Delayed train policy/passenger rights

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.
Status
Not open for further replies.

jccpbc

Train Attendant
Joined
Apr 20, 2012
Messages
25
Location
GRO
If a delayed train causes you to miss your connecting train, i.e. Empire Builder to Capitol Limited in Chicago, what is Amtrak's policy and/or passenger's rights for continuing the trip?
 
You can be put up overnight and put on the train the next day.

Or they will hold the train for you.

Or they will pull you off the train early and bus/van you to catch up with the other train.

If the connection is guaranteed, you will be taken care of.
 
You can be put up overnight and put on the train the next day.

Or they will hold the train for you.

Or they will pull you off the train early and bus/van you to catch up with the other train.

If the connection is guaranteed, you will be taken care of.
Thanks. I guess if you have to catch the next day you just have to hope your sleeping accommodations will be avaliable.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It's been about a year now, but last August our Zephyr missed our connection by 8-10 hours into CHI. We were to connect to the Cardinal (three times a week train). When we got to CHI we were sent to Amtrak's customer service area and we took a chance and asked if we could be kept over two nights and put on the next Cardinal (in two days). They said yes. They paid two nights in a very nice hotel, gave us $30 each per day for food, and cab fare to and from the station/hotel. We also happened to be extremely lucky the Card had a roomette available. I wouldn't count on that though with that train. :rolleyes:

Honestly, last year the Zephyr had such a bad OTP record that we did our research in Seattle and saw that it would cost more for Amtrak to Greyhound us home, than keep us over two nights and send us home on the train.

Linda.
 
I've been overnighted in CHI as well; it was actually on my first trip out to Iowa, and the LSL got held up in some snow. I got the same treatment: Cab fare, a $30 food allowance, and a night at the Hyatt McCormick Place. I took the occasion to go to dinner at the Hancock Center (which cost well over $30) on the grounds that...well, I was in Chicago and I didn't know if I'd be back anytime soon, so I might as well take advantage of it and have a good time. In a lot of ways, that experience sold me on Amtrak: I got delayed, I missed a connection, and unlike the folks stuck at O'Hare at the same time (flights were shut down all over the Midwest at the time), I was actually enjoying myself when my trip had gone wrong.
 
Thanks for the replys. I've taken several long distance trains but never had to make a connection. I was checking some of the actual arrival times online and starting to get a little nervous. Hopefully I'll get lucky and not have any issues but looks like Amtrak does a pretty good job of taking care of these things. I'm already adjusting another trip based on the route's arrival history.
 
Exactly what is "acceptable" for a delay? Right now the Cardinal going east is on average running up to 4 hours late...how can Amtrak call that acceptable and not compensate passangers to some degree?
 
You can be put up overnight and put on the train the next day.

Or they will hold the train for you.

Or they will pull you off the train early and bus/van you to catch up with the other train.

If the connection is guaranteed, you will be taken care of.

And depending on how far you are going on the Cap Ltd, they could put you on the Lake Shore Ltd as far as CLE. or use the Lake Shore to get you to NYP as well. Since we live near CLE, that is always an option for us--although there is no guarantee that a sleeper would be available on the LSL. a
 
Right now the Cardinal going east is on average running up to 4 hours late
You're off by about 2 hours:

50_delays_6_15_12.png


If you throw out the 3 trains that got extraordinarily fouled up, the average is closer to an hour late at WAS.
 
Right now the Cardinal going east is on average running up to 4 hours late
You're off by about 2 hours:

50_delays_6_15_12.png


If you throw out the 3 trains that got extraordinarily fouled up, the average is closer to an hour late at WAS.
You can add today's trip as it was 2+ hours late before it even go to Indianapolis, so with the normal added delays it gets in the WVA/VA area another trip I am betting close to 4 hours late by the time it reaches NYC, it's final destination.
 
You can add today's trip as it was 2+ hours late before it even go to Indianapolis, so with the normal added delays it gets in the WVA/VA area another trip I am betting close to 4 hours late by the time it reaches NYC, it's final destination.
That's fine. The average is still nowhere near 4 hours.

I picked WAS instead of NYP because the train will routinely pick up time as it goes up the corridor (being receive only).

There are only 4 data points in the database for NYP:

6/13: 221 down at WAS, 208 down at NYP. The train made up 13 minutes.

6/3: 40 down at WAS, 86 down at NYP. The train lost 46 minutes. (anyone remember what was happening on the corridor that day?)

5/23: 92 down at WAS, 65 down at NYP. The train made up 27 minutes.

5/20: 112 down at WAS, 97 down at NYP. The train made up 15 minutes.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You can add today's trip as it was 2+ hours late before it even go to Indianapolis, so with the normal added delays it gets in the WVA/VA area another trip I am betting close to 4 hours late by the time it reaches NYC, it's final destination.
An Amtrak train is never late, dn4192. Nor is it ever early. An Amtrak train arrives precisely when it means to.

1257.jpg
 
You can add today's trip as it was 2+ hours late before it even go to Indianapolis, so with the normal added delays it gets in the WVA/VA area another trip I am betting close to 4 hours late by the time it reaches NYC, it's final destination.
An Amtrak train is never late, dn4192. Nor is it ever early. An Amtrak train arrives precisely when it means to.

1257.jpg
All I know is that in today's world, how a company can accept repeated lateness is beyond me. Either correct the problem update and correct the arrival times or eliminate the route..
 
All I know is that in today's world, how a company can accept repeated lateness is beyond me. Either correct the problem update and correct the arrival times or eliminate the route..
Well if Amtrak eliminated routes for being late, that would pretty much eliminate everything except the Northeast Corridor. And depending on the standard of lateness, it could even eliminate the NEC.

As for correcting the arrival times, back around 2001/2002 Amtrak saw the Sunset was having real problems with lateness. So they worked with UP & CSX to add 10 & 1/2 hours of padding to the schedule. The host RR's just gobbled up that time and still delayed Amtrak to the point at times where it ran 24 hours or more late.

Thankfully, in 2008 part of the legislation that arose out of the Metrolink crash finally gave Amtrak and the FRA some real teeth towards enforcing the host RR's to actually run Amtrak on time. Amtrak & the FRA are still sort of testing out the waters as it were, but they have started to take action in cases where the hosts continuously delay Amtrak in favor of their freight trains.
 
All I know is that in today's world, how a company can accept repeated lateness is beyond me. Either correct the problem update and correct the arrival times or eliminate the route..
Well if Amtrak eliminated routes for being late, that would pretty much eliminate everything except the Northeast Corridor. And depending on the standard of lateness, it could even eliminate the NEC.

As for correcting the arrival times, back around 2001/2002 Amtrak saw the Sunset was having real problems with lateness. So they worked with UP & CSX to add 10 & 1/2 hours of padding to the schedule. The host RR's just gobbled up that time and still delayed Amtrak to the point at times where it ran 24 hours or more late.

Thankfully, in 2008 part of the legislation that arose out of the Metrolink crash finally gave Amtrak and the FRA some real teeth towards enforcing the host RR's to actually run Amtrak on time. Amtrak & the FRA are still sort of testing out the waters as it were, but they have started to take action in cases where the hosts continuously delay Amtrak in favor of their freight trains.
I disagree that there is any sort of FRA (or Amtrak) "enforcement" power regarding train delays. Amtrak operating agreements with the contracting RRs are outside FRA's scope and jurisdiction. The STB (and its predecessor ICC) is the only entity granted any formal "enforcement" as far as Amtrak performance on contracting RRs is concerned.
 
Those delays are unacceptable in my book. If an Amtrak train has to sit longer than 10 minutes to wait for a freight train, the freight railroad should become responsible. Of course unforseen circumstances like an accident or weather should be forgiven. If it is simply poor planning on freight railroads part, they are the responsible party. It is not like they don't know the Amtrak time table and when the train should be there.
 
If you miss a guaranteed connection for which you've paid for sleeping accommodation, and they have to put you on the next day's train in coach, I assume they'll refund what you paid for the sleeping accommodation? Or not? How does that work if you've paid for the trip with AGR points?

For example, I'm going from WAS to SEA, CL connecting to EB, in a roomette. I booked the whole thing as a 3-zone trip for 35K points. If the CL is late and I miss the connection and get "downgraded" to coach on the next day's EB, my 3-zone roomette trip becomes 2 zones in a roomette plus 2 zones in coach, which would be 28K points if I booked them separately. Would they refund me the 7K points? That seems like small compensation for two nights in coach versus a roomette.

I realize that it's unlikely for the CL to be that late, but I still want to know what to expect if it is.
 
Gotta nominate John McCargo, Train Chief on the AT. He's done it all at Amtrak, and knows how to handle a crappy crew, or employee. Just down-to-earth-get-the-job-done-the-passenger-always-comes-first kind of attitude.
 
If you miss a guaranteed connection for which you've paid for sleeping accommodation, and they have to put you on the next day's train in coach, I assume they'll refund what you paid for the sleeping accommodation? Or not? How does that work if you've paid for the trip with AGR points?

For example, I'm going from WAS to SEA, CL connecting to EB, in a roomette. I booked the whole thing as a 3-zone trip for 35K points. If the CL is late and I miss the connection and get "downgraded" to coach on the next day's EB, my 3-zone roomette trip becomes 2 zones in a roomette plus 2 zones in coach, which would be 28K points if I booked them separately. Would they refund me the 7K points? That seems like small compensation for two nights in coach versus a roomette.

I realize that it's unlikely for the CL to be that late, but I still want to know what to expect if it is.
Johanna,

On rare occasions I've heard of people getting a partial points refund. However it is far more typical that one is given a credit voucher good towards a future trip.
 
If you miss a guaranteed connection for which you've paid for sleeping accommodation, and they have to put you on the next day's train in coach, I assume they'll refund what you paid for the sleeping accommodation? Or not? How does that work if you've paid for the trip with AGR points?

For example, I'm going from WAS to SEA, CL connecting to EB, in a roomette. I booked the whole thing as a 3-zone trip for 35K points. If the CL is late and I miss the connection and get "downgraded" to coach on the next day's EB, my 3-zone roomette trip becomes 2 zones in a roomette plus 2 zones in coach, which would be 28K points if I booked them separately. Would they refund me the 7K points? That seems like small compensation for two nights in coach versus a roomette.

I realize that it's unlikely for the CL to be that late, but I still want to know what to expect if it is.
I encountered this almost exact situation a year ago when the Southwest Chief hit an elk in Arizona, causing me to miss my connection with the Coast Starlight in LA. Amtrak proposed to bus us to Emeryville to meet the Coast Starlight, with appropriate compensation. I didn't much care for the idea. I called AGR and they rebooked the LAX-SEA segment for the following day, at no cost or charge, creating a day's layover in LA (which, to be honest, would have been my preference in the first place but coming from CHI on a two-zone award you normally aren't allowed a layover). Note that I was on my own for the day in the LA since Amtrak had offered a transportation alternative which I had declined, but I simply stayed with friends.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Newbi question - how can you tell if your connection is guaranteed?
 
Newbi question - how can you tell if your connection is guaranteed?
If you're able to book it on Amtrak without having to break it up, it's guaranteed. (So, for example, if you bought it on Amtrak, typed in your origin station and destination station, any connections that pops up should be guaranteed.)
 
Thank you! Given the EB OTP I've been worried. Taking the train to WAS for my family was an experience they didn't want to miss, but we would really need to make the connection in CHI or we'd miss our other reservations in DC.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top