Oops!

[Trogdor]

From an online source, regarding Southwest Chief train 3(25):

The train was delayed 45 min. at initial terminal for repair of a badHEP cable on the baggage car. Consist had arrived late as Train 29 and

apparently CHI Mechanical hadn't gone over it as thoroughly as they

would like to think. The staff in the Met Lounge was told to have the 28 First Class Sleeping Car passengers wait there, to be sent to the departure gate upon notification that the repairs were done. But nobody ever notified them and the passengers were still in the Met Lounge when the train pulled out.

 

[Guest_Amtrak OBS Employee]

But nobody ever notified them and the passengers were still in the Met Lounge when the train pulled out.

Yep.... BIG OOPS :lol: though not surprising! Communication isn't always the greatest here at Amtrak it seems. OBS...

 

[AlanB]

Ouch! That ain't good. :blink:

 

[Guest_whistler]

In Chicago I believe it.

 

[MrFSS]

Did they take the train back and pick them up? Bus them out to meet it, what is the "rest of the story?"

 

[AmtrakFan]

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[battalion51]

Only on Amtrak. :lol:

 

[Sam Damon]

From Schiller, The Maid of Orleans, Act iii, Scene 6(as translated by Anna Swanwick) via Wikiquote:

Folly, thou conquerest, and I must yield!  Against stupidity the very gods

Themselves contend in vain.  

Exalted reason, Resplendent daughter of the head divine,

Wise foundress of the system of the world,

Guide of the stars, who art thou then if thou, Bound to the tail of folly's uncurbed steed,

Must, vainly shrieking with the drunken crowd, Eyes open, plunge down headlong in the abyss.

Accursed, who striveth after noble ends, And with deliberate wisdom forms his plans!

To the fool-king belongs the world.

 

[Trogdor]

From what I have heard, they were put up in hotels for the night, and given money for meals. The next day, they were flown to their destinations.

There's no word (yet) on when the error was actually discovered. Depending on how far out the train was when it was discovered, backing up may have been difficult (or impossible). Buses on such short notice were probably hard to come by, and the train would have had to hold at the next station (tying up the line for quite some time).

A bonehead mistake, definitely.

 

[battalion51]

Forget flying, I'd rather be a day late on the train, than to fly, ESPECIALLY if I was going to be in a sleeper to begin with.

I do have to say though, it was rather odd watching the Meteor roll by today knowing I'd be further north of it at 11 AM tomorrow. Now how often does that happen?

 

[Steve4031]

Now that was just simply unexcusable. That cost Amtrak a sleeping car load of revenue, plus the cost of flying them to the west coast plus the cost of hotels in Chicago. That could easily been a 20 or 30 thousand dollar "mistake" To quote myself when I am yelling at one of my football players, "son, put your hand on the back of your kneck and pull until you get your HEAD OUT OF YOUR ARSE!!!!"

 

[rile42]

Doesn't the sleeping car attendant have something like a list of which rooms are going to be occupied? If so, shouldn't he have noticed the fact that virtually nobody showed up?

 

[EmpireBuilderFan]

Doesn't the sleeping car attendant have something like a list of which rooms are going to be occupied? If so, shouldn't he have noticed the fact that virtually nobody showed up?

They do have a manifest of which rooms are occupied, so that's my question as well. Why didn't one of the sleeping car attendants get on the intercom when the train started moving without his/her passengers? "Hey, conductor, it's a little empty up here. Why are we leaving without my passengers?"

 

[haolerider]

I'm also wondering why the attendant in the lounge did not maintain contact with the conductor to find out what was happening. Knowing how passengers can get anxious, I am equally surprised that the passengers waiting were not continually bugging the staff to find out what was going on.

 

[Budd Metroliners]

That's pretty funny! And sad!

 

[AmtrakWPK]

It cost Amtrak the hotel rooms, meals, and airline tickets, and probably transport costs to the airport, but it shouldn't have cost them the sleeper revenue, since they did honor the contract with the pax to get them to their destination with reasonable dispatch (for most, probably quicker than the train would have gotten them there), and with sleeping quarters (the hotel rooms). They didn't get a train trip, but they did get to their intended destinations.