# An AMTRAK Trip From HELL



## PJRACER (Aug 20, 2011)

First off, I want to thank all the members who gave my wife and I all kinds of advice, your experiences, and thoughts prior to our trip. We had hoped for a happy experience but came up quite abit short of that. We boarded the #98 in Orlando for travel to Washington, DC then the #29 to Chicago and the #7 to Mpls/St Paul where we rented a car from Enterprise and stayed at the Days Inn closest to the AMTRAK station. The first leg to WAS was OK and the seats in the coach were about half of what my lounger is at home and as was suggested by some members...quite difficult to sleep much in although we probably did get three or so hours of sleep that night and arrived about the same 30 minutes or so late that we had departed from Orlando. We had intended to store our luggage and walkers but found nothing in the way of storage except the area suggested by a member...but decided against as the cost would have been prohibitive. I should mention we ate in the diner on the Silver Meteor which we both chose the half chicken over bed of rice with veggies, roll, salad and ice tea, which we found to be adequate. The reason we wanted to store luggage and our walkers, we figured we could walk unassisted out to the Trolley Tours stop and take a $35 each ride around D.C.	So that was out. Spent the layover period in and out of shops and the food court and alot of people watching. We then boarded our Capitol Limited train with lower level seats which was much more comfortable and closest to the rest rooms. Only 5 people in the 12 seat lower for the entire trip to Chicago. Very thankful that I had the tickets changed to lower level as my wife could not negotiate the steps more than a couple of times we went to the observation car and diner. I don't know who came up with the stair case idea, but they sure didn't take in consideration over-weight people (which we are not) or people with other ailments. And throw out the carry-on luggage guidelines as so many people come aboard with luggage the size of a huge foot locker. Back on the night on the Cap Limited, we did manage to sleep better than the previous night....maybe 4 hours in total. Into Chicago almost on time (15 minutes late) and spent a few days visiting our daughter/son-in-law and grandkids before boarding the Empire builder for the day trip to MSP. We again had lower seating to MSP and was mostly un-eventful except for the familiar scenery we lived in for many years in Wisconsin. Reached MSP an hour late and de-boarded where we spent the night at the Days Inn close to AMTRAK. In spite of what some said, we found the Days Inn to be quite nice as Days Inn's go, got a nights sleep and spent a little more of the next week visiting friends and relatives. I had been sneeking a peek all week at AMTRAK Status checking on the #8 MSP to CHI and it was consistently running 5, 6 and two days before we were to leave was 11 plus hours late into MSP and I though o'boy, here we go. Once again we stayed at the same Days Inn, after returning our rental car, same room matter of fact and the front desk did a check on train status for the #8 and it was some place in North Dakota running about 45 minutes late, so we went to bed thinking this next day was going to be our lucky day. Checked again in the morning by calling Julie and at the front desk and the 7:05 arrival was going to be at 8:00 am with departure at 8:45 so we are thinking it is our lucky day and we will make our connection to the #30 in Chicago just fine. We took the motel shuttle the four blocks to the station and the first thing we found out was the arrival was now set back to 8:30am ....but figured still within the time constraints. It did show up at 9:25am and departed at 10:10am and our lucky day was slowly sinking into the sunset. They managed to lose more time for stoppages along the way for freight trains as they always do and we of course did not arrive in CHI at 3:55pm as scheduled but at 7:10 pm and the #30 left at 6:20pm. The conductor got on the microphone and announced what would be happening with people holding connecting tickets for other trains and for those holding #30....just go to the #48 and that would get us to Indiana, Ohio and Washington,DC. Well we had a schedule book and it told us the #48 went to New York and Boston. I checked with the conductor personally and he rudely came back at me with "didn't I hear the announcements". I told him yes, but we were holding "roomette" tickets on the #30 and it was our first AMTRAK experience in a sleeper and we were then continuing on to Florida on the #97. He again rudely said "go to passenger services in the station". So thats where we went and bye the way....all the time boarding and deboarding trains, none of the conductors or their assistants went out of the way to help us off or on with two walkers and two bags and my wifes small carry on. We went into Union Station and I got into the long line at the Passenger Services office and finally got to the one clerk trying to handle the entire crowd of people, where she told me we would be put in a hotel and given money for meals and taxi fare's. As I am leaving this office a police officer (Amtrak) approached me and asked if I was "my name" and follow him over to where my wife was sitting. Here, he was a friend of my son-in-law in Chicago who is an officer with the bomb squad and swat team for Cook County and also gives bomb detection classes for Homeland Security and this nice officer was a student in one of my son-in-laws classes and they had become good friends. Our son-in-law had called him when they learned of our problems with missing train and all.....gave him a description of my wife and myself and this officer had already talked with my wife at the seat she was sitting in, so he said " follow me, lets go talk with your wife." At this point I knew nothing about what was up....then he introduced himself to me as he had already done with my wife.....found out what hotel we were going to and said "come on I'll walk you up to get you a cab". I said " I still have this voucher for cash for taxis and meals, got to get into that long line over at the ticket counter to get that". He said" let me take that voucher, just sit here and relax, I'll be right back". I went around the line and behind the counter got the cash and was back in a flash and we were off to the Canal Street exit with him to get a cab. What a nice guy he was, they just don't come any better. The cab took us to the Hyatt Regency at McCormick Place - - - got a good nights sleep after dinner and headed back to Union Station before noon the next day to see about ticket exchanges. At the ticket counter we inquired about the sleeper roomette we had booked and "sorry, all sleepers are booked up", "but we can get you coach seats on the #30". I then asked about lower coach seats and their answer was "sorry all lowers are sold out", so he made the reservation change for upper reserved coach seats, but come back after 4:15pm and there may be cancellations. Went back after 4:15 and of course the answer was all sold out, so they credited our charge card with the low ball which we paid price of $129 for the roomette. When we went to board the #30, the conductor greeted us on the platform, looked at our tickets, looked at our walkers, and bags piled on them and said "if you don't mind I think I will have you pick two seats out down here on the lower level". So much for the "sold out" crap we got from the ticket agt. on the computer. Matter of fact there was only two other people in the 12 seat lower. After the train got rolling, I asked the same conductor if he could check on either roomettes or handicapped room availability and price. He came back later.....had two roomettes empty to WAS and the price was $335. Now they just credited me for $129 price I had paid for the roomette we would have been in the day before. Go Figure. We got a few hours of sleep that night in the lower.....into WAS about an hour and half late and waited for our final leg on the #97 south to Orlando. This was the straw that broke the camels back. Of course a conductor and his assistant greeted us and checked our tickets and assigned us seat #59 and #60.....told us it was up the four or so stairs and too the left, last seats on right. No attempt to help either of us on with walkers and bags and then have to lug the stuff the complete length of the train to #59 and #60 seat which just happened to face a bulk head with no flop down table, no foot rest. We used my wifes suitcase for the leg rest/footrest and listened the the creaking and squeeking of the connection the our car and the car ahead and the door opening and closing the entire trip. If you want to catch all the swings and sways and ups and downs of a rail car just sit in the front row by the door. THIS WAS OUR CAP ON THE TRIP FROM HELL.	There was only one employee on this train that I came in contact with, that was even close to pleasant and he boarded in Savannah, I believe. All the others including the lady at the snack bar acted like they hated their jobs and hated people. Well, I've gone on long enough except to mention our arrival in Orlando was on par for Amtrak....one hour late. Amtrak needs to send all their employees to : Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people" classes.

There were several good points in our trip, but the bad points heavily outweighed the good. The food was adequate at best, the restrooms were the absolute pits, unless you got in right after a cleaning job was done, which was probably one time on each leg of our trip. My wife had to clean her way in each time and of course left it in much better condition than when she entered. They must start enforcing the suggested luggage limits for carry-on. Yes, I do know the situation with pulling over for freight trains which have priority. The Amtrak system has so many possibilities, but government has to fund it or get out of the business. SORRY FOLKS, but you can have your train riding, can't for the life of me understand why you are so fanatical about it. Of course most of you are sleeper people and I never got that experience........but o'boy, I'm getting my $129 back. Bye bye	PJRACER


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## pennyk (Aug 20, 2011)

I am sorry to hear about your disappointing experience. So far I have been lucky and have not missed a connection. I will be taking the Empire Builder connecting to the Capitol Limited and Silver Meteor in October and I hope I have better luck than you did.


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## Ryan (Aug 20, 2011)

That doesn't sound like the trip from hell to me. Sucks that you ended up having to go coach on the one leg that you had planned on having a roomette for, but outside of that it sounds like a perfectly normal trip.

Why didn't you get a red cap at any of the stations if you and your wife needed so much help?


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## MrEd (Aug 21, 2011)

thanks for the trip report.


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## Steve4031 (Aug 21, 2011)

I think for these people it was. Since we like trains and ride often, were familiar with these experiences and tolerate them. When people like this cmne in and post, this shows the work that Amtrak has to do to convert ombré travelers


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## amamba (Aug 21, 2011)

PJ, I am sorry to hear that you did not have a good trip. It sounds like the lower level coach seats worked well for you on on the Superliner trains so I am glad that you were able to take advantage of those on the Cap Limited and the Empire Builder.

Unfortunately the EB has been having some rough times this year, and with the trains being so full sleeper pax often get downgraded to Coach. However, I believe that in this situation you should have still received comp meals in the diner. At least amtrak put you up in a nice hotel overnight in CHI.

Sounds like train riding might not be good for you in the future because you need so much assistance with your luggage. I am also puzzled why you did not obtain redcap assistance in either CHI or WAS? I have had great service from redcaps


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## PJRACER (Aug 21, 2011)

amamba said:


> PJ, I am sorry to hear that you did not have a good trip. It sounds like the lower level coach seats worked well for you on on the Superliner trains so I am glad that you were able to take advantage of those on the Cap Limited and the Empire Builder.
> 
> Unfortunately the EB has been having some rough times this year, and with the trains being so full sleeper pax often get downgraded to Coach. However, I believe that in this situation you should have still received comp meals in the diner. At least amtrak put you up in a nice hotel overnight in CHI.
> 
> Sounds like train riding might not be good for you in the future because you need so much assistance with your luggage. I am also puzzled why you did not obtain redcap assistance in either CHI or WAS? I have had great service from redcaps


Actually we had "red cap service" by accident or ??? on our leg going to MSP from CHI>>>>>we were told to get in a certain line by information officer in Union Station....it was actually the line for the Hiawatha going to Milwaukee.....when the line got as far as the Metropolitan Lounge, a red cap was answering a question of a lady in front of us.....and when I heard Hiawatha....I asked him about Empire Builder, as the announcement had just been made for boarding the EB after Delay, Delay, Delay on the board.....he said to us, you should have boarded 20 minutes ago....he put us on his cart and loaded our baggage and beep, beeped his way to our car on the EB...loaded our luggage in the car and it was the best $10 tip I ever spent.


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## Bob Dylan (Aug 21, 2011)

I too am sorry your trip had those disappointments,  but agree that it hardly was a Trip from Hell! :unsure:

All of us that Travel extensively, by whatever means, have had Trips like this and Much Worse! I would hope that you would contact Customer Relations, you should be entitled to a nice Voucher for future Travel and an apology! In my experience the Amtrak Customer Relations people are very helpful and professional! Hope youll give Amtrak another shot, it's been a Very Tough year everywhere for all the various reasons mentioned here and in the media! Once Fall is here and things settle down, Im confident that yall will have a much more enjoyable experience on LD trains! And please ask for RedCaps when they are available! There are also agents in Some staffed stations that provide assistance like Redcaps, New Orleans comes to mind, so does Fort Worth, San Antonio and my home station in Austin! ^_^


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## Devil's Advocate (Aug 22, 2011)

I'm not sure you can call this the trip from hell if there were no plumbing failures, no overflowing effuse, no broken heaters, no defective air conditioners, no fires, no HEP failures, no bad ordered stock, no inoperative locomotives, no bomb scares, no forced disembarkation, and no derailments. Next time I'd suggest you save the _living hell_ metaphors for the really big problems. Breaking things up into more paragraphs wouldn't hurt either. Other than that thanks for the report; I was curious to hear what happened.


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## railbuck (Aug 23, 2011)

You do realize why the computer showed the roomettes and lower level seats sold out for #30 but they were available on the train, right? Those reservations were for the people connecting from that day's #8, which was also late.

:help:

Okay, without knowing your travel dates that's just a guess, but it's probably something very similar.


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## caravanman (Aug 23, 2011)

Hi,

Often, it seems to be the lack of information from Amtrak that causes much difficulty. Passengers do seem to be treated a bit like cattle, more than as paying guests. When things do go wrong, staff can tend to shrug and forget that elderly and disabled folk might need a bit more assistance to manage the disruption than others.

There are some good employees, but at the end of the day, many complaints are not about mechanical failures, they are about invisible staff, lack of courtesy, lack of knowledge, and lack of pride in the job...

Ed


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## rrdude (Aug 23, 2011)

I find it hard to believe that some posters "take issue" with PJRacer's description of his trip ("Trip From Hell") because in THEIR view, the trip was "not so bad".

Well, 'ya know what? It was a "Trip From Hell" * for PJRACER. * That's the ONLY opinion that counts. Only.

You can debate ad infinitum that there are much worse trips that you have had, or how it "could have been worse...."

But for _whatever reason_, the trip did not meet PJ's expectations. I have had numerous friends travel Amtrak, after hearing me wax enthusiastically for years.........Only to be sorely disappointed. (And this is with me continuously "lowering" their expectation level)

That's one of Amtrak's biggest deficiencies, not delivering what they advertise, AND, when problems arise, poor handling of said problem.

PJ and his companion had WALKERS for Christ's sake! It seems like the lack of service/assistance they received was below even Amtrak's low standards.


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## PJRACER (Aug 23, 2011)

railbuck said:


> You do realize why the computer showed the roomettes and lower level seats sold out for #30 but they were available on the train, right? Those reservations were for the people connecting from that day's #8, which was also late.
> 
> :help:
> 
> Okay, without knowing your travel dates that's just a guess, but it's probably something very similar.


 

I would like to think that to be correct....but know it was bit, as we were told to come back after 4:15pm, as they would be having a conference call at 4:00pm to decide which trains would be late and which would not......and the #8 of course was again coming in long after the connection time, so those holding tickets for sleepers were taken into consideration and we were still told they were sold out on sleepers and also sold out on lower level seating.	Neither was the case when we finally boarded the #30 east bound.


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## PJRACER (Aug 23, 2011)

I appreciate all the comments back from members like: rr dude, railbuck, jim hudson, caravanman, amamba, steve4031 and others. Yes, there are so many ways of improvement when it comes to passenger appeal with Amtrak. I really don't need to travel by train....we have a very nice motorhome that we enjoy. We thought that this planned long distance Amtrak would be enjoyable, and many parts of it were. We were aghast at the size and beauty of Washington Union Station and have always enjoyed Union Station in Chicago when using the commuter rail from our daughters home in Riverside, IL.	I personally enjoyed inter-acting with the people on the various trains and of course the day time scenery when we had a window. Of course on the #97 southbound being in seats #59 and #60 with no others available, our line of sight was a blank wall and the bulkhead.....which made for an "eery" feeling. The restrooms in the stations of Orl, Msp, Chi, and Was, were much cleaner than the trains themselves . Mr. Texas Sunset......after seeing your remarks to my trip reports and then looking at alot of your posts on this discussion forum, you must be a miserable human being heading into the sunset. I may not be fully aware of how to construct paragraphs, but my attitude towards life is way more upbeat than what I detect of yours.	I appreciate the remarks from the lady from Orlando (can't recall her forum name), and her positive outlook on life.	I will be leaving this forum soon......for the most part it has been a delight getting all the answers we needed in our pre-trip, but once again I am 100% positive, we will not be an AMTRAK passenger again and will not be recommending it to our many friends who are just waiting to hear about our trip. THANKS EVERYBODY !!!!! PJRACER and spouse.


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## Devil's Advocate (Aug 23, 2011)

PJRACER said:


> Mr. Texas Sunset......after seeing your remarks to my trip reports and then looking at alot of your posts on this discussion forum, you must be a miserable human being heading into the sunset. I may not be fully aware of how to construct paragraphs, but my attitude towards life is way more upbeat than what I detect of yours.


Yeah, nothing says "upbeat" like a story about the _Trip from HELL_. :lol:


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## Ryan (Aug 23, 2011)

rrdude said:


> I find it hard to believe that some posters "take issue" with PJRacer's description of his trip ("Trip From Hell") because in THEIR view, the trip was "not so bad".


Maybe you can point out the hellish parts of the trip for me, then?

Because seriously, I just reread the OP slowly and carefully, don't see anything that remotely matches that description.

But at least I'm not a miserable human being like TX Sunset.


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## MrFSS (Aug 23, 2011)

Easy folks - no need to call people names. Lets keep it civil.


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## henryj (Aug 23, 2011)

A trip from 'Hell' is when the ac fails out in the desert in August. :lol:


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## OlympianHiawatha (Aug 23, 2011)

Some people don't travel as well as others. I actually know of folks who declared a vacation was ruined because they saw an ant in the hotel room, a speck of dirt somewhere or heard a noise that wasn't expected.


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## albertaborn (Aug 23, 2011)

C'mon people - I'm new to the forum but I'm disappointed to read all the negative comments about the OP's viewpoint being incorrect in calling it a trip from hell. I totally agree with RRdue - to OP, that's what it was! Some of you are to sensitive to any criticism of Amtrak and intolerant of anyoner who criticizes or makes a negative comment. Sure, YOU may have had worse experiences and love to rant about them, but don't put down someone who voices their honest opinion of their train experience. Almost makes me want to NOT post my trip report!


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## JayPea (Aug 23, 2011)

I agree with RRdude also. It may not have been a trip from hell for anyone else had we been in the same situation, but it's PJ's opinion that counts, not ours. If it was, as he states, the trip from hell for him, then it was a trip from hell. I myself am 51, ambulatory, and can get by just fine lugging my suitcases onto the train. But for someone else who can't do those things so well, it must not have been that fun an experience.


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## TN Tin Man (Aug 23, 2011)

I think PJRACER has done this forum a great service with this straight forward trip report.

Along with albertaborn's trip report "Home after my first train trip" they give a first time coach rider a good example of what can happen.

Many of us don't travel coach anymore for various reasons and I think PJRACER pointed out a few of these.

Many people are electing to use rail for the first time and coach is usually thier first expierence.

As negative as PJRACERS report is, I think all first time coach riders should read it, along with albertaborn's, they will help prepare for a coach trip.


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## amamba (Aug 23, 2011)

The part that makes me really upset for PJRACER is that he was forcibly downgraded to coach on the Cap, and then when sleepers were available the conductor had them priced higher than PJ's original reservation. That situation shouldn't have happened. PJ, I encourage you to call customer relations if you would like a voucher for your inconvenience.


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## Ryan (Aug 23, 2011)

I really wonder how that happened. Perhaps they were available for only a part of the route, and that's why the agent in CHI said "sold out"? Still, if that were the case a "I can't put you in a room the whole way, but I can put you in one from CLE-WAS" (for example) would be much better.

The only thing that I can think of that would make it acceptable is that there was a no-show down the line. At that point the conductor is probably unaware of PJRACER's situation and just quotes the going rate. (which at that point should be less than the roomette charge that he had paid.


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## The Commissioner (Aug 27, 2011)

I agree with those who say the OP's level of expectation for Amtrak long distance service was too high. My personal definition of an Amtrak 'trip from hell' is when a passenger is hauled away from the train in an ambulance due to injuries suffered in a derailment. Anything less than that should be considered part of the game. For those of us who traveled extensively by rail in the pre-Amtrak era, long distrance rail service nowadays is a test of frustration tolerance.


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## GG-1 (Aug 27, 2011)

Actually a trip *from* hell is a good thing, that means things are getting better. :giggle:

Aloha


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## CNW (Aug 27, 2011)

I agree that if the OP felt it was a trip from hell from his stand point who are we to say otherwise. It was interesting to hear his comments. I have told myself that when I can no longer negotiate the steps on the train I will give it up. That is a ways off. You really can't depend on anyone helping you and it just creates frustration when you expect it. I am booked on the CZ on Tuesday so wish me luck on that.....


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