Yes they are strict. As to how close they check, seems problematic to plan a trip and then have the person denied boarding. And think of how the child would feel if they were denied boarding.
No, they won't throw the child off the train at a random place. They won't even throw an adult off at a random place. They won't even throw the child off at any place. They will take the child to the destination. If the parent is not there to meet the child they will hand the child to station personel. If it is an unstaffed station and the parent is not there they will take the child to the next staffed station and hand them to station personel.
Maybe you won't. Other conductors do.
Amtrak is the wrong carrier to try breaking any rules when it comes to something like this. If anything I would advise that you error on the side of extreme caution. Many of us have fond memories of casually riding trains as children in a more reasonable era. These days things are different. There is literally no limit to the kind of bizarre overreaction that might result from even the most minor of oversights. I wish this wasn't the case but in some ways kids and Amtrak just don't mix. Better to be safe than sorry.
A Modest Proposal was satire you know
.Especially in this lawsuit-happy culture.Yes, therefore my exclamation and
Seriously though, DA is right about being better safe than sorry. The most minor incident could have enormous repercussions for Amtrak if parents chose to pursue legal action. Whether insane or not, official policy and regulations concerning minors had best be followed to the letter, or someone may have a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day if the least thing goes wrong.
It's generally easier to legally defend a policy as being a reasonable and safe one, than to defend why your employee (or you personally) didn't bother to follow that policy. Very dangerous ground there and not at all in the same category as flubbing your "ice police" duties.
In a couple of months none of this will be a problem for you. As for the reason for this rule, I imagine there has been some legal problems in the past when a 15 year old traveling on his own got lost or injured, so the nation's legal eagles went to work and cost Amtrak some money. We live in a lawsuit-happy society and often judges and juries have no common sense.As the person who started this thread, I appreciate all the input. YES... we ARE going to comply with the rules. I understand, of course why some of these policies are in place and I certainly appreciate the concern for a minor's safety. But in some cases it's a royal pain in the rear. Frustrating for this parent who's 15 year old kid is perfectly capable of handling it. In our case, part of the rules that was the "gotcha" is no night time travel... So instead of putting the kid on the train in western KS, I'm driving to Kansas City to meet the train. Oh well...
I was not aware of that story from 2012 but the policy that I stated in my post the policy in effect today. I think in 2012 the policy was to hand the minor to station personel at the next staffed station. It was never to take them off at a random station. If a conductor did that they were violating the previous policy. The policy in effect now was revised in the last year to take them to the destination station and only taking them on to the next staffed station if none is at the destination station to meet the minor. Of course it is possible that there might be someone who violates the policy but I think the likelyhood is very small. Putting a minor off at an unstaffed station violates common sense. I could see there might be a chance that a conductor would put the child off, or attempt to put them off at the next staffed station rather than the destination station, they might not be up to date on current policy of taking them to the destination station, but I don't think they would put them off at an unstaffed station. Of course I admit I would never have thought that would happen in 2012 either....
Especially when it comes to children. I tend to believe that children who do really stupid things and injure themselves because of it should suffer the consequences 'cause it's their own damn fault. But that's not how our courts have leaned in recent years.
In some ways kids today are more worldly than ever. If they are so inclined they can research millions of potentially life changing topics at the speed of light. Yet in other areas kids today are even less aware of the world they live in than the generation which preceded them. Our desire to protect our offspring at all costs is an understandable emotional reaction to the horrible events that befall a relatively tiny number of children but attract the vast majority of our media's attention.
