Amtrak: Fun or Boring?

[Keim]

Because they told me they would arrive at a reasonable hour and the customer relied on that promise. I know they have to share the tracks. However, if their schedule says the train will arrive at 4:00 PM when services are available, and they don't arrive until 3:00 AM then they are responsible for coming up with alternatives for those services that are not available at the late hour.

If they don't, then they don't get any more of my money. It is called failure to meet expectations.

Ah-I gotcha. Yes, something like hotel vouchers should be done if it wasn't scheduled to arrive so late.

 

[bUU]

The House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee voted in June to reduce spending on Amtrak for fiscal year 2014. Doubtful that they'll be inclined toward taking any action toward changing the current reality of freight trains priority over passenger trains, nor will that make it any more likely that Amtrak will add any new amenities, such as hotel vouchers at origins or destinations. (Incidentally, airlines don't intend to offer amenities at origins or destinations either anymore, regardless of what services may or may not be available at the time at the terminal - their stated policies are that they offer such amenities only at connection points.)

 

[scrabbler1]

On my awful trip home to NY from Indy on Amtrak's Cardinal train back in July, we were given some priority over freight trains between Indy and Washington DC, the stretch of tracks Amtrak shares with the freight lines. Fortunately, few freight trains ran on Sundays so the conflicts were rare. But I did recall passing by some stopped freight trains instead of us always being stopped to let a freight train pass.

It was amazing that there were more places open at 3 AM at Penn Station than there were places open at Washington DC's station at 11 PM. We had no problem getting something to eat as our odyssey kept us at Penn Station for 90 more minutes until we could get a LIRR train out of Penn and back to Long Island, nearly 36 hours after we first left for the bus trip from Louisville to Indy.