The 5:49 from St. Louis usually goes by our house closer to 6:15. However, the Texas Eagle's schedule needs some serious reworking. When I rode it from Little Rock to Bloomington-Normal last spring it was running about 45 minutes late--not bad for a train that runs from Texas to Chicago. Lately, however, the train is running a good 4 hours behind schedule. My parents ended up leaving Little Rock around 3 am instead of the scheduled 11:30 pm. This seems to be the pattern for at least the last week. If you call Amtrak to check on the train status, Julie (the automated agent) doesn't even pretend like this train is on time anymore and adds "trains often lose time en route."