Chicago tribune article on Amtrak's issues in Chicago

This article says the roll out of wifi on Midwest contributed to the problems.

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/544/article/p2p-79535003/

isn't good journalism wonderful?

those new regional double decker can't come fast enough. Banish those Horizons to more warm weather service.

The WiFi excuse makes no sense at all and sounds like a crock to me.

If that was really an issue, why wouldn't they make an announcement that the rollout would be delayed?

I DO NOT believe for one minute that installing WiFi on regionals contributed one bit to the incredible amount of LD delays.

Having problems in the snow and freezing temps is understandable but running equipment that can't handle it isn't.

This direct link would work better for most readers here. The My Chicago Tribune link will not load properly for most who aren't subscribers.

A rough ride for Amtrak passengers this winter

"... mixing Superliners and single level ... won't work ..." How would that even be possible without using a transdorm? :huh: I wish reporters would do some research!

Hack journalism at it's worst. He took the "let's throw something against the wall and see if it sticks" route. Sadly, there are some who wouldn't know any better that would take the wi-fi excuse as gospel.

Babbling journalism....

MiRider said:

The WiFi excuse makes no sense at all and sounds like a crock to me.

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Makes sense to me. The article didn't say the Wi-fi decision was a good one, merely that running Horizons with Wi-fi and sending superliners to the EB help explain not using superliners on the Illinois routes.

The article is the most detailed explanation of the problem I've seen. It certainly beats the typical AU speculation.

Sometimes this guy is pretty good. Sometimes not. The horizons and amfleets don't do well in winter and it places a burden on the Chicago yard.

Amtrak didn't have a problem replacing horizons/amfleets with Superliners and thus removing bc from those trains. So I don't see substituting Superliners and eliminating wifi as a big service downgrade. I know a set of Superliners was set aside for extra eb set, and I think this is more of a reason why they weren't used.

I hope the new bilevels and engines are designed to handle these conditions. Of so amtrak will come through strong the first winter these are operating.

One thing that simply isn't true is Amtrak's statement, "Amtrak said it has not sent out any trains with malfunctioning toilets." I rode the Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to Boston in November, and we were told by the SCA that our sleepers toilets didn't work before we even left the Chicago city limits. They continued to malfunction the entire 25 hour trip.

Ispolkom said:

One thing that simply isn't true is Amtrak's statement, "Amtrak said it has not sent out any trains with malfunctioning toilets." I rode the Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to Boston in November, and we were told by the SCA that our sleepers toilets didn't work before we even left the Chicago city limits. They continued to malfunction the entire 25 hour trips.

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It's probably true that Amtrak said that.

Ispolkom - there were actually several untrue or what I feel were false to misleading claims from spokesperson's within that article. I wasn't really wanting to address that here. But this constant acting as if all the issues mentioned in that article, other news stories and by passengers are new ones - gets very old and is insulting to many passengers who know better. But this has been Amtrak's method of operation for years.

Many of the problems have been ongoing for years now and many times when reported by conductors other onboard Amtrak staff - they don't seem to always get fixed. In years past I have heard complaints from employees about this.

The toilet statement is definitely false. I can think of twice in recent months were Lincoln Service rolled out of station without a working bathroom. The one that comes to mind clearly is leaving St Louis on the afternoon or last evening train recently - Cafe car bathroom was not functioning. It was stated they tried without success to resolve the problem in St Louis. Business Class passengers were informed that they would have to go back one car if they needed a restroom.

So in a very limited time - with my statement and yours - we see at least 2 passengers who have seen a completely different reality than what was expressed by the Amtrak spokesperson in that article.

That being stated - from what I saw in a City of New Orleans sleeper car on a recent trip - it isn't hard to see why toilets have issues - even when weather is good. People definitely don't follow basic courtesy in bathrooms and many times overload the capacity of the device.

fairviewroad said:

Ispolkom said:

One thing that simply isn't true is Amtrak's statement, "Amtrak said it has not sent out any trains with malfunctioning toilets." I rode the Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to Boston in November, and we were told by the SCA that our sleepers toilets didn't work before we even left the Chicago city limits. They continued to malfunction the entire 25 hour trips.

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It's probably true that Amtrak said that.

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It's probably true that that's what the records show, because if there's one thing Chicago Mechnical knows how to do right it's falsifying records.

I also love this line:

Well-documented problems on the single-level Amfleet cars included snow passing through the rubber gasket seals on train doors, filling vestibules with ice and snow.

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Well maybe if the door seals weren't 10 year old tattered husks, and the door operators could actually bring them into contact with the door frame, then maybe the vestibules might stay a little dryer inside.