More Staffed Stations Bite the Dust on the Texas Eagle Route!!

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What some banks are starting to do is a hybrid between an ATM and a staffed branch. Video screens and speakers connect you to people for "live" help and questions, or assistance with things that might be tricky on the machine. Of course, that would not help with luggage or boarding assistance. But it works pretty well for the typical customer.
 
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railiner said:
I am surprised that crew change points would be unstaffed. And a city the size of Cincinnati? Really? Wow!
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Hamlet, NC is a crew change and unstaffed. There is a full T&E crew base in Lincoln, NE and the station is unstaffed. Maricopa, AZ is crew change and was recently unstaffed.

So we have determined two things. 1) Crew change/crew base has no bearing on ticket office closings. 2) Local population size has no bearing on ticket office closings.
 
Other Un-staffed Crew Change Stops on the Texas Eagle/Sunset Route include Beaumont,Tx,Marshall,Tx, Del Rio,Tx,Alpine,Tx.

In fact the only Staffed Stations between Chicago and,Los,Angeles on the TexasEagle/Sunset Route are: Boomington-Normal,ILSpringfield,IL.,St Louis,MO,Little Rock,AK, and in Texas Longview,Dallas,Ft.Worth,Temple,Austin,San Antonio,El Paso, and Houston between New Orleans and San Antonio.

Headed West from El Paso to LAX, Tucson is now the only Staffed Station now that Maricopa has bit the dust!

Taking bets on which Manned Stations will be the next to take the Amtrak Axe!

Edited to include Bloomington-Normal,IL
 
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At least in full crew base locations, (not turnaround layover points), there must be a TM based there as well, to monitor the crews....
 
cpotisch said:
According to amtrak.com, it is unstaffed.
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Bloomington - Normal is my hometown (hence me username), and the station is definitely staffed.

https://www.amtrak.com/content/amtrak/en-us/stations/bnl.html

I would think Normal would be on the safe list for now, I believe it is one of the busier stations in the network outside of the NEC with something like an average 600 passengers per day. As mentioned, it is heavily used by Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan students.
 
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I would think the Illinois Department of Transportation would have a big say in the manning of stations along the routes used by its trains.
 
Chey said:
Lonestar648 said:
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Lamy, NM (July 31)

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Oh crap, that's my favorite station to depart from and return to. And Raton doesn't check luggage so if they're also shutting down La Junta then the SWC trip I'm taking this summer may be my last. I usually do need to check luggage so I guess I'm stuck with the TE and FTW as my base.
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But Albuquerque has it and has the RailRunner train to Santa Fe downtown.

Wouldn't it be nice if they had a train coordinated to the arriving Amtrak trains?
 
me_little_me said:
But Albuquerque has it and has the RailRunner train to Santa Fe downtown.

Wouldn't it be nice if they had a train coordinated to the arriving Amtrak trains?
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Cool - I just checked the Greyhound schedule and it gets to ABQ an hour before the train to LAX arrives - no hotel necessary - so that may be a *great* option. I like Lamy because it's an easy drive (and it's lovely). But if I need to check luggage this might end up being better than driving...
 
AmtrakLKL said:
There is a full T&E crew base in Lincoln, NE and the station is unstaffed. Maricopa, AZ is crew change and was recently unstaffed.
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1. Why a crew base at Lincoln rather than Omaha (something to do with the 12-hour rule for T/E crews)?

2. When was Maricopa unstaffed (I'm guessing March or earlier, as the word "recently" was used, and I can't find the notice on station alerts any more, as they usually announce it shortly prior to doing so)?
 
Lonestar648 said:
Here is the list of stations losing their Amtrak agents and the effective date:

[SIZE=10.5pt]Charleston, WV (June 6)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Cincinnati, OH (June 5) [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Ft Madison, IA (May 16)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Garden City, KS (May 15)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Hammond, LA (May 15)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Havre, MT (June 1)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]La Junta, CO (June 1)][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Lamy, NM (July 31)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Marshall, TX (June 29)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Meridian, MS (May 17)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Ottumwa, IA (May 19)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Shelby, MT (June 5)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Topeka, KS (May 20)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Texarkana, AR (May 15) [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Tuscaloosa, AL (May 21)[/SIZE]
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Citing the list of 15, I think it is apporpriate to drop the phrase "on the Texas Eagle route", as the de-staffing is not limited to Texas Eagle. The title should be changed to just "More Staffed Stations Bite the Dust", as the scope of de-staffing goes beyond just the Texas Eagle. Wonder why the moderators overlooked this fact.
 
While it's all very well to remove checked baggage service from stations with low boardings, Cincinnati Ohio has more than 20 boardings per day, so, uh, what the heck?

This is a sign of someone who doesn't know what he's doing, and it's probably Mr. Anderson.
 
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Lonestar648 said:
I doubt it, but could the baggage cars be redone into another type car. Could you eliminate baggage service, then have the 70 baggage cars refurbished into something else. Doing this would cut one of the marketing points of no checked baggage charges.
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How about fitting the baggage cars with lockers and allowing anybody access so people can stow and lock their excess baggage items into lockers and know that stuff is safe. Same with bicycles (where else would you stow a bicyccle if you're travelling,say, LD in a sleeper?)
 
The dwell time to allow passengers to do this could be excessive, since for safety, all passengers would have to be clear of the baggage car before departure. The increased dwell time would put the train in trouble with the host RR. This takes us back to having an extra employee on board to expedite the process.
 
Several stations on that list have either a train three times a week or have daily service in the early morning/late evening.
 
cirdan said:
Same with bicycles (where else would you stow a bicyccle if you're travelling,say, LD in a sleeper?)
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The same place someone travelling in coach would stow it. Your bike doesn't have to be in the same car as you. Put racks in the lower level of a coach, some of which are already effectively used as baggage space, and passengers can lock up their bikes as they choose. That's how we do it in California. It's become so popular that the bottom level of some of the Capitol Corridor cars are all bicycle racks. On the Surfliner, there's one car, usually at the end of the train, with bike racks. If you're riding business class, you have to walk to the opposite end of the train to get to your seat. Not a problem.

You can find space for bikes on single level trains -- we do that in California too. Haven't ridden the Cascades, but they seem to do it just as easily in Washington and Oregon. It's not rocket science. Amtrak does it on state routes. It's done every day, all over the world, on all kinds of rail and bus transportation. The people responsible for long distance trains – onboard and off – just need to get off their butts and do it.
 
TiBike said:
cirdan said:
Same with bicycles (where else would you stow a bicyccle if you're travelling,say, LD in a sleeper?)
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The same place someone travelling in coach would stow it. Your bike doesn't have to be in the same car as you. Put racks in the lower level of a coach, some of which are already effectively used as baggage space, and passengers can lock up their bikes as they choose. That's how we do it in California. It's become so popular that the bottom level of some of the Capitol Corridor cars are all bicycle racks. On the Surfliner, there's one car, usually at the end of the train, with bike racks. If you're riding business class, you have to walk to the opposite end of the train to get to your seat. Not a problem.

You can find space for bikes on single level trains -- we do that in California too. Haven't ridden the Cascades, but they seem to do it just as easily in Washington and Oregon. It's not rocket science. Amtrak does it on state routes. It's done every day, all over the world, on all kinds of rail and bus transportation. The people responsible for long distance trains – onboard and off – just need to get off their butts and do it.
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In the case of the LD superliners, we are talking about considerable investment and modifications to cars that are probably approaching the ends of their lives. Hence my suggestion to convert the new bagagge cars to publically accessible storage space.
 
That would be cool if they could do that. Maybe they can. But installing bike racks is not a huge investment, particularly if they are redesigning baggage service anyway, and the superliners are going to be around for a while. It's just making stuff fit -- a good example is the racks on the single level California trains. They just used the available space better.
 
TiBike said:
cirdan said:
Same with bicycles (where else would you stow a bicyccle if you're travelling,say, LD in a sleeper?)
Click to expand...
The same place someone travelling in coach would stow it. Your bike doesn't have to be in the same car as you. Put racks in the lower level of a coach, some of which are already effectively used as baggage space, and passengers can lock up their bikes as they choose. That's how we do it in California. It's become so popular that the bottom level of some of the Capitol Corridor cars are all bicycle racks. On the Surfliner, there's one car, usually at the end of the train, with bike racks. If you're riding business class, you have to walk to the opposite end of the train to get to your seat. Not a problem.

You can find space for bikes on single level trains -- we do that in California too. Haven't ridden the Cascades, but they seem to do it just as easily in Washington and Oregon. It's not rocket science. Amtrak does it on state routes. It's done every day, all over the world, on all kinds of rail and bus transportation. The people responsible for long distance trains onboard and off just need to get off their butts and do it.
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Thats just not possible for sleeper passengers on the single level routes. Viewliner sleepers dont have any place or room whatsoever to put a bike, so unless they remove a couple roomettes or something, theres just nowhere to put a bike. And I doubt theyll put in something like a special coach where half the seats are replaced with bike racks, since they probably dont want people walking through a whole train with their bikes
 
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