Will Amtrak derail?

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

The Capital Limited pulled into Waterloo at 6:27 a.m. – an hour and 20 minutes late, triggering a comical episode that Amtrak haters can point to as illustrative of its failures.

Because of the train’s tardiness, people waiting to board at Waterloo seemed confused. Was this the Capital Limited originating in Washington, D.C., or the Lake Shore Limited, a New York-to-Chicago train already overdue by eight minutes? Both were going to Chicago via the same route.

Instead of piling onto the train, riders timidly waited for a sign to board. There were no stewards or customer service reps to greet riders and answer questions. So the gaggle of passengers sheepishly milled outside. A minute passed before a tall, white-haired, white-bearded man walked off a coach car. “Why isn’t anyone getting on the train?” he thundered. It wasn’t the sort of greeting you expect, and a few people groused about it, but they quickly queued up just the same

Story

 

[Poindexter118]

The grumbling may have been from a disgruntled employee. I can somewhat understand where the bearded person is coming from. This man may be wondering if he's going to have a job by the end of the Federal fiscal year.

I can only hope for his sake, as well as mine, as a rider, that Amtrak will be around for quite a while.

 

[railfangns]

The grumbling may have been from a disgruntled employee. I can somewhat understand where the bearded person is coming from. This man may be wondering if he's going to have a job by the end of the Federal fiscal year.
I can only hope for his sake, as well as mine, as a rider, that Amtrak will be around for quite a while.

You think amtrak has a lot of disgruntled employees you should work for target there are over a hundred at my store. The management is so goofed up the left hand dont have any idea what the right one is doing!

Thats what you get when you dont staff stations! Thats the agents job to alert the passengers which train to board.

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

You think employee attitudes are bad on Amtrak; you should try Unted Airlines these days. I did so this past Friday, and it was bad enough to be incredible.

What too many people, especially in the transportation sector, fail to remember is that many in the sector have better wages and much better pensions than are enjoyed by many of the customers they serve.

 

[MrFSS]

you should try Unted Airlines these days

Interesting. I flew four United flights in the last two weeks and everyone was very nice and helpful. I didn't detect anything was wrong. For the most part everything was even on time, if not early.

 

[lepearso]

This article makes some excellent points about Amtrak's strengths and weaknesses. Strong in that it provides a real transportation alternative for this part of Indiana. Weak in that Amtrak is sometimes its own worst enemy by sometimes offering indifferent service.

Case in point - the platform and boarding procedures at Waterloo. You have two trains arriving very close to each other. If one is running late, which is often the case, passengers are confused as to whether they are boarding the correct train. Because of Amtrak's limited resources, there's minimal signage in a place like Waterloo, and the older equipment on long-distance trains does not have the fancy exterior signs with boarding instructions like the fancy Acela's and Pacific Surfliners have.

Remember the station in Virginia with major boarding problems? Apparently, Amtrak had no means of knowing which track any particular train would arrive on, and even then had no way of communicating with passengers. Passengers often got left at the station. It took an extraordinary effort from a Congresswoman to force Amtrak to rectify the problem, when Amtrak should be in a position to discover such problems and rectify them on the spot - without needing outside intervention!

Amtrak needs steady funding, a better understood purpose, and internal reforms so that issues like these can be dealt with quickly and effectively and so the company can focus on being a truly fine transportation asset.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Amtrak needs steady funding, a better understood purpose, and internal reforms so that issues like these can be dealt with quickly and effectively and so the company can focus on being a truly fine transportation asset.

Could not have said it any better!! OBS...