jccollins said:
Well Amtrak-P42, out of fairness I have to argue a few of your points. Train 14 has roughly a full hour of padding built in its route between Salinas, CA and the next station of San Jose, CA. I have seen this train make up that full hour (as recent as last week when we left SNS 50 minutes late and arrived SJC 5 minutes early). I agree that it doesn't make up the time more often than it does, but the "Julie" automated phone and website train status systems MUST predict that the train will make up all possible time in the schedule to avoid having would-be passengers miss their trains.
I don't know that the system told HUNDREDS of people the train would be arriving into SJC 12 minutes late... possibly a few dozen (including the family members picking people up)? I agree that it is frustrating to get to the station and then have the train get later and later than the system predicts, but in most cases the automated train status systems are *usually* accurate to within a half-hour or so of a longhaul train's arrival time into a station AFTER it has left its previous station on the line. This is not to say that I haven't waited a few hours myself beyond the predicted time (on numerous occasions) for a train after it departed the previous station, but usually that is not the case.
Part of the problems the system has are that the conductors do not call in the arrival, departure, and running times often enough so they can be entered and calculated in the system. In general, though, the system does become more accurate the closer a train gets to the station. I'd rather wait around an extra half-hour or so than to miss my train by a few minutes because the system was too pessimistic about its ETA. Certain trains (like the Southwest Chief) can and do make up most of their lateness as they progress along. Unfortunately all our longhaul trains (and host railroads) are not created equal.
Well ok. In all fairness, I do tend to exaggerate when I get upset and this was a rather soar spot for me. There were probably 30-40 people in the waiting room. Yes #14 can make up time, true, but I was only going off the pattern of that month, during which time I was visiting my old home town (Palo Alto, CA). 14 had not run near on time once in the previous 5 days. In terms of me being upset about having to wait in a station to long, nah, not me
, I live for late trains. Nothing makes me happier then being told a train will be an hour later then originally expected. My thoughts were more towards those who have absolutely no idea how train travel works. Lets take for example that maybe they are more familiar with air travel in which the majority of the delays occur before take off and before landing (circling in the air, etc). If this is the case, then the person can quite safely assume there aren’t going to be any trains circling San Jose, CA before arriving and thus, the person could also assume that a call 3-4 hours prior to the scheduled arrival of a train would be the same as calling 30 minutes before arrival. Of course, we know differently.
The "Dark Territory", as I call it, is quite common here on the crescent. 9/10 times the conductor wont report to the dispatcher between Hattiesburg, MS and New Orleans, LA. Luckily not a great deal of passengers board between these stops, because 19/20 could literally be anywhere. I have seen it get through to New Orleans 30 minutes early then last report, and I have seen it get in 4 hours later. In this case, granted, it is better to be accurate rather then pessimistic.
The only time I think I have seen the system be pessimistic on a regular basis is on the sunset limited. #1 could be 2 hours of NOL running 2 minutes late, but the system will automatically give the train an estimated arrival of about 2.15 hours late. In this case, the pessimism works out. On the BNSF routes, like you said, I would say baring the exceptional case, its 99% accurate. I agree, it’s are good friends at CSX and UP that mess up the system.
