Thanks. I guess if you have to catch the next day you just have to hope your sleeping accommodations will be avaliable.You can be put up overnight and put on the train the next day.
Or they will hold the train for you.
Or they will pull you off the train early and bus/van you to catch up with the other train.
If the connection is guaranteed, you will be taken care of.
You can be put up overnight and put on the train the next day.
Or they will hold the train for you.
Or they will pull you off the train early and bus/van you to catch up with the other train.
If the connection is guaranteed, you will be taken care of.
You're off by about 2 hours:Right now the Cardinal going east is on average running up to 4 hours late
You can add today's trip as it was 2+ hours late before it even go to Indianapolis, so with the normal added delays it gets in the WVA/VA area another trip I am betting close to 4 hours late by the time it reaches NYC, it's final destination.You're off by about 2 hours:Right now the Cardinal going east is on average running up to 4 hours late
If you throw out the 3 trains that got extraordinarily fouled up, the average is closer to an hour late at WAS.
That's fine. The average is still nowhere near 4 hours.You can add today's trip as it was 2+ hours late before it even go to Indianapolis, so with the normal added delays it gets in the WVA/VA area another trip I am betting close to 4 hours late by the time it reaches NYC, it's final destination.
An Amtrak train is never late, dn4192. Nor is it ever early. An Amtrak train arrives precisely when it means to.You can add today's trip as it was 2+ hours late before it even go to Indianapolis, so with the normal added delays it gets in the WVA/VA area another trip I am betting close to 4 hours late by the time it reaches NYC, it's final destination.
All I know is that in today's world, how a company can accept repeated lateness is beyond me. Either correct the problem update and correct the arrival times or eliminate the route..An Amtrak train is never late, dn4192. Nor is it ever early. An Amtrak train arrives precisely when it means to.You can add today's trip as it was 2+ hours late before it even go to Indianapolis, so with the normal added delays it gets in the WVA/VA area another trip I am betting close to 4 hours late by the time it reaches NYC, it's final destination.
Well if Amtrak eliminated routes for being late, that would pretty much eliminate everything except the Northeast Corridor. And depending on the standard of lateness, it could even eliminate the NEC.All I know is that in today's world, how a company can accept repeated lateness is beyond me. Either correct the problem update and correct the arrival times or eliminate the route..
I disagree that there is any sort of FRA (or Amtrak) "enforcement" power regarding train delays. Amtrak operating agreements with the contracting RRs are outside FRA's scope and jurisdiction. The STB (and its predecessor ICC) is the only entity granted any formal "enforcement" as far as Amtrak performance on contracting RRs is concerned.Well if Amtrak eliminated routes for being late, that would pretty much eliminate everything except the Northeast Corridor. And depending on the standard of lateness, it could even eliminate the NEC.All I know is that in today's world, how a company can accept repeated lateness is beyond me. Either correct the problem update and correct the arrival times or eliminate the route..
As for correcting the arrival times, back around 2001/2002 Amtrak saw the Sunset was having real problems with lateness. So they worked with UP & CSX to add 10 & 1/2 hours of padding to the schedule. The host RR's just gobbled up that time and still delayed Amtrak to the point at times where it ran 24 hours or more late.
Thankfully, in 2008 part of the legislation that arose out of the Metrolink crash finally gave Amtrak and the FRA some real teeth towards enforcing the host RR's to actually run Amtrak on time. Amtrak & the FRA are still sort of testing out the waters as it were, but they have started to take action in cases where the hosts continuously delay Amtrak in favor of their freight trains.
Johanna,If you miss a guaranteed connection for which you've paid for sleeping accommodation, and they have to put you on the next day's train in coach, I assume they'll refund what you paid for the sleeping accommodation? Or not? How does that work if you've paid for the trip with AGR points?
For example, I'm going from WAS to SEA, CL connecting to EB, in a roomette. I booked the whole thing as a 3-zone trip for 35K points. If the CL is late and I miss the connection and get "downgraded" to coach on the next day's EB, my 3-zone roomette trip becomes 2 zones in a roomette plus 2 zones in coach, which would be 28K points if I booked them separately. Would they refund me the 7K points? That seems like small compensation for two nights in coach versus a roomette.
I realize that it's unlikely for the CL to be that late, but I still want to know what to expect if it is.
I encountered this almost exact situation a year ago when the Southwest Chief hit an elk in Arizona, causing me to miss my connection with the Coast Starlight in LA. Amtrak proposed to bus us to Emeryville to meet the Coast Starlight, with appropriate compensation. I didn't much care for the idea. I called AGR and they rebooked the LAX-SEA segment for the following day, at no cost or charge, creating a day's layover in LA (which, to be honest, would have been my preference in the first place but coming from CHI on a two-zone award you normally aren't allowed a layover). Note that I was on my own for the day in the LA since Amtrak had offered a transportation alternative which I had declined, but I simply stayed with friends.If you miss a guaranteed connection for which you've paid for sleeping accommodation, and they have to put you on the next day's train in coach, I assume they'll refund what you paid for the sleeping accommodation? Or not? How does that work if you've paid for the trip with AGR points?
For example, I'm going from WAS to SEA, CL connecting to EB, in a roomette. I booked the whole thing as a 3-zone trip for 35K points. If the CL is late and I miss the connection and get "downgraded" to coach on the next day's EB, my 3-zone roomette trip becomes 2 zones in a roomette plus 2 zones in coach, which would be 28K points if I booked them separately. Would they refund me the 7K points? That seems like small compensation for two nights in coach versus a roomette.
I realize that it's unlikely for the CL to be that late, but I still want to know what to expect if it is.
If you're able to book it on Amtrak without having to break it up, it's guaranteed. (So, for example, if you bought it on Amtrak, typed in your origin station and destination station, any connections that pops up should be guaranteed.)Newbi question - how can you tell if your connection is guaranteed?
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