# Riding the Palmetto through the Carolinas



## Brian Kinston (Feb 3, 2009)

*Wilson to Charleston - #89*

I took advantage of Amtrak’s sale prices to take my wife and 2-year old son to Charleston, SC to visit my parents. The cost was $200 round-trip. We rode the Palmetto (#89) from Wilson, N.C. to Charleston, SC on a Thursday afternoon and returned on the Sunday Palmetto (#90).

The Southbound Palmetto is usually thirty minutes to one hour late. However, checking the website earlier showed the train would arrive only 9 minutes down into Wilson. We had to hustle to make our 40 mile drive to Wilson by the 2:20 scheduled time. Being able to use the ticket machine to print our pre-paid tickets was great.







The northbound Palmetto came in and out of the station first, which I guess caused our southbound train to have to use the outside tracks.











This meant the twelve or so boarding passengers had to drag their suitcases about 40 yards away from the station to where the tracks cross Nash Road.

I didn’t write down specific numbers but the train consisted of an engine, a baggage car, a café/business class car and three passenger cars. The third passenger car was closed and remained so during the trip.

The two passenger cars in use were approximately 80% full when we got on. We were unable to get three seats together until one hour into the trip when several passengers got off in Fayetteville, NC. The deeper we got into the Carolinas the less crowded the train became. I overheard a passenger tell someone that they had been "packed like sardines" earlier in the ride.

The Amtrak employees we encountered were all courteous and several went out of their way to interact with our son. The train appeared to stay on schedule for the trip and arrived in Charleston only 5 minutes late. My main complaint is that the bathrooms were not very clean and smelled quite badly. My secondary complaint is that Amtrak should have used all three passenger cars to make it possible for families like ours to sit together as well as allowing passengers to spread out and have a more comfortable ride.

My parents picked us up at the Charleston station (which is actually in the city of North Charleston).

*Return Trip - AMTRAK #90*

Sunday morning my parents drove us to Charleston station where we got on the northbound Palmetto. Here is a photo of the train pulling into the station.






As the train was arriving, a P.A. system instructed passengers to wait for the train at two specific locations. The conductor must not have gotten the message because he missed those locations by about 30 yards.

The northbound Palmetto begins its day in Savannah, GA and Charleston is the third stop. This is probably why the bathrooms were noticeably cleaner than on the earlier trip. This train only had two passenger cars and both were quite full upon leaving Charleston. We were, however, able to get seats together this time. Passengers heading to DC and further were assigned to the first car while passengers with closer destinations were sent into the second car. The first car seemed to be a little warm the few times I passed through on my way to & from the cafe car, but the temperature in our car was comfortable during the trip.

Again, the Amtrak employees we encountered on the train did their jobs well and were courteous with all passengers. The load in our car got lighter with each stop while the first car remained at almost 100% occupancy. By the time we arrived in Wilson _(3 minutes early!) _several first car passengers had migrated to the second car in search of more room.

From what I saw, a family like ours is uncommon on this part of the Palmetto’s route. There were many elderly passengers, several women with small children (who were all well behaved from what I saw) and a few single riders of various ages. I think if Amtrak wants to attract more families to this route they should increase the ability of families to sit together as well as consider some package pricing. In our case, driving would definitely have been cheaper. But I enjoy riding the train so it is worth paying extra every once in a while. But I’d rather ride the train every time.


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## Rail Freak (Feb 3, 2009)

Nice Report!!!


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## Guest_NJgirl (Feb 4, 2009)

Same issue I took with my trip on the Palmetto back in November. They closed off the last car in both directions and packed everyone in like sardines. Many families and couples had the same problem as yours and when asked, the crew would not open the 3rd car. I have to wonder why they do this. Is it lazyness that they don't want to have to worry about 3 cars of passengers? It didn't seem like there was a shortage of on board crew either.


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## Guest (Feb 4, 2009)

Guest_NJgirl said:


> Same issue I took with my trip on the Palmetto back in November. They closed off the last car in both directions and packed everyone in like sardines. Many families and couples had the same problem as yours and when asked, the crew would not open the 3rd car. I have to wonder why they do this. Is it lazyness that they don't want to have to worry about 3 cars of passengers? It didn't seem like there was a shortage of on board crew either.


Its because they are government employees. It is all about their convenience, not about yours. There is no meaningful supervision or accountability of these employees.


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## AAARGH! (Feb 5, 2009)

Guest said:


> Its because they are government employees. It is all about their convenience, not about yours. There is no meaningful supervision or accountability of these employees.


They are NOT government employees. Amtrak is a private company. You know not of what you speak.


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## amtrakwolverine (Feb 5, 2009)

so why haul around a car that they don't want to fill. get rid of it it will save fuel and amtrak money.


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## AlanB (Feb 6, 2009)

KISS_ALIVE said:


> so why haul around a car that they don't want to fill. get rid of it it will save fuel and amtrak money.


Because that car might have been needed for the run down and now needs to come back to home base, or perhaps because it will be needed further up the line.

It's not uncommon to leave a car closed off if one is expecting a group to board further up the line or even just have a very heavy boarding at a particular station.


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## AlanB (Feb 6, 2009)

Guest said:


> Guest_NJgirl said:
> 
> 
> > Same issue I took with my trip on the Palmetto back in November. They closed off the last car in both directions and packed everyone in like sardines. Many families and couples had the same problem as yours and when asked, the crew would not open the 3rd car. I have to wonder why they do this. Is it lazyness that they don't want to have to worry about 3 cars of passengers? It didn't seem like there was a shortage of on board crew either.
> ...


It's a bit more complicated than that. I'm betting that there is only one car attendant, if that. With two conductors, one of whom must be in the baggage car, that only leaves two people to open the doors. And you've got to open the business class car's door and at least one, if not two doors on the coaches.

So opening a third car, delays the train at each and every stop while a crew member walks down the platform to both open and close the door. If you don't open the door, but do open the car, then you get into the issue of people not paying attention to the instructions given and they end up standing by a door that will never open. They then get carried by their station. Or they wait until the last second to walk down to an open door, delaying the train.

A resturant with multiple rooms doesn't just open up all the rooms if they don't need to use them.

As for supervision, there is more than you know on the trains. The problem is that everyone screamed that Amtrak had too much management. So Amtrak cut management. Now all of the sudden there isn't enough management. Amtrak is in a can't win situation.

By the way, Amtrak has many ways to hold employees accountable. It does take time, but they are working to get rid of the bad employees. But it's far from as simple as we might like it to be because of labor and union rules. And frankly I'm not sure that we necessarily want to change all those labor laws and union contract rules. Perhaps some should be looked at and revised and/or eliminated. But I shudder to see what would happen if any company could just say, "I don't like your hair today, you're fired."


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