Seattle to L.A.

[Poindexter118]

I took the Coast Starlight from L.A. to Chico, CA a couple of weeks ago. The trip up was very nice. A couple of hours late, but I'm used to that. Although, even on time, it gets into Chico at a horrible hour of 2:00 A.M. As it was, we got in about 4:00 A.M.

The bad part was coming back down 4 days later. Apparently some woman on the train went a little berserk somewhere around Redding, CA. She was so bad, Amtrak had to call the local sheriff. The train had to wait for 2 HOURS! for the sheriff to show up. Well, guess what? The train got into Chico 4 hours late. To say the least, I was steamed. I don't understand why the train personnel couldn't restrain this woman, and wait to get into Redding or some other good sized town, and hand her over to the local police. Why make everyone wait all that time? I talked to the people on board and they said they were never notified why the train was sitting and waiting. I don't think it was handled well at all.

By the time we got into L.A. it was 2:00 A.M., 6 HOURS BEHIND SCHEDULE! I live in a suburb of L.A. and was planning to take the Metro Rail home from there. The Metro shuts down about midnight.

Everyone else missed the connections from Union Station to points eastward. Amtrak gave them the option of either putting them up in a hotel until Sunday, or paying for a Greyhound. When I got to the Amtrak services counter, I told them I missed the Metro connection. They paid for a taxi to take me to the Metro station near my house. The cab meter showed $40 to get there. I paid the cab driver an extra $10 to take me to my house.

The lady who worked at Amtrak services was very professional and handled it well. I'm sure she was expecting a quiet evening.

I Emailed Amtrak, and they called me back and apoligized profusely. Amtrak sent me a $25 certificate toward future trips.

I will ride Amtrak again, and a lot of it is because of the lady at Amtrak services and Amtrak calling and apoligizing.

Robert

 

[IceColdMintJulep]

They and/or Amtrak is probably afraid of being sued. I'm sure the crew isn't trained to handle this situation with force. The way our government is going, we will have rail marshalls just as the airlines have air marshalls.

 

[battalion51]

They aren't? I know there have been situations where Conductors have restrained passengers down here, and the local Sheriff meets them at the next road crossing, simple as that.

 

[tp49]

The answer is one simple word...liability.

 

[Poindexter118]

You may be right about the crew not knowing what to do with unruly people. But, as bmlock said, we may well have train marshals.

I almost rented a car from Chico to L.A. I would have gotten home faster, but I was tired, and once on the train, I was able to sleep for a while, and also had some nice meals. So, the trip wasn't a total bummer.

Thanks for the replies.

Robert

 

[Chatter163]

Some conductors may have managed to hold people down, but there certainly is no formal employee training in restraint techniques, which would be an extremely expensive undertaking and one fraught with liability. Also, it appears that the train did do exactly what you suggested--they held her until local law enforcement arrived. Amtrak has no control over how long it takes for local authorities--many of whom are very small agencies, responding to remote settings--to respond.

Guess what? If the same situation occurred on an airplane, the plane would land at the nearest possible airport able to handle an aircraft of that size. Law enforcement would still repond and statements would still have to be taken from crew members and passenger witnesses. The result would be a similar delay.

 

[Poindexter118]

chatter163: I guess you're right. It's just that when you wait for 4 hours for a train to arrive, and you're cold out there waiting. ( The Chico station is unmanned. ) It gets a little aggravating. Plus, I guess the cost of hiring security for a once in a while situation would be too much.

I was blowing off steam. But, as I said at the end of my comments, I will ride the train again.

Thanks for all the comments.