An Amtrak Disaster!

[nybatt]

My wife and I rode the CZ this evening into CHI, 5hrs. 38 mins. late... naturally, we missed our connection to the 6:10 CAP LTD.. as we traveled through eastern nebraska and iowa, knowing we were going to be over 5hrs late, we anticipated (and were told) that there would be announcements regarding missed connections.

Needless to say we arrived into CHI completely clueless about what was going on! We were not informed if the CAP LTD was being held, or what the contingency plans were. (The Cap limited had indeed left CHI 15 minutes late) Upon arrival into the station there was absolute chaos. Hundreds of passengers wandering around trying to find out train status and alternate plans.

I initially waited for 25 minutes in the customer service line only to be directed to the ticket line in an attempt to swap tickets and catch the LSL due to depart at 9:30. After 35 minutes in line I was told the train not only had no sleepers available, but coach was sold out as well. I returned to the customer care line (20 more minutes) only to find out that an extra coach car was added to the LSL. Not wanting to ride coach for 16hrs. I opted to investigate the hotel voucher route.. What I did not realize was that my purchased sleeping accomodation was NOT guaranteed on the following day's CAP LTD. When I was told they were indeed sold out on tomorrow's train I was not happy.

I quickly dashed back to the ticket line and swapped out my sleeper seats for 2 coach tickets on the LSL. What a way to end my honeymoon! Amtrak will refund the cost of the sleeper on the CAP LTD we are not using.

I suppose my biggest gripe was how disorganized amtrak was, not only on the CZ, but especially in CHI terminal. The help was confused, understaffed, and overwhelmed. Knowing for TWO DAYS that the CZ was going to be very late and that connections were going to be missed, there should have been more support personnel at the gate when we disembarked.

Not amtrak's finest hour...

 

[Gingee]

That is a bummer. If it makes you feel better my sister and family are delayed getting back to Chicago from Disneyworld right now. On standby for a earlier than eleven oclock flight.

 

[amamba]

Nybatt - I am sorry to hear that things were so disorganized when you arrived in CHI on a late CZ. There is no excuse for you having to wait in multiple lines and not being directed to the right place at the right time. However, I did want to just point out that unfortunately there is no way for amtrak to guarantee that you will be placed on a sleeper if you miss your connection. With the trains selling out many nights, unfortunately there aren't enough cars to accomodate those with the original reservations plus those displaced by a late train. I am sorry to hear that your trip did not end as you planned.

How was the CZ, aside from the delay?

 

[DET63]

I suppose my biggest gripe was how disorganized amtrak was, not only on the CZ, but especially in CHI terminal. The help was confused, understaffed, and overwhelmed. Knowing for TWO DAYS that the CZ was going to be very late and that connections were going to be missed, there should have been more support personnel at the gate when we disembarked.

Knowing that a train is going to be arriving way late and that connections will be missed does not necessarily mean that Amtrak is going to be able to get enough personnel into the station to assist passengers coming from one train. It's tough, but Amtrak has to deal with dozens if not hundreds of trains each day, and it may be easier said than done to deal with a situation that comes up that causes a lot of inconvenience to passengers from one train without diverting personnel who need to attend to passengers arriving on, departing on, and/or transferring to other trains.

 

[TrulyTracy]

But the CZ is drastically late pretty much every day! Amtrak should be able to do better than the chaos described.

 

[jphjaxfl]

what nybatt described is why many non railfan passengers will say "never again" when taking an Amtrak long distance train could be an option. Some passengers will write to their Congress persons and Senators in Washington outlining their experience. Most of the elected officials in Washington only use Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor so their only experience with the long distance trains is what they hear from their constituants. When they hear about these type of experiences, they don't get excited about additional funding for the inefficient long distance trains so it becomes a vicious cycle. Amtrak should have a team of customer service representatives that board seriously late long distance trains since such late trains are frequent. By the time the train reached Chicago, passengers could be either re-ticketed or have their hotel vouchers and tickets for the next departing train. Everyone would be happy and less stress. In this electronic age, standing in long lines is ridiculous. The Amtrak apologists can defend Amtrak's disorganization, but these experience are not getting customers to continue riding Amtrak.

 

[rrdude]

Welcome to the world of Amtrak travel in these United States. As other poster(s) alluded to, ".......unless you are a rail fan, get used to it..........."

Sad but true. The VERY BASICS of running a transportation company, ON TIME PERFORMANCE, seem to allude Amtrak.

Don't get me wrong, many in mgmt WANT and work hard to get the trains running on time, but with all the restrictions they have working with old equipment, not enuff equipment, and arcane rules imposed upon them by the host railroads, it's a miracle they can get any trains dispatched or arrive on time.

Certainly not an apology, hold Amtrak's feet to the fire. Write and/or call their customer service department, demand some more compensation, for, yet another, ruined vacation.............

Can't tell you the number of co-workers, friends, and neighbors that I have persuaded to "try Amtrak" over the last 30 years, with, mostly, disastrous results. I don't recommend anymore, except for Acela, NER, and Surfliner.

 

[nybatt]

Let me point out that I am indeed a pretty big railfan... so, I have quite a bit of patience and understanding when it comes to Amtrak. i've cris-crossed the country the past 3 summers (from WILM to the west coast and back) and never had this degree of frustration with amtrak.

I did ask the CSReps about sleeping accomodation guarantees and they made it clear that they simply do not have the rolling stock availability to "add a car" to an existing train.. I understand this, but to the unsympathetic/average rail traveler this is not going to work. Again, my biggest frustration was what seemed like a lack of urgency from amtrak to address some legitimate missed-connection-issues many of us passengers had. With the troubles this spring and summer, amtrak should have been prepared and needed to have a team of reps, on site, when we de-trained.

Otherwise, the CZ was as impressive (scenery-wise) as ever.. I'm going to do a trip report when we get home from this odyssey. I scanned the whole trip so I was able to listen-in on why exactly we delayed 5+ hours. The Colorado river is ROARING from snow-melt and rain in the rockies... incredible! The Missouri river around Omaha and the massive flooding is tragic, and stunning to see...

We are now crawling into Cleveland as big thunderstorms have blacked-out much of NE ohio causing some pretty big signal issues. Looks like we are almost 2hrs late... meaning I will miss my connecting train to WILM (in NYC) later tonight!!! It will be much easier with the NE regional, but another adventure nonetheless!!

 

[Ryan]

Depending on what day you are talking about, there was a day in CHI recently where pretty much everything was late. Not that it's a heck of a lot better, but the chaos you saw wasn't from a staff dealing with a single late train, but perhaps several late trains.

 

[jmbgeg]

My wife and I rode the CZ this evening into CHI, 5hrs. 38 mins. late... naturally, we missed our connection to the 6:10 CAP LTD.. as we traveled through eastern nebraska and iowa, knowing we were going to be over 5hrs late, we anticipated (and were told) that there would be announcements regarding missed connections.

Needless to say we arrived into CHI completely clueless about what was going on! We were not informed if the CAP LTD was being held, or what the contingency plans were. (The Cap limited had indeed left CHI 15 minutes late) Upon arrival into the station there was absolute chaos. Hundreds of passengers wandering around trying to find out train status and alternate plans.

I initially waited for 25 minutes in the customer service line only to be directed to the ticket line in an attempt to swap tickets and catch the LSL due to depart at 9:30. After 35 minutes in line I was told the train not only had no sleepers available, but coach was sold out as well. I returned to the customer care line (20 more minutes) only to find out that an extra coach car was added to the LSL. Not wanting to ride coach for 16hrs. I opted to investigate the hotel voucher route.. What I did not realize was that my purchased sleeping accomodation was NOT guaranteed on the following day's CAP LTD. When I was told they were indeed sold out on tomorrow's train I was not happy.

I quickly dashed back to the ticket line and swapped out my sleeper seats for 2 coach tickets on the LSL. What a way to end my honeymoon! Amtrak will refund the cost of the sleeper on the CAP LTD we are not using.

I suppose my biggest gripe was how disorganized amtrak was, not only on the CZ, but especially in CHI terminal. The help was confused, understaffed, and overwhelmed. Knowing for TWO DAYS that the CZ was going to be very late and that connections were going to be missed, there should have been more support personnel at the gate when we disembarked.

Not amtrak's finest hour...

In February, I was on the Empire Builder eastbound to Chicago. It was so late that we were going to miss the LSL connection to NYP. That's late. Amtrak boarded a CSA an hour out of Chicago to deal with passengers who would misconnect with trains in CHI. He set up shop in the diner and met with passengers one at a time. No one had to get in line at CUS, and information sharing was frequent and good. That is the perfect response model. I do not know how often that happens. As it turns out, we got into CHI just before the LSL's scheduled departure and I made my connection as planned. <_<

 

[Bob Dylan]

Glad I dont work for Amtrak in CHI! Sounds like the Suits all had gone home and left the "hands" to deal with a mess, think this was one of those days when all the Trains were running late into/out of CHI! Usually Amtrak has a plan, as other posters have said, to deal with situations like this! Ive been on the Empire Builder when it was running Very late and Amtrsk personnel boarded the Train in Columbus, Wisconson and handled every connection passenger's situations by the time we arrived into Milwaukee! This included: bustitutions, hotels/meals and taxis in Chicago, rerouting onto other Trainsand in our case being met and led to our Train in Union Station (the CONO) which had been held for late arriving passengers!

That being said, you need to CALL Customer Relations and discuss/report this Fiasco, you deserve, and will get, a Voucher for future Travel over and aboard your sleeping car refund! CR has been doing an excellent job with these situations since they are happening DAILY all over the US, the Day of the Locust has struck Amtrak this year! :help: :help: :help:

 

[had8ley]

Glad I dont work for Amtrak in CHI! Sounds like the Suits all had gone home and left the "hands" to deal with a mess, think this was one of those days when all the Trains were running late into/out of CHI! Usually Amtrak has a plan, as other posters have said, to deal with situations like this! Ive been on the Empire Builder when it was running Very late and Amtrsk personnel boarded the Train in Columbus, Wisconson and handled every connection passenger's situations by the time we arrived into Milwaukee! This included: bustitutions, hotels/meals and taxis in Chicago, rerouting onto other Trainsand in our case being met and led to our Train in Union Station (the CONO) which had been held for late arriving passengers!

That being said, you need to CALL Customer Relations and discuss/report this Fiasco, you deserve, and will get, a Voucher for future Travel over and aboard your sleeping car refund! CR has been doing an excellent job with these situations since they are happening DAILY all over the US, the Day of the Locust has struck Amtrak this year! :help: :help: :help:

Jim~ they tell me the evening trick yardmaster is the toughest job in Chicago. Besides getting trains out they have to deal with the bad orders, regular maintenance cars to be cut out of inbounds, etc. Sounds like an easy ticket to the looney bin. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Guest]

If you know you are going to be late can you call up Customer Service while you are still on the train and get everything taken care of through them? I assume you would need to still get in line at the ticket counter to swap out tickets, but you would avoid a lot of confusion. Can the phone agents do this? Amtrak dropped the ball on the OP's trip and there is no excuse, but sometimes it helps to be proactive if you know you are dealing with people with a history of screwing up.

 

[The Chief]

I suppose my biggest gripe was how disorganized amtrak was, not only on the CZ, but especially in CHI terminal. The help was confused, understaffed, and overwhelmed. Knowing for TWO DAYS that the CZ was going to be very late and that connections were going to be missed, there should have been more support personnel at the gate when we disembarked.

Knowing that a train is going to be arriving way late and that connections will be missed does not necessarily mean that Amtrak is going to be able to get enough personnel into the station to assist passengers coming from one train.

God forbid Amtrak might actually try robust scheduling of terminal personnel, or improved communication with arriving PAX. Thinking outside of the challenging 2011 box seems to have eluded most of Amtrak -- from bargained-for employees to middle and upper management. Aw shucks, we've never done it this way probably is going to have some far-reaching ramifications that none of us will like regarding the ability to take a LD train.

Here's a news flash: How about using some of those idle call-center employees to grab the dial tone and call PAX on delayed trains as a first line of comm before they even arrive in CUS? I sure see a lot of people on board with cellphones. Or have train crews advise connecting PAX on board to call customer service, and provide them the number.

Or how about boarding some reps on inbound trains at Naperville, Mendota, Joliet or Milwaukee to meet and deal with connecting PAX in advance?

I came up with these ideas in the time it took me to browse through this topic.

Naw, "we've never done it that way."

 

[Ryan]

Or how about boarding some reps on inbound trains at Naperville, Mendota, Joliet or Milwaukee to meet and deal with connecting PAX in advance?

I came up with these ideas in the time it took me to browse through this topic.

Naw, "we've never done it that way."

Actually, they do that on a regular basis - it's even been stated as such in this thread... It's probable that they didn't in this case because of the fact that everything was running late - I'm sure that they're not manned to do that, and it'd be wasteful if they were. But, don't don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

 

[HoosierStater]

I suppose my biggest gripe was how disorganized amtrak was, not only on the CZ, but especially in CHI terminal. The help was confused, understaffed, and overwhelmed. Knowing for TWO DAYS that the CZ was going to be very late and that connections were going to be missed, there should have been more support personnel at the gate when we disembarked.

Knowing that a train is going to be arriving way late and that connections will be missed does not necessarily mean that Amtrak is going to be able to get enough personnel into the station to assist passengers coming from one train.

God forbid Amtrak might actually try robust scheduling of terminal personnel, or improved communication with arriving PAX. Thinking outside of the challenging 2011 box seems to have eluded most of Amtrak -- from bargained-for employees to middle and upper management. Aw shucks, we've never done it this way probably is going to have some far-reaching ramifications that none of us will like regarding the ability to take a LD train.

Here's a news flash: How about using some of those idle call-center employees to grab the dial tone and call PAX on delayed trains as a first line of comm before they even arrive in CUS? I sure see a lot of people on board with cellphones. Or have train crews advise connecting PAX on board to call customer service, and provide them the number.

Or how about boarding some reps on inbound trains at Naperville, Mendota, Joliet or Milwaukee to meet and deal with connecting PAX in advance?

I came up with these ideas in the time it took me to browse through this topic.

Naw, "we've never done it that way."

It's not God forbidding it, it's the budget, I'm sure. "robust scheduling of terminal personnel" would involve overtime or hiring of more people or both. And "idle call-center employees"? Do you know why you spend so much time on hold when you call a customer service line? It is due to keeping minimal staff on the payroll, so as to maximize profit, or, as in the case of Amtrak, minimize loss. And in a number of cases, people do not give out cell phone numbers, and even when they do, they may not identify the number as such.

Amtrak may not be doing the best they can-- or at least some employees no doubt are not. Unfortunately, the logistics behind such matters do not always work.

 

[The Chief]

But, don't don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

But I do know where Groton, CT is though,,,HA

 

[yarrow]

the op was somewhat familiar with amtrak and was still justifiably upset at his experience. i wonder what people not familiar with amtrak think. we have some friends who are going from spokane to san francisco rt in a bedroom on my recommendation. they are active but elderly. i hope they have a good experience. i've been positive in my trip reports to them. i hope not too positive