Amtrak OIG tackles the boarding conundrum

[trainman74]

LA Union Station, with the bizarre exception of the Surfliner queue, is mostly run like a train station.

You mean this business? I think the gate was a "casualty" of the Union Station renovations -- if it is still there, then in my observation, it's pretty much totally ignored.

 

[zephyr17]

It is gone. The last one. At one time, there were gates between all the pillars in that line (which is why thery were "E" and "F")

 

[neroden]

What you stated Syracuse does is exactly what happens at NPN.

Oh, OK, that's not so bad. I must have misread you. It sounded like people were kept away from the platform until the last minute.

The only addition is they make sure you're scheduled to be on that train because there are quite few people that show up with no tickets or wrong tickets.

Really! I guess there are just more fools and scam artists in Tidewater Virginia? It doesn't happen very often in Syracuse. There's a curious difference between stations which would require different procedure!

 

[MikefromCrete]

How would you get trains from the southwest side to Millenium with out major trackwork?

Depends what you count as major. Reconnect the north side of the wye from St. Charles Air Line to Metra Electric. Reconnect the wyes between the St. Charles Air Line and the line from LaSalle Street.

The issue that it's only really designed for electric trains... yeah, that's a bigger issue.

Millenium station also could not accommodate many more trains at rush hour than it does now. The Electric side of the station has seven tracks and a lot of trains. I used to know a guy who worked for Metra and he said the Electric Division guys were very jealous of the Rock Island District guys who had "12 tracks and a lot less trains" to handle during rush hour. And -- of course -- diesel trains wouldn't work in the underground confines of the Randolph Street area. Even the South Shore platforms, which used to be outside -- during the years when the South Shore borrowed a Metra diesel set while awaiting new cars -- are now totally underground. In the future more of the Electric Division downtown will be covered over as more development takes place. Moving the Southwest District (and the maybe future Southeast District) to LaSalle is the only relief in sight for the south side tracks at Union. Moving any Amtrak trains to Ogilvie (which really wouldn't be necessary since there's no crowding on the North side of Union) and LaSalle would result in problems with transferring passengers and adding addition personnel. In addition, the LaSalle ticket/waiting room is pretty small and barely adequate for commuter operations, let alone intercity trains.

Correction, folks. I was downtown yesterday and counted the actual tracks at Randolph St. There are only five tracks used for loading Metra Electric passengers, so there is absolutely no room for any additional trains from other routes. You might be able to squeeze some trains on the South Shore side, but again the station is totally underground now, so the use of diesels would not be allowed, meaning an expensive electrification of another route or use of expensive multi-mode locomotives, so routing any other lines into Randolph is not going to happen. LaSalle St., on the other hand, seems underutilized, so the reroute of Southwest Service trains is a definite possibility, as well any Southeast Service that may someday develop.

 

[Thirdrail7]

We should end this conversation by starting first come, first serve....inside the train. This group has the right idea:

Now boarding on the north pier of Ten Bridge....It won't work on the NEC though!

 

[Bob Dylan]

We should end this conversation by starting first come, first serve....inside the train. This group has the right idea:

Now boarding on the north pier of Ten Bridge....It won't work on the NEC though!

Priceless!

 

[jis]

That looks like Bangladesh Railway during the period of the Id festival. This is a country that is building up its rail infrastructure as fast as it can, for obvious reasons. The construction efforts are mostly funded by China, Japan and India and the Asian Development bank. Part of the construction is in connection with the Trans Asian Railway, southern leg, connecting India and Bangladesh through Myanmar to China.

Incidentally, Bangladesh Railway is unique in that almost half its trunk route network is now dual gauge - 1.667m and 1.000m gauges.

 

[A Voice]

We should end this conversation by starting first come, first serve....inside the train. This group has the right idea:

Now boarding on the north pier of Ten Bridge....It won't work on the NEC though!

I've seen this or similar pictures before; What i want to know is how they don't fall off?

 

[jis]

Who says they don't fall off?

 

[seat38a]

No one would be able to confuse Newport News with a major terminal. Yet you line up and have your ticket checked to make sure you are on the right train.

Jaw-droppingly insane behavior. You're defending the indefensible, Thirdrail.
At Newport News, *all the trains are going north*. There's no sleepers. Long platforms everywhere. It's a lot harder to seriously get on the wrong train, or even into the wrong coach, than at... for instance... Syracuse, NY.

Which is run more like a proper train station. They announce boarding. Everyone goes up to the platform. Everyone gets on the train.

At Syracuse, they still steer everyone towards one or two doors, which is probably mostly due to understaffing, so sort of understandable. They still check the ticket at the door (which is explicitly contrary to official Amtrak policy). And yet it makes more sense than Newport News.

LA Union Station, with the bizarre exception of the Surfliner queue, is mostly run like a train station.

I think the last word on this still goes to Matthew Yglesias:

http://www.vox.com/2014/3/31/5563600/everything-you-need-to-know-about-boarding-an-amtrak-train

1) How do you board a train?

In general, once one knows on which track a train will arrive, one goes to the adjacent platform and waits. When the train arrives, the doors will open and people who need to disembark will get off. Then you go through the open door and hop on the train. This process is seen at train stations around the world, including intercity trains everywhere from Brussels to Shanghai and mass transit trains such as the 1, 2, 3, A, C, and E New York City Subway lines at Penn Station and WMATA's Red Line at Union Station in Washington, DC.

2) How does Amtrak think you board a train?

At smaller stations such as New Haven, New Carrollton, or New Rochelle, Amtrak uses the same boarding procedure used by foreign intercity railroad operators and by commuter rail and mass transit rail systems in the United States.

This makes sense, since that's how one boards a train.

However, at larger stations, Amtrak chooses to ignore 150 years of accumulated human wisdom about boarding trains.

There is no Surfliner que. You check the board and just go to the platform.

 

[Steve4031]

We should end this conversation by starting first come, first serve....inside the train. This group has the right idea:

Now boarding on the north pier of Ten Bridge....It won't work on the NEC though!

I've seen this or similar pictures before; What i want to know is how they don't fall off?

A more hardcore interpretation of the Darwin Award process?

 

[Seaboard92]

I want to know how the engineer manages to see signals and other things. Seems like it's impossible

 

[jis]

I want to know how the engineer manages to see signals and other things. Seems like it's impossible

There is enough of an opening in front of the engineer. The engineer also may need an opening on the side to exchange Neale's ball token hoops.

 

[neroden]

LA Union Station, with the bizarre exception of the Surfliner queue, is mostly run like a train station.

You mean this business? I think the gate was a "casualty" of the Union Station renovations -- if it is still there, then in my observation, it's pretty much totally ignored.

Yeah, I mean that.

Thank goodness it's gone and done away with. A triumph of sanity and common sense. Perhaps this revelation can spread eastward to other stations?

 

[seat38a]

LA Union Station, with the bizarre exception of the Surfliner queue, is mostly run like a train station.

You mean this business? I think the gate was a "casualty" of the Union Station renovations -- if it is still there, then in my observation, it's pretty much totally ignored.

Yeah, I mean that.

Thank goodness it's gone and done away with. A triumph of sanity and common sense. Perhaps this revelation can spread eastward to other stations?

Yup, at LAUS, they expect you to be a "big boy or girl" and get to the platform yourself. No need for the kindergarten walk.

 

[Anderson]

You know, it might be too much to hope for...but given the rumblings of staffing cuts, maybe management could drop some staff at a few of the "problem stations" and then order the remaining non-redcaps to remain at the ticket windows and knock off the Kindergarten Walks?

 

[jis]

You know, it might be too much to hope for...but given the rumblings of staffing cuts, maybe management could drop some staff at a few of the "problem stations" and then order the remaining non-redcaps to remain at the ticket windows and knock off the Kindergarten Walks?

You have no idea how lost everyone will be without having their hand held all the way to the doorsteps of the train by superannuated and unnecessary Amtrak staff

 

[JoeBas]

The last people who will be left after Amtrak's death from a thousand cuts, will be the managers, and the Kindergarten walkers...