Worst part of Amtrak?

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

What is the worst part of traveling by Amtrak?

  • On-time performance

    Votes: 31 25.2%
  • On-board service

    Votes: 14 11.4%
  • Service frequency (# trains per day)

    Votes: 21 17.1%
  • Service density (# routes in given area, ie Illinois good, Tennesse, not so much)

    Votes: 30 24.4%
  • Equipment condition

    Votes: 9 7.3%
  • Train speed/trip time

    Votes: 3 2.4%
  • Comfort on board

    Votes: 2 1.6%
  • Price

    Votes: 5 4.1%
  • Other

    Votes: 8 6.5%

  • Total voters
    123
Status
Not open for further replies.
1) Inability to efficiently travel in the Southeast unless you're destination is Washington DC or beyond.

2) Infrequency of trains. And that's coming from a guy who has THREE trains in each direction going Northeast from my place. MUCH worse the further away from LA - CHI - WAS you get

3) Inconsistent Business Class definition across system & application of the defined services equally

4) Lack of communication in the event of a service disruption

5) Failure of Conductor to offer upgrades, even when available

6) Horrible boarding practices in large cities, from the Kindergarten walk to the standing in the blazing hot sun over Dallas in line for ticket punching prior to boarding the train

7) Failure to always be capable of providing diner services to passengers in Coach

8) Choosing to run the Southwest Chief through the Mojave Dessert in the middle of the night.
 
1) Inability to efficiently travel in the Southeast unless you're destination is Washington DC or beyond.

2) Infrequency of trains. And that's coming from a guy who has THREE trains in each direction going Northeast from my place. MUCH worse the further away from LA - CHI - WAS you get

3) Inconsistent Business Class definition across system & application of the defined services equally

4) Lack of communication in the event of a service disruption

5) Failure of Conductor to offer upgrades, even when available

6) Horrible boarding practices in large cities, from the Kindergarten walk to the standing in the blazing hot sun over Dallas in line for ticket punching prior to boarding the train

7) Failure to always be capable of providing diner services to passengers in Coach

8) Choosing to run the Southwest Chief through the Mojave Dessert in the middle of the night.
But these are partS. The question was singular! :giggle:
 
Never had a problem with rude Amtrak employees. Never.

However, being "on time" is something that I have never really experienced. For me, Amtrak is always late and something that I have long since just accepted. I always make numerous backup plans for non-Amtrak connections when I travel on Amtrak, starting with "just" one hour late, all the way up to several hours late (too late for non-Amtrak connections).
 
1) Inability to efficiently travel in the Southeast unless you're destination is Washington DC or beyond.

2) Infrequency of trains. And that's coming from a guy who has THREE trains in each direction going Northeast from my place. MUCH worse the further away from LA - CHI - WAS you get

3) Inconsistent Business Class definition across system & application of the defined services equally

4) Lack of communication in the event of a service disruption

5) Failure of Conductor to offer upgrades, even when available

6) Horrible boarding practices in large cities, from the Kindergarten walk to the standing in the blazing hot sun over Dallas in line for ticket punching prior to boarding the train

7) Failure to always be capable of providing diner services to passengers in Coach

8) Choosing to run the Southwest Chief through the Mojave Dessert in the middle of the night.
But these are partS. The question was singular! :giggle:
Yeah... But it felt nice to get off my chest. :D
 
The many times I'm not able to book a sleeper because they don't have nearly enough to meet demand.

Gord
 
I chose OTP. A close second is service density - would like to see expanded service and additional options.
 
.... TOTAL lack of communication by on-board crew ... especially when train is running late ....
I'll second that.
I haven't thought of that in quite a while, but I add communication to the on-board crew. IMHO, Amtrak keeps the on-board crew completely in the "dark" too.

Back several years ago, when I was on a Silver that ended up being 24+ hours late, the only info the conductor was able to get, was by using his personal cell phone to call friends he had back in some Amtrak office. Officially, Amtrak provided no info to the on-board crew throughout the ordeal.
 
And do any of you believe that the Freight Railroads are going to allow additional passenger frequencies on their rails??? The Freight Railroads don't like dealing with what they currently have, I don't see any of them being on-board with increased frequencies.

Then again, maybe the Sun will rise in the west! But I doubt it!
 
I am thinking that maybe in some (or perhaps most) cases Amtrak on-board crews don't tell passengers what's going on because the freight railroads don't tell Amtrak crews what's going on. Perhaps a veteran Amtraker watching this thread can tell us if that's so.
 
in the east, VERY rude OBS, out west, on time percentage, although there's absolutely nothing Amtrak could do out west this summer. None of it is their fault.
 
On my recent trip on the Starlight the OBS spent entirely too much time interacting with each other in passengers' presence as if we we did not exist. Even in the Pacific Parlour Car the attendant had public conversations with his fellows about tips, hours of work and so on. Really unprofessional. He was not busy and did little beyond serving a few meals. The car was never even close to filled, even for wine tasting.
 
I find it quite interesting that the number one poll response (as of this moment) is the one thing Amtrak really has little to do with - certainly less to do with than any of the other factors - On Time Performance.
 
And do any of you believe that the Freight Railroads are going to allow additional passenger frequencies on their rails??? The Freight Railroads don't like dealing with what they currently have, I don't see any of them being on-board with increased frequencies.

Then again, maybe the Sun will rise in the west! But I doubt it!
I do, it's being done here and there already, CA, IL, MI for example and hasn't Norfolk Southern been working on a public private partnership to improve capacity on part of the Corridor used by the Crescent?

Freight railroads are private companies in business to survive and make money for their investors, they own their own rights of way, have to provide their own police, snow clearting, right of way and bridge maintenance, rail traffic control, signalling, storm and flood recovery and so on. To add insult to injury, they pay fuel (and other) taxes that at least partially go to publically subsidized roads, highways and canals, i.e. they are being taxed to assist their subsidzed competition which use public infrastructure. Additionally, they are forced by legislation to maintain a basic passenger service (Amtrak) on many lines that can and do interfere with freight movement / profits. Is it fair to force them to host even more public passenger trains without some sort of assistance to improve capacity for both?

It's a matter of the Feds and Amtrak reaching even more agreements with freight railroads to help finance increased capacity for both freight and passengers through double and triple tracking, bi-directional signalling, etc. Most roads will cooperate if capacity improvements benefit their abality to make a profit. We have seen a lot of this with commuter operations over the years. It has been done in some regioinal corridors, is underway in others and does work, we just need a lot more of it. Somehow, we have to get over the illogical perception that all the public money going to assist users of roads, highways, air travel, canals is an "investment" yet money to rail is a subisdy. It's all subsidized, it's just that rail doesn't get a fair share.

Gord
 
I am thinking that maybe in some (or perhaps most) cases Amtrak on-board crews don't tell passengers what's going on because the freight railroads don't tell Amtrak crews what's going on. Perhaps a veteran Amtraker watching this thread can tell us if that's so.
I wouldn't say "most", but there are certainly times when the host RR doesn't always tell Amtrak what's going on or misstates the amount of time that it will take to fix the problem and get things moving again.
 
I am thinking that maybe in some (or perhaps most) cases Amtrak on-board crews don't tell passengers what's going on because the freight railroads don't tell Amtrak crews what's going on. Perhaps a veteran Amtraker watching this thread can tell us if that's so.
I wouldn't say "most", but there are certainly times when the host RR doesn't always tell Amtrak what's going on or misstates the amount of time that it will take to fix the problem and get things moving again.
There are also some rules on things you do not say, which sometimes are not followed. For example, my understnding is that if they hit someone they are not supposed to say so.
 
I am thinking that maybe in some (or perhaps most) cases Amtrak on-board crews don't tell passengers what's going on because the freight railroads don't tell Amtrak crews what's going on. Perhaps a veteran Amtraker watching this thread can tell us if that's so.
I wouldn't say "most", but there are certainly times when the host RR doesn't always tell Amtrak what's going on or misstates the amount of time that it will take to fix the problem and get things moving again.
There are also some rules on things you do not say, which sometimes are not followed. For example, my understnding is that if they hit someone they are not supposed to say so.
Your understanding is correct; there are things that they're not supposed to say.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top