Amtrak Missouri Consists

[monorailfan]

This past winter I took the Kanas City mules - and both times, the consist was a Genesis and two Superliners. The opposing Ann Rutledge service trains were single level Amfleets I think.
Anyway, I find the Supers to be much better cars, but I took the Mules last week and now they are using Amfleets....

So, does anyone know if the Mules normally run Amfleets, and for some reason this past winter they were using Superliners? Or do they switch them back and forth between the Mules and Rutledge trains, etc?

Thanks!

I took the Missouri Mule (316) from Jeff City to St. Louis on Thursday evening. It was 50 minutes late into Jeff City and arrived 40 minutes late into St. Louis. The consist was an Amfleet snack bar car and three Horizon coaches. The return trip on the Ann Rutledge had the same consist and was on time. Both trains were 75-80% full and many passengers commented on taking the train because of gas prices.

I'll miss it this weekend, or better yet, the Mule will miss me. Amtrak has had to cancel the train from Jeff City to KCY due to the UP re-routing trains around the Iowa floods.

I had non-refundable tickets, but in a situation like this it appears that Amtrak would offer travel on another date. But in this case they are running motorcoaches in place of the train. Since I want to take the train and not the bus, I guess I just threw my money away for this weekend.

In a way, I guess I am upset at the UP. The Mules have terrible service due to this route being so congested. I wonder what the breaking-point is for UP to spend some capital $ and lengthen the sidings or double-track. But no worries, the MO taxpayer will pay instead for siding improvements.

Sorry - I'm just venting. It's not Amtrak's fault, and I am not losing too much money. But if anyone wonders why it always seems that the '3' trains are a weekly special, this is why. Without it, they'd have no passengers. Not me, anyway.

So I stand corrected. A few hours ago, Amtrak called me again about the above service disruption. It was regarding my RETURN trip, and this time the customer service was fantastic. I'm good to go on my next trip when the weather is nicer.

I guess Amtrak customer service is like anywhere else - it's all who you talk to. If at first you don't succeed, call them back and try again.

 

[Rail Freak]

The names of the Kansas City-St. Louis Amtrak routes.

Yeah And .... (why)?

Thanx

Missouri mules have a proud history dating to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/uedivis/ue0081.htm

The Missouri Dept. of Transportation seems to be pushing rail travel. There are neon signs on I 70 advertising morail.org and as others have mentioned the legislature gave up the money for sidings and actually followed the Dept. of Transportation's recommendation. I ride between Jefferson City and St. Louis fairly often and the service is reasonably reliable. The Jefferson City to Kansas City stretch is where things get slow.

I'm glad I asked that question. Very interesting,truly. THANX!

 

[jackal]

I had non-refundable tickets...

Non-refundable tickets? I didn't know that Amtrak sold non-refundable tickets! Are you sure about this?

 

[AlanB]

Yes, it is possible to buy non-refundable tickets from Amtrak. Granted most tickets don't carry that restriction, but there are some that do.

 

[jackal]

Ah, there were some long-distance specials that showed up several months or so ago that were non-refundable, right? ISTR over on FT some complaints that they weren't clearly marked as such (since putting in the city pair on Amtrak.com simply returned the special fares without any special T&C or the choice to use the normal fare).

Are weekly specials non-refundable, too?

Are non-refundable tickets changeable?

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I'm all for named trains, but multiple trains serving the same route should have the same, or at the very least, similar names. (Similar's good enough: I can live with "Kansas City Mule" and "St. Louis Mule"--they're similar enough that I can remember that the Mules serve common stations. If a second train ever ran on the Coast Starlight's route, I could live with perhaps digging up the name "Coast Daylight.") Completely different names for what in effect is the same train confuses me--and if I'm confused, the non-train-riding Average Jill has absolutely no hope.

Are you arguing that Amtrak should go back to offering the Acela Regional?

 

[jackal]

Actually, I wasn't opposed to the initial branding of the services as Acela Regional and Acela Express--I thought they tied together nicely. However, Acela may not have been the best term to use, as its futuristic sound did immediately click with the public as describing the new high-speed train.

I'm not the world's best creative authority (I don't work in marketing for a reason), but something like Northeast Regional and Northeast Express might have worked better. It would link the two services together in the public's mind, anyway...

 

[AlanB]

Actually it wasn't just the word Acela that caused problems and confusion, although that was a big part of it. The second issue was the fact that at the same time Amtrak aquired Acela they also got the HHP-8 electric motors. Since they look so similar to a non-railfan's eye this caused great confusion when the rest of the Acela Regional didn't look like an Acela Express train.

Had both things (the name Acela and the similar engines) not hit at the same time, I suspect that the confusion might not have been quite as great as it was.

 

[monorailfan]

Ah, there were some long-distance specials that showed up several months or so ago that were non-refundable, right? ISTR over on FT some complaints that they weren't clearly marked as such (since putting in the city pair on Amtrak.com simply returned the special fares without any special T&C or the choice to use the normal fare).
Are weekly specials non-refundable, too?

Are non-refundable tickets changeable?

I had purchased the Mules weekly special, and right on the tickets they say 'Non-refundable'. When Amtrak had called me the first time to tell me the train was cancelled and they were instead offering bus service, I asked if I could refund them. They said no, that they were non-refundable and were still offering a transport via bus.

When Amtrak called me a second time (about my return tickets) being cancelled, by this time I had read the notice on their website and Amtrak stated that they were offering 'Future Travel Dates'. So this time, being better informed, I asked if I could just move the tickets to a later date. After all, I really did not want a refund, I just wanted to ride the train with my family at a later date since this time they were cancelled.

And the second time around with Customer Service they agreed and all went well. So I'll take a trip at a later date.

The details are kinda confusing, but it all worked out. Happy customer here.

 

[had8ley]

just a case at the name, The Missouri Mule was chosen as the state animal on May 31, 1995.

And I thought Mr. Ed was a horse... : sorry; I couldn't resist.