Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I love trains, and I commute 600 miles each week. Amtrak’s stations and schedule are convenient. I am Select Plus on Amtrak and have elite status on an airline. But I fly. I hate Amtrak.
Airlines, for all of their flaws, offer a consistent product and their on-board and airport employees are pretty consistent. They’re also generally pretty nice.
Amtrak, conversely, doesn’t have a consistent product. Business and first class can range from very nice (on the Acela) to dodgy (derelict cars and reheated meals in plastic on Eastern long-distance trains), and employee quality varies significantly. I tried commuting on Amtrak, but it was rough. I’ve been screamed at by Amtrak employees for:
1. Approaching a cafe car counter from the coach side when I was in a sleeping car. (The line was from the coach side and I didn’t want to cut).
2. Boarding the Acela Express in a business class car (as the train was about to depart) and wanting to walk through the vestibule to the first-class car, where my seat was.
3. Boarding a long-distance train in one sleeping car when my room was in the next car.
After incident 3, on the next trip, the same sleeping car attendant came to my room and told me that I’d have to leave and go to another car if I wanted any service.
So I can fly and get a pretty consistent experience, or I can play Russian roulette and try Amtrak.
GSPNative I know you've started many threads about rail in the US and posted in many others, here on C-D. It seems most of the time you are just "venting", knowing Amtrak/rail in the US is never going to change and be like Europe or Asia.
I take it you're middle-aged? or maybe younger?, but as you already know the US is too car-centric and air-centric and that is never going to change no matter how much you or anyone else likes or loves rail travel!
I'm sure you mentioned this before, but why do you have such a long commute each week? Do you live in South Carolina due to family or cheap COL? Can't you find work closer to home that pays what you get now? I take it you can't do your job remotely from home?
GSPNative I know you've started many threads about rail in the US and posted in many others, here on C-D. It seems most of the time you are just "venting", knowing Amtrak/rail in the US is never going to change and be like Europe or Asia.
I take it you're middle-aged? or maybe younger?, but as you already know the US is too car-centric and air-centric and that is never going to change no matter how much you or anyone else likes or loves rail travel!
I'm sure you mentioned this before, but why do you have such a long commute each week? Do you live in South Carolina due to family or cheap COL? Can't you find work closer to home that pays what you get now? I take it you can't do your job remotely from home?
Yes, venting but things could change.
Abolish Amtrak and let private railroads (for a subsidy) run the trains that Amtrak runs, outside of the Northeast Corridor.
The UK and EU have either abolished national railroads or have let private railroads run passenger trains, for a subsidy. The results are better service and higher ridership. When Amtrak is handed $66 billion without having to do anything to get it is there any wonder that it continues to offer sub-par service?
Abolish Amtrak and let private railroads (for a subsidy) run the trains that Amtrak runs, outside of the Northeast Corridor.
The UK and EU have either abolished national railroads or have let private railroads run passenger trains, for a subsidy. The results are better service and higher ridership. When Amtrak is handed $66 billion without having to do anything to get it is there any wonder that it continues to offer sub-par service?
So I take it you can't get/find a job closer to home? The money must be amazing for keeping a weekly 600 mile commute!
I live 10 miles from where I work now and can't really complain about long commutes even with having to go through one stop sign and 15 traffic lights.
Sorry, but venting on an anonymous message board, like C-D, is not going to change the way Amtrak is run.
Heck, even becoming a US Senator will probably not change how Amtrak is run, especially when you have a current POTUS that took Amtrak to work for how many decades and he still can't change Amtrak!
Amtrak is what it is and that is largely because passenger rail service usually is a money losing venture. Even back in days when train travel was all there was railroads weren't exactly offering across the board luxury service. Hence all the various federal laws and rules that still govern passenger rail.
Quite honestly outside of the NEC Amtrak either loses or barely breaks even on majority of balance. Only reason good number of routes are still serviced is because some senator or House representative leans on Amtrak when some 80 year old granny who takes train once a year starts crying because Amtrak wants to discontinue service.
Congress created Amtrak giving them rights to interstate passenger service because freight railroads want no part of that business.
So I take it you can't get/find a job closer to home? The money must be amazing for keeping a weekly 600 mile commute!
I live 10 miles from where I work now and can't really complain about long commutes even with having to go through one stop sign and 15 traffic lights.
Sorry, but venting on an anonymous message board, like C-D, is not going to change the way Amtrak is run.
Heck, even becoming a US Senator will probably not change how Amtrak is run, especially when you have a current POTUS that took Amtrak to work for how many decades and he still can't change Amtrak!
If venting on a message board saves one person the disaster of dealing with Carl, the nasty sleeping car attendant who I had to deal with on Amtrak, then it’s worth it.
If venting on a message board saves one person the disaster of dealing with Carl, the nasty sleeping car attendant who I had to deal with on Amtrak, then it’s worth it.
If you say so, just stick to flying or get a job closer to home!
Without knowing much about Amtrak, it sounds at first glance like the infractions for which you were screamed at were all potential security concerns. If they're just trying to enforce rules that ensure the safety of other passengers or maintain order, I would say that's a good thing.
If venting on a message board saves one person the disaster of dealing with Carl, the nasty sleeping car attendant who I had to deal with on Amtrak, then it’s worth it.
I highly doubt anyone would change a trip based on a rant.
Without knowing much about Amtrak, it sounds at first glance like the infractions for which you were screamed at were all potential security concerns. If they're just trying to enforce rules that ensure the safety of other passengers or maintain order, I would say that's a good thing.
No, there is no rule prohibiting anything that I was screamed at for. I have a copy of the Amtrak on-board service manual for employees, and to the contrary, if a train is about to depart, passengers are specifically permitted to board anywhere.
For being screamed at due to approaching the cafe car counter from the coach side when I was in a sleeping car: sleeping car passengers get some meal items for free but coach passengers don’t. The cafe car attendant told me that I was making her job harder because she had a harder time determining who was to get items for free if everyone was in the same line. (Hint: typically you just show your ticket, which shows which class of service you’re in).
Even if Amtrak did have a rule on point, simply politely asking a passenger to comply would have been the thing to do, not screaming at the passenger.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
