# Boston Back Bay vs. Boston South Station



## inb (Feb 12, 2008)

This is my first time on Amtrak in Boston ad I have a quick question.

I have a ticket on Acela from Boston (South Station) to NYC Penn Station.


Is it ok for me to board the train at the Back Bay station (rather than South Station)? The Back Bay station is much more convenient to me but while purchasing the ticket I neglected to note that the train also stops at Back Bay.

The Back Bay station comes _after_ South Station, so I will be boarding at a *subsequent* point, not at a earlier point.


[*]I have to pick up the ticket at the station. Can tickets be picked up at any station or do they need to be picked up at the originating station only?

Thanks or your help.


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## nr272 (Feb 12, 2008)

I don't think it would matter if you got on at Back Bay station. In fact, I don't believe they check any of the tickets until after Back Bay station anyways.

As far as picking up the tickets - I believe they can be picked up at any staffed station. I'm not positive about this one though. I'm sure someone here can give you a more definite answer.


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## Joel N. Weber II (Feb 12, 2008)

The only reason not to rebook the tickets as Back Bay is if you'd now be paying a higher bucket price, I would think.

The last time I boarded at South Station (last July), they checked my ticket as I was walking down the platform, before I came to the train. I don't know what they do at Back Bay, but I'd guess there's a good chance that they'll look at your ticket before letting you on the train. Maybe if there's a conductor who's determined to be picky, they'll notice and get upset. On the other hand, a conductor who's inclined to apply common sense shouldn't have any reason to object, as far as I can tell (as someone whose knowlege is limited to being an occasional rider of Amtrak).

I certainly think it's highly unlikely that they'll decide you're a no-show and give your seat to someone else in the space between South Station and Back Bay, because my experience has been that they don't finish checking everyone's tickets until long after Back Bay.


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## Rafi (Feb 12, 2008)

inb said:


> This is my first time on Amtrak in Boston ad I have a quick question.
> I have a ticket on Acela from Boston (South Station) to NYC Penn Station.
> 
> 
> ...


*Boarding at Back Bay will not be a problem. Generally speaking, you can pick up a train enroute at any station inbetween your origin and destination without being in trouble. You might get a conductor that notices, but he/she shouldn't care.

*Generally speaking, tickets can be picked up at any station—not just the one you're originating in. There is one exception to this rule that I'm aware of, and it's rarely enforced in my experience. In fact, I have a little game I play where I try to pick up tickets for trips from a station completely out of that territory (for example, the best I've done so far is a trip from Washington to Fargo picked up in Dover, NH and another from Baltimore to Culpeper picked up in San Francisco). Some of the comments and looks I get from the ticket agents are priceless.

-Rafi


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## AlanB (Feb 12, 2008)

Rafi said:


> inb said:
> 
> 
> > This is my first time on Amtrak in Boston ad I have a quick question.
> ...


Correct, there is no reason for you to worry or to get new tickets. No one at Back Bay will check your ticket before you head down to the platform and the conductor won't care either, since the price from South station is the same as the price from Back Bay to any other station on the NEC.

No problem picking up your ticket there either. You can either see the agent or use the Quik-Track machine.

About the only down side to boarding from Back Bay is that you don't get first pick on the seats, although the pickings usually aren't that bad at BBY. Things start to get dicey further down the line at Rte 128 and Providence.


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## had8ley (Feb 12, 2008)

inb said:


> This is my first time on Amtrak in Boston ad I have a quick question.
> I have a ticket on Acela from Boston (South Station) to NYC Penn Station.
> 
> 
> ...


Only one draw back that I can see. Probably the nicest Club Acela on the system is in South Station. It sure beats the drab Back Bay platform.


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## nr272 (Feb 12, 2008)

AlanB said:


> About the only down side to boarding from Back Bay is that you don't get first pick on the seats, although the pickings usually aren't that bad at BBY. Things start to get dicey further down the line at Rte 128 and Providence.


I can attest to this. I once got on at Providence headed towards NYP and had to sit in the space between the coaches all the way to New Haven -- not fun! 

Granted, this was before the reservation-only days, so its unlikely something like this would ever happen again.


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 12, 2008)

I wish conductors would be more tolerant of me riding in the vestibule sometimes. The sound of the car crashing around is more pleasant than, say, a child telling mommy he wants a PS3 and her saying no, and him starting to whine and scream and... *kicks door opening plate and flies into vestibule*


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## had8ley (Feb 13, 2008)

Green Maned Lion said:


> I wish conductors would be more tolerant of me riding in the vestibule sometimes. The sound of the car crashing around is more pleasant than, say, a child telling mommy he wants a PS3 and her saying no, and him starting to whine and scream and... *kicks door opening plate and flies into vestibule*


It is a violation of Amtrak rules to ride in the vestibule. On some cars there is a specific warning not to ride in the vestibule. Some train crews, righteously so, are weary of pax standing in the vestibule, because the next step is to open the dutch door window which leads to bigger problems for both the passenger and train crew especially on the NEC where the trains speeds often exceed

100 mph.


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 13, 2008)

I understand why they don't. I don't even think that it is, in general, a bad policy. The average person I see on trains don't seem to be very good at standing while the train is moving, let alone staying in the vestibule, and there are a lot of darwin awards of people doing stupid things. I just wish they'd be more tolerant of me personally, because I'm not stupid enough to do those things. But I understand it. Just a personal wish.


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## had8ley (Feb 13, 2008)

Green Maned Lion said:


> I understand why they don't. I don't even think that it is, in general, a bad policy. The average person I see on trains don't seem to be very good at standing while the train is moving, let alone staying in the vestibule, and there are a lot of darwin awards of people doing stupid things. I just wish they'd be more tolerant of me personally, because I'm not stupid enough to do those things. But I understand it. Just a personal wish.


The most effective way I've ever heard of getting a passenger to move back inside a coach was a conductor who said, "Sir, you've paid for a seat INSIDE the car. Since there are no seats out here would you kindly take yours inside?"


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 13, 2008)

:lol:


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## PRR 60 (Feb 13, 2008)

Unlike some countries, Amtrak also prohibits sitting on the roof of cars. That is especially important in electrified territory.


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 13, 2008)

Personally, I'd rather allow it and let people make their own logical conclusions. This country is over populated. :lol:


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## inb (Feb 13, 2008)

Thanks *nr272*, *raffi*, *alanb*, *had8ley* et al.

I had also written to Amtrak (via their web interface) and they said the same thing as well - that it is not a problem to board at a subsequent stop or to pick up tickets at another location. There was one caveat though. The tickets must be picked up (from wherever) at least 10 minutes prior to the train's departure from the *originating* station (the station at which you were originally scheduled to board, in my case South Station), otherwise you may find your reservation cancelled.

Thanks again.


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## wayman (Feb 13, 2008)

Rafi said:


> *Generally speaking, tickets can be picked up at any station—not just the one you're originating in. There is one exception to this rule that I'm aware of, and it's rarely enforced in my experience.



And the exception is... h34r:


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## Rafi (Feb 13, 2008)

wayman said:


> Rafi said:
> 
> 
> > *Generally speaking, tickets can be picked up at any station—not just the one you're originating in. There is one exception to this rule that I'm aware of, and it's rarely enforced in my experience.
> ...


Heh... the exception is this...

If you make a reservation that originates at a non-staffed, non-QuikTrak station, then Amtrak will want to mail the tickets to you (the website, in fact, will force you to accept a mailing). We all know this here, so that's not news. If you make the reservation over the phone, however—OR, if you call in immediately after you made such a reservation on Amtrak.com—you can request that they mark the reservation to be picked up at a staffed station. When the agent does this, they—as I understand it—are required to enter into ARROW which specific station is to issue the ticket before the system will accept the no-mailing request.

I had such a reservation about a year ago, where I believe I was to pick the tickets up in Washington, but ended up going to Baltimore instead to get them. When the agent brought the reservation up, he had a quizzical look and said something to the effect of, "looks like you were supposed to get this ticketed in DC," shrugged his shoulders and went ahead and printed them anyway. I suppose if he was gun shy or the sort who's afraid to get in trouble he may have asked me to talk to reservations first or to go to DC, but fortunately that wasn't the case.

-Rafi


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## jackal (Feb 16, 2008)

Green Maned Lion said:


> I understand why they don't. I don't even think that it is, in general, a bad policy. The average person I see on trains don't seem to be very good at standing while the train is moving, let alone staying in the vestibule, and there are a lot of darwin awards of people doing stupid things. I just wish they'd be more tolerant of me personally, because I'm not stupid enough to do those things. But I understand it. Just a personal wish.


Mini/OT-plug for my alma mater. The Alaska Railroad not only allows you to ride in the vestibule, they encourage it. You can hang your head out the window the entire way between Anchorage and Fairbanks if you want.

Try out some of these pics:

1

2

3

4

5

6

The RR's livery uses glossy paint, which allows the cool the effect of seeing the train reflected in itself.

However, the train's going anywhere from 15-49mph (short stretch of 60mph just north of Anchorage). Hanging out the Dutch door windows at 125mph probably isn't a great idea...


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 16, 2008)

What kind of car are you riding in? Its not a Budd... so what is it?


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## jackal (Feb 17, 2008)

Green Maned Lion said:


> What kind of car are you riding in? Its not a Budd... so what is it?


These pics were taken on two separate trips to Seward (July 2004 and May 2005) and likely from different cars, as I was constantly moving about the train (taking turns in the dome cars, etc.).

The ARR operates basically three types of coach cars:

*New (1989) Korean-built coaches with large picture windows and smaller, stiffer seats

*Pullman Standard and Budd dome coaches

*Pullman Standard coaches (musty-smelling but with plusher, if a bit more worn, seats and smaller windows)

They also have various cafes (my favorite is the Tiki Bar Car), dining cars (some currently leased from the Montana Rockies Rail Tours and are 1980s -era Amtrak cars), and on their flagship train to Fairbanks, the new Colorado Railcar-built Ultradome cars. There is also a special train made up of former Florida Fun Train domed cars. Budd-built RDCs (Rail Diesel Cars) operate on a flag stop train between Talkeetna and Hurricane. (We took one every day for two weeks between the Anchorage yard office and the Fort Richardson classification yard during my brakeman training. Those are fun pieces of equipment!)

Descriptions here and a full roster here. The rest of the site is great for railfans, too.

I was likely taking pictures out of either the Korean-built coaches (the flat, glossy sides) or the older domed coaches (the less-glossy sides with more ridges).

In the last one, the train waiting at the junction for us to pass has Princess-owned bi-level dome cars. It probably just dropped off a train load of people to their ship in Whittier.


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## Green Maned Lion (Feb 17, 2008)

Why don't they run sleeper trains at all? I'd think from the distance, there would be a market. Also, who owns them?


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## jackal (Feb 18, 2008)

Green Maned Lion said:


> Why don't they run sleeper trains at all? I'd think from the distance, there would be a market. Also, who owns them?


Well, we've gotten a bit OT, but since you asked... (mods, feel free to move this subset of this discussion to a new thread...?)

Trains run from Anchorage to Seward (day turn--four hours each way with a six-hour layover perfectly timed for the half-day harbor cruises into Resurrection Bay) and Anchorage to Fairbanks (360 miles and twelve hours, leaving at 8am from each terminal and arriving at 8pm at the other terminal...and nearly always on time, since the dispatchers truly give the passenger train priority over the freights).

The major attraction of the railroad is the scenery, so night runs wouldn't be very popular. Since the trip can be covered in a day, no need for sleepers. And since Alaska Airlines operates ten or so flights per day between Anchorage and Fairbanks (total flight time about an hour) and the railroad is usually more expensive than flying (it's probably the only passenger train in the country that's profitable), there's little use of it for real transportation (I'd say virtually 100% of the passengers are tourists, at least in the summer*) and therefore not much demand for sleeper service.

(*The Aurora winter train and the Hurricane Turn--the one that uses the RDCs--are flag stop trains and used by locals to access cabins which are in the backcountry and off of the road system. Those are cool trains, as you get to meet and talk to real hardy Alaskans, who are all carrying up three-month supplies of Costco purchases and unloading them off the train and onto snow machines.)

The railroad is a for-profit corporation owned by the State of Alaska. It turns a profit of between $10 and $20 million each year on revenues of $200-$300 million, if I recall correctly.

Edit: I just searched and found this quote from Wikipedia, which I believe I added last year based on an informational packet mailed to me by the railroad:



> In 2006, the company earned a profit of $10.4 million on revenues of $148.9 million, $132.7 million of which was operating revenue.


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