Adirondack late (7/22)

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northnorthwest

Service Attendant
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Feb 21, 2013
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#69's arrival into MTR was 5 hours 36 minutes late on 6/22! Anybody know why? We're taking this train the whole length of the trip next week and do NOT want that to be our experience!
 
#69(22) may not have arrived anywhere that late at MTR. It is possible that it got into an incident or had a breakdown north of the border. But the status reports are sometimes flaky for arrivals at MTR, maybe because the arrival doesn't get reported into the Amtrak system until much later.

The Status Maps report for #69(22) which shows #69 departing Rouses Point, the border stop, 52 minutes late. Then nothing for MTR.

Code:
* Train 69 of 07/22/2015.
* Adirondack
* +---------------- Station Code
* | +----------- Schedule Arrival Day
* | | +-------- Schedule Arrival Time
* | | | +----- Schedule Departure Day
* | | | | +-- Schedule Departure Time
* | | | | | +------------- Actual Arrival Time
* | | | | | | +------- Actual Departure Time
* | | | | | | | +- Comments
* V V V V V V V V
* NYP * * 1 815A * 826A Departed: 11 minutes late.
* YNY * * 1 844A * 855A Departed: 11 minutes late.
* CRT * * 1 903A * 914A Departed: 11 minutes late.
* POU * * 1 945A * 959A Departed: 14 minutes late.
  RHI * * 1 1000A
* HUD * * 1 1020A * 1039A Departed: 19 minutes late.
* ALB 1 1050A 1 1110A 1105A 1132A Arrived: 15 minutes late. | Departed: 22 minutes late.
* SDY * * 1 1134A * 1155A Departed: 21 minutes late.
* SAR * * 1 1202P * 1234P Departed: 32 minutes late.
* FED * * 1 1224P * 1256P Departed: 32 minutes late.
* WHL * * 1 1249P * 125P Departed: 36 minutes late.
* FTC * * 1 122P * 200P Departed: 38 minutes late.
* POH * * 1 144P * 223P Departed: 39 minutes late.
* WSP * * 1 204P * 258P Departed: 54 minutes late.
* PLB 1 322P 1 322P 415P 420P Arrived: 53 minutes late. | Departed: 58 minutes late.
* RSP * * 1 405P * 457P Departed: 52 minutes late.
  SLQ * * 1 657P
  MTR 1 711P * *
 
I see no notes that 69 encountered any major issues north of the border. It did leave SLQ 54 minutes late, so I highly fail to see how it could lose another four and a half hours, over a span where it's scheduled to only take 14 minutes.
 
.......We're taking this train the whole length of the trip next week and do NOT want that to be our experience!
But there’s nothing you can do about it!

A train (or plane, or bus) could be perfectly on time every day but the one day you do ride…..anything can happen including a 5 hour delay!

As reported above…..the Adirondack was 54 late at St. Lambert…..little chance it lost another 4 hours in the four miles into Gare Centrale.Even if the Seaway Bridge was stuck open….trains here have two routes around the St. Lambert Locks.

This arrival probably wasn't reported until the equipment had been hauled out to the MMC for servicing.

(PS…..If anyone has a ‘Trainorders’ account….head over there. MBerry has just posted some great photos in the Canadian Forum: ‘CN St-Hyacinthe Sub seen from an AMT cab car’ showing the route from SLQ to MTR including the bridges and even the Adirondack backing out to the MMC)
 
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Thank you for replies #3 and #4 for your useful answers.
To be fair, #5 was correct too. The performance of a train one day is not necessarily indicative of its performance on a future date. As with any form of travel, it's good to have a backup plan.
 
Having taken the Adirondack, I can say that the...er...peculiarities of the border crossing tend to be delay triggers. This is more of an issue southbound (where the delays can then cascade over the D&H due to the large amount of single-track)...but it is horridly unpredictable.
 
northnorthwest.......Are you connecting in Montreal?.....or just wanting some time for an evening out in Montreal?

Even a three hour late Adirondack would leave you with plenty of time for a nice meal. Stroll down St. Catherine Street at midnight and it can be as busy as 12 noon. Or try one of the sidewalk bars and cafes on Crescent St.......and Montreal is perfectly safe for walking around at night.
 
As things turned out the original regional from BAL departed around 5:30am (57 min late...just looked it up) instead of 4:41am. The earlier regional (3-something) had "broken down" so they had to load people on to our train in DC or somewhere south, which took time. Then they let the Acela go before us, so that delayed further. When arriving in NYP they luckily held the Adirondack for us and it was on the track across the same platform, which helped. The train was totally sold out, so the only empty seats were right in the middle of the car, where it turns out there is NO WINDOW. I really laughed when I saw that. Well, at least we had seats together. The bigger issue was the whole car was filled with the most obnoxious younger people I've encountered in a while. The kid (He was in his 20s; I'm in my 30's: FYI.) right behind me was the ringleader of some kind of business retreat and was swearing every other word (f this and f that) and making the foulest jokes nonstop (which weren't even funny, things about body cavity search, etc.). I got the feeling that they had absolutely no morals whatsoever and wondered how they turned out that way. Anyway, it was almost unbearable for the whole way up there, and there were many delays throughout, so we arrived a couple hours late and then were not able to get the bus to Ottawa until midnight (instead of 8pm)! Arriving at 3am! So it was a 24-hour day for us. Tiring to say the least!

A few random reactions to this experience:

My fiancée and I both said we wished there had been an overnight sleeper train. We would definitely have done that if it were available. Why don't they have it?

I asked her how much more she would have paid to be seated in a quiet seat away from the brats at that moment, and she instantly produced the same figure I had in my head: $50. Maybe they could make some cash by offering real differences in service, like a section with "guaranteed" quiet, better seats, guaranteed window, a clean bathroom, etc.

Also an idea for Amtrak. And why do I think of this? I'm a composer not a marketing guru...Why don't they sell "value added" tickets like at sporting events? So a ticket would come with $10 value for the cafe car but you'd save a bit over paying separately at that moment. I think people would go for that. That cafe line was running NONSTOP (Apparently the kids can't live without the most horrendous looking "pizza" I've ever seen!), so I think they could have made even more money this way. We packed a lot of food so only bought 2 teas in the car, but we could have been induced to spend more with the right deal. Thoughts?
 
1. Overnight train is a non-starter since somebody has to pay for it and I doubt if New York would want to pay for a train that passes through the state in the middle of the night.

2. Business class and quiet cars: Just about every other train in the Northeast has both. No reason Adirondack couldn't have them. Neither one would guarantee that an obnoxious bunch of people wouldn't be aboard.

3. I don't understand the "value added" concept, but I imagine it could be done.
 
My fiancée and I both said we wished there had been an overnight sleeper train. We would definitely have done that if it were available. Why don't they have it?

I asked her how much more she would have paid to be seated in a quiet seat away from the brats at that moment, and she instantly produced the same figure I had in my head: $50. Maybe they could make some cash by offering real differences in service, like a section with "guaranteed" quiet, better seats, guaranteed window, a clean bathroom, etc.

Also an idea for Amtrak. And why do I think of this? I'm a composer not a marketing guru...Why don't they sell "value added" tickets like at sporting events?
The Adirondack is a state supported train, so NY DOT ultimately decides what the services the train should have.

The travel distance from NYP to MTR is not far enough for a sleeper train, even though the Montrealer was an overnight train. NY is not about to pay for an overnight train that stops at Albany and the upper NY state station in the middle of the night.

The Adirondack should have a business class car. You might still run into obnoxious passengers in a higher cost BC car, but I would say the odds are lower. I think it is the customs inspection at the border that in part blocks adding a BC car because the US customs inspectors want to keep passengers confined to a few cars. If the Customs Facility at the Montreal station opens, Amtrak and NY should look at adding BC after it opens. The extra revenue from BC would reduce the subsidy for the train.
 
Wether you call trains like the Adriondack MD (medium distance), or LD (Long Distance) day trains, it's amazing how this little train gets more play on this and other forums

than other MD or LD day trains.

First and foremost this train is paid for by the State of New York, if the state withdrew it's funding it would be gone.

Back in the mid-70's when this train was introduced, the State of NY justified the expense as the train provides an economic boost to the communities north of Albany, connecting them

to NYC and Montreal. Given how much rail transport the State of NY pays for (MTA and it's agencies), this train is NOT a priority.

The Adirondack carries less people in a year, than travel Metro-North and the LIRR in a day.

In it's early days it become popular with railfans as it often ran with Deleware and Hudson equipment, before becoming turbortrained, and then "amfletted"

The train is very basic with amfleet coaches, and a cafe car, no quiet car, no business class, no attendants, again the whole point is essential transportation.

This is NOT a train for people who require extra services, or want to be fussed over. North of Albany, and Souh of Montreal the only staffed station is Saratoga, and in the trains

Amtrak history the only other one was Plattsburgh (other than special event staffing).

One concession is that Amtrak has offered one it's last operating dome cars during the fall peak, and again this always causes much discussion that is so not needed.

The dome is available to all passengers on a 1st come, 1st served no basis, no reservations, no brochures, no special website.

The Adirondack is what it is, take it, or leave it.

Ken
 
The staffed stations north of Albany is incorrect. Schenectady was staffed (and still is) and for a time (until the 1980's I believe Ft. Edward (which was my home station) also was staffed. Plattsburgh was also staffed for a long time, but i can't remember when they stopped.
 
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Amtrak is having an Adirondack "sale", if you book by August 31, for travel October 19, to November 19th.

This is late for the foliage season (have no idea if/when the dome will running this year), and could be a good way to fill seats between the peak foliage season, and the start of

holiday season travel.

http://www.amtrak.com/monthly-train-ticket-discount

Ken
 
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