Recent content by The Commissioner

Very thorough and informative trip report! Thanks for sharing your travel experience on Amtrak. I wish Amtrak employees, especially the highly compensated ones would read this trip report and others posted here in order to see Amtrak long distance travel through the customers' eyes. All too...

This is exactly my experience on the CONO. Going southbound and not getting any sleep due to constant horn blowing despite wearing earplugs was survivable but the northbound trip was miserable. Had to leave the train at Centralia at 0500 and then drive three (3) hours home after a sleepless...

So hard to believe that's a meal served to a passenger paying a First Class fare. Wow.

Back in those days railroads were competing with each other for business which doesn't happen today. Amtrak has no rail competition between Chicago and NYC so there's no imperative to even advocate for faster service, much less deliver it. Also, in the words of my late father who was an...

I would like to see Amtrak bring back the Slumbercoach or equivalent. That describes a small (tiny?) PRIVATE space that is no frills, doesn't necessarily require the meals be included, doesn't include a shower, and has seating that converts into a lay flat sleeping surface. Hey, I'll even be...

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if forward thinkers acted on trends in the post-war years and had created Amtrak 20 years earlier in 1950? That was the decade that kicked off the Interstate Highway construction boom which accelerated in the decline in US passenger rail service...

I have a good reason to travel to San Antonio because my son and his wife moved there last summer. It would be nice to ride the train to see them but considering the cost of sleeper accommodations, lack of amenities due to downgraded service, and the likelihood of late arrival (they are early...

When the dog bites the man, it's not news. When the man bites the dog, it is news.

The real problem is that Amtrak, as a provider of transportation, is not competitive with the airlines outside the corridors. As a provider of rail transportation, it is a monopoly. There is absolutely no incentive to become competitive with the airlines because technology and other...

Does anyone in Amtrak management ever read these trip reports?

I never sleep well the first night out no matter whether a train, plane, hotel, tent, someone's home etc. The train is especially bad because of the late night stops and passengers moving around, talking, banging luggage against stuff, and so on. What really gets me is traveling on routes with...

I'm one of those Amtrak LD 'never-again' customers because the value proposition is upside down. My last LD trip was twelve years ago and unless someone else is buying the ticket, I'm not going back. The value proposition is even worse now than what it was in 2010. However, what Amtrak needs...

Mr. Selden wrote: The marshalling order of the train reflects a subtle but calculated effort to run off the highest-revenue passengers. The Chief carries its sleepers at the front of the train, coupled directly to the locomotives, and trails a new CAF-built baggage car at the rear. This...

Strangely enough, in all the years of riding passenger trains, both Amtrak and pre-Amtrak, I've never had a delay like I experienced one time on a North Central Airlines flight from Green Bay, WI to Hancock, MI. We were the last flight into Hancock that night and while on the approach, the...

Delays outside corridors are almost to be expected and should be taken into consideration for travel plans. It's just part of the Amtrak travel experience. If the equipment is functioning, the food was available and good, and the on board crew was friendly and professional, then perhaps the...