Silver Meteor #97 Between New York and Washington

[AmtrakBlue]

Very rarely do I praise TRE for anything, but I will say that Trenton does still have the same helpful system that Heading North (post #12) mentioned seeing a few years ago.

I am often commuting through there when the Meteor comes in, and they always announce the boarding locations over the loudspeaker, way before the train arrives, and you can hear it both in the station and on the platform. Plus they usually have an Amtrak agent on the platform making sure people are at the right location. They have a list with them, and make sure everyone on their list is accounted for.

Even the "regular" trains get announcements. They announce where the Quiet Car and the Business Car are on the regionals, for example.

The Palmetto is the most confusing--if you're going south of DC, you board at one location, DC or farther north, another location, and the Business Car and Quiet Car, other locations, all of which are announced--they practically run through the whole alphabet of boarding locations. I think if you are going to Savannah and want the Quiet Car, you are out of luck!

The Palmetto is because one or two coaches get taken off with the engine in DC since they combined a regional with it. The first time I took one of those I was directed to the front cars. Now I know just head up to where the engine will be.

 

[bratkinson]

Your post got me to thinking of how old is Amtrak's computer system...I still have my "Spike" (original name for Arrow), owner's manual in my archives...I'm sure they've done lots of updates, but wonder if the basic system is still the same?

The last client I was at before retiring the first time had a mountain of 'screen scraper' programs that essentially were 'wrapped' around an existing online CICS program or two, or three, re-shuffle the data and display it on the users' PC with the look and feel and all the bells & whistles commonplace on all PC software these days. I was surprised to discover their 'dirty little secret' of keeping the old 'base' programs alive but making it look all new to the users. I would not be surprised at all if that's the way Amtraks' current systems are designed.

 

[SarahZ]

Your post got me to thinking of how old is Amtrak's computer system...I still have my "Spike" (original name for Arrow), owner's manual in my archives...I'm sure they've done lots of updates, but wonder if the basic system is still the same?

It would not surprise me if Amtrak continues to use a system from nearly 40 years ago.

I have been working in call centers since 1998. During that time, all four of my jobs used (and continue to use) an AS400 system from 1980-something-ish. It was tweaked differently, depending on the company and its needs, but the basic order entry, customer service, and accounting tasks all ran/run through the AS400. We do use other office programs, like Word, Excel, Outlook, etc, but the AS400 is still the base for everything. If the AS400 is down, we can't do 90% of our work.

Here’s a typical screen. I scribbled over the customer info:



When I was with the Big Insurance Company, we moved from our AS400 system to an Internet Explorer-based system, and it was a nightmare. The program worked just fine and had a nice layout, but it took us 400% longer to complete our tasks (we crunched data - that's not an exaggeration). It was also hard for anyone without much Windows experience to get used to it, so I spent more time out of my chair helping people navigate menus than I did actually handling claims. Our work suffered, and our customer service suffered. With the AS400, it took us about 24-48 hours to contact policyholders about their new claims. With the new system, it sometimes took us ten days (TEN DAYS) to contact people.

Long story short - if it isn't broken, don't fix it.

 

[railiner]

IIRC, Amtrak purchased some of their software from Sabre, which at that time was an American Airlines subsidiary. When I first started, we didn't use PC's...we had video display terminals that where connected to the main frame in Philly....

 

[Anderson]

Since #97 works baggage and has 5 coaches during the summer, it has longer dwell times than the regional and Acela trains. But dwell times exceeding 4 minutes could be minimized if the station announcers did what the PRR "ushers" did - announce before the train's arrival the car locations in stations like Newark, Baltimore and Philadelphia so that the passengers would be lined up adjacent to the correct car for boarding. In the 1960s I used to see the SILVER METEOR and EAST/WEST COAST CHAMPION trains with 18-19 cars routinely get thru Newark with 3-4 min dwell time (unless the baggage dorm was taking on remains).

Andy

There is no excuse. Shinkansen can alight and board typically in less than one minute, up to 1,600 people in around 5.
Man, would I love to see a regularly scheduled 19 car train today!!

Sadly, equipment aside, we generally don't have the stations for it. I think there's one track at Balto-Penn that might be able to deal with it (over on one side), maybe one at Philly, and one pair at NYP (down south, you've actually got more stations set up to deal with long trains...RVR's platform locations go most of the way through the alphabet)...but at a lot of other stations you'd be multi-spotting, which is its own issue.

As to Japan, part of the issue is that you have a culture that meshes well with the trains there, you don't have checked baggage, etc.

You could do a lot with Brightline-style level boarding and the like, which would cut down on dwell times, and you could push to standardize consists at the price of losing flexibility...but absent that sort of an overhaul there's only so much you can do.

 

[cpotisch]

Recently, this train seems to be more "late" than on time when it arrives in Washington. it's my understanding that Amtrak controls/owns the right of way between New York and Washington. Why are these delays taking place?

Freights aren't the only reason why a train might be late. The Northeast Corridor is packed full of passenger trains, and any grade crossing incidents, equipment failures, weather, etc, can snowball. There are just so many uncontrollable variables when running a railroad on such a busy corridor, that result in delays.

 

[cpotisch]

Thirdrail7. Must respectively disagree . However it would require Amtrak's IT to program a computer properly. The Amtrak IT capability to do this is very suspect.

1. You start by having every station including unmanned stations to have letter locations placarded on the platforms. Short platforms might even have more than 1 letter.

2. Next every train's actual consist for that day from loco to end is entered into the computer. As well any enroute changes are entered into the computer.

3. Conductor(s) could give car each passenger needed to board. That car would be translated into a letter position for the car.

3. The passengers would get a notice say 30 minutes before arrival telling them which letter position to meet their train at unmanned stations. As well some manned stations could have boarding annunciators

4. Stopping locations for the loco are given to the engineer ( Note there may be many locations beyond end of platform to designate stopping locations for front end deadheading equipment.) Conductors could even tell engineer what location comes from the computer ? .

5. Special circumstance stations could have their stopping locations entered as well + special problems.

6. Of course there will be a few problem stations from time to time but conductors certainly can adapt..

This sounds extremely complicated, and I just have to ask, is it worth it? Especially the concept of having them tell each passenger 30 or so minutes in advance where there car will be from a letter system. What if someone arrives after they do that? Are you going to have the conductor constantly searching for more passengers to notify about this? I just think there are too many moving parts and too minimal returns for it to work out.

 

[PVD]

In addition, they may be subject to delays caused by one of the other agencies that run passenger/commuter trains on their track.

 

[Dakota 400]

August 2nd, #97 left Baltimore 3 minutes late but arrived in Washington 2 hours and 59 minutes late! Any one know what caused such tardiness?

For Sleeping Car guests boarding in Washington and expecting to have dinner on the train, would the Club Acela personnel supply meal vouchers to be used at Union Station in a situation like this?

 

[cpotisch]

August 2nd, #97 left Baltimore 3 minutes late but arrived in Washington 2 hours and 59 minutes late! Any one know what caused such tardiness?

For Sleeping Car guests boarding in Washington and expecting to have dinner on the train, would the Club Acela personnel supply meal vouchers to be used at Union Station in a situation like this?

The Crescent derailed near DC yesterday, so I imagine it was that.

 

[Dakota 400]

August 2nd, #97 left Baltimore 3 minutes late but arrived in Washington 2 hours and 59 minutes late! Any one know what caused such tardiness?

For Sleeping Car guests boarding in Washington and expecting to have dinner on the train, would the Club Acela personnel supply meal vouchers to be used at Union Station in a situation like this?

The Crescent derailed near DC yesterday, so I imagine it was that.

Yes, I saw that just after I posted my question. But, from what I read, the derailment was South of Union Station. Why would Amtrak not allow the train to pull into Union Station until so late? No tracks available is the only thing that I can think of.

 

[cpotisch]

August 2nd, #97 left Baltimore 3 minutes late but arrived in Washington 2 hours and 59 minutes late! Any one know what caused such tardiness?

For Sleeping Car guests boarding in Washington and expecting to have dinner on the train, would the Club Acela personnel supply meal vouchers to be used at Union Station in a situation like this?

The Crescent derailed near DC yesterday, so I imagine it was that.

Yes, I saw that just after I posted my question. But, from what I read, the derailment was South of Union Station. Why would Amtrak not allow the train to pull into Union Station until so late? No tracks available is the only thing that I can think of.

Maybe if the other stuff was backed up from that, the gridlock could have affected trains north of WAS. Just speculation on my part, but that's my guess.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I think there are only 2 tracks for through traffic?? So trains, including VRE, May have been stacked up

 

[cpotisch]

I think there are only 2 tracks for through traffic?? So trains, including VRE, May have been stacked up

You sure about that? I could be wrong, but considering how many trains pass through WAS (VRE, NER, LD trains, etc), two tracks doesn't sound like enough. Forgive me if that's not the case.

 

[the_traveler]

If it happened on the lower level (where VRE goes and the tunnel), there are only 2 tracks. North of Union Station, there are more.

 

[cpotisch]

If it happened on the lower level (where VRE goes and the tunnel), there are only 2 tracks. North of Union Station, there are more.

So in the station itself, there's only two tracks, but afterwards they splits into more? Because if the derailment happened a fair bit south of DC, the two tracks in the station shouldn't be the issue, right?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

If it happened on the lower level (where VRE goes and the tunnel), there are only 2 tracks. North of Union Station, there are more.

So in the station itself, there's only two tracks, but afterwards they splits into more? Because if the derailment happened a fair bit south of DC, the two tracks in the station shouldn't be the issue, right?

Didn’t it happen in the tunnel? It happened just before it reached the station, so, no, it wasn’t a fair bit south of DC.And yes the two tracks are an issue because they’re the only ones that take trains south of DC. All the other tracks deadend at the gates.

 

[cpotisch]

Oh. I guess I totally misunderstood the incident. Sorry.

 

[Dakota 400]

Some may remember a previous thread I started when I visited Washington Union Station during my reconnoitering of the station prior to my anticipated Silver Meteor trips. It did appear to me that the LD trains that went through Washington seemed to be restricted to only certain Gates, which I assume, certain tracks.

My additional question in my original post was: what about dinner for the Sleeping Car guests who expected to have "Dinner in the Diner" since the train arrived so late?

 

[cpotisch]

My additional question in my original post was: what about dinner for the Sleeping Car guests who expected to have "Dinner in the Diner" since the train arrived so late?

Usually they'll just miss that meal and have to make their own arrangements for dinner. Sometimes if you ask they'll give passengers a $25 voucher or something like that, but they usually don't do stuff like that on the spot.

 

[Dakota 400]

My additional question in my original post was: what about dinner for the Sleeping Car guests who expected to have "Dinner in the Diner" since the train arrived so late?

Usually they'll just miss that meal and have to make their own arrangements for dinner. Sometimes if you ask they'll give passengers a $25 voucher or something like that, but they usually don't do stuff like that on the spot.

Thanks for the information. Learning that there are multiple dining options within Union Station, I know finding an evening dinner won't be difficult and a $25 voucher would probably cover whatever I would order. Just hope that my southbound train will be on time or close to it!

 

[pennyk]

My additional question in my original post was: what about dinner for the Sleeping Car guests who expected to have "Dinner in the Diner" since the train arrived so late?

Every time I have waited for the southbound Silver Meteor in WAS, and the train was over an hour late, an attendant in the Club Acela has offered every sleeping car passenger $25 cash in lieu of dinner on the train. The attendant visited every passenger and asked them if they would like $25 for dinner. The attendant would then require the passenger to sign a waiver of some sort stating that they received cash instead of dinner. The Meteor passengers could then purchase dinner in the station and were permitted to eat in the lounge (which is normally not permitted). However, I have not experienced such a delay in the last few months, so that procedure may have been changed.

 

[cpotisch]

My additional question in my original post was: what about dinner for the Sleeping Car guests who expected to have "Dinner in the Diner" since the train arrived so late?

Every time I have waited for the southbound Silver Meteor in WAS, and the train was over an hour late, an attendant in the Club Acela has offered every sleeping car passenger $25 cash in lieu of dinner on the train. The attendant visited every passenger and asked them if they would like $25 for dinner. The attendant would then require the passenger to sign a waiver of some sort stating that they received cash instead of dinner. The Meteor passengers could then purchase dinner in the station and were permitted to eat in the lounge (which is normally not permitted). However, I have not experienced such a delay in the last few months, so that procedure may have been changed.

I wonder if that's just the practice for passengers in WAS? Whenever I've missed a meal due to a tardy train at any other station, they never offered us anything.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Just the Major Stations ( eg CHI,WAS,NYP,LAX )have the Facilities and Staff to do this.

Chicago is especially experienced with this process.YMMV However!

Otherwise one has to call Customer Relations to be compensated for Missed Meals etc.

 

[cpotisch]

Otherwise one has to call Customer Relations to be compensated for Missed Meals etc.

I think that's what most people usually do (including us).