# Chicago Union Station layover



## OTownDog (Mar 12, 2010)

If the stars align perfectly and all trains are on time, I will have approximately 5 hours between trains in CHI. Is there anything to do, or sights to see in the vicinity of the train station, or close enough that I can get back before the CZ departs at 2PM?

I do NOT travel light, so I will have a ginormous suitcase or two, which will complicate things unless Amtrak has a secure holding area for connecting train luggage, Any ideas, suggestions, or tips are greatly appreciated.

PS - I'm sure this has been discussed on the Forums nefore, I was unable to find a thread specific to CHI station. Thanks!

Jeff


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## AAARGH! (Mar 12, 2010)

OTownDog said:


> If the stars align perfectly and all trains are on time, I will have approximately 5 hours between trains in CHI. Is there anything to do, or sights to see in the vicinity of the train station, or close enough that I can get back before the CZ departs at 2PM?
> I do NOT travel light, so I will have a ginormous suitcase or two, which will complicate things unless Amtrak has a secure holding area for connecting train luggage, Any ideas, suggestions, or tips are greatly appreciated.
> 
> PS - I'm sure this has been discussed on the Forums nefore, I was unable to find a thread specific to CHI station. Thanks!
> ...


If you are in a sleeper (roomette or bedroom), you can leave your baggage at the Metropolitan lounge for free (though you should tip the red cap).

The Willis Tower (Sears Tower) is very close.

Depending on the timing and time of year, a river tour may be lots of fun.

If food is what you crave, Giordonos (sp?) Pizza if a train fan favorite. Original Chicago deep-dish pizza.

MANY MANY MANY other attractions (fantastic museums, parks, shopping, etc...) are just a short cab ride away if not within walking distance.

What types of attractions are you looking for?


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## caravanman (Mar 12, 2010)

Hi,

There are luggage lockers in the waiting area at Chicago. Or, if you have a sleeper ticket, you may leave your luggage in the metropolitan lounge. The Sears (now called Willis) tower is just nearby if you fancy that. There is a bus service (151?) from outside the station that will take you to the Michigan Avenue (lakefront) millenium park, or another to Navy Pier. Michigan Avenue is interesting to walk, from the Bean sculpture past the gothic Chicago Tribune building down to the Watertowers. You can buy a bus pass for $6. There is also a water taxi from near the Trib building back towards Union Station, together with waterborne sightseeing tours from the same spot. Near the Trib building also is the world famous Billy Goat tavern and grill: BILLY GOAT TAVERN AND GRILL

Ed 

PS I am not sure, but if it is possible for you to CHECK your luggage onto the first train, it might be transfered automaticaly in Chicago to the Zephyr?


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## Acela150 (Mar 12, 2010)

Sorry but what train are you coming into Chicago on?

Steve


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## jmbgeg (Mar 12, 2010)

OTownDog said:


> If the stars align perfectly and all trains are on time, I will have approximately 5 hours between trains in CHI. Is there anything to do, or sights to see in the vicinity of the train station, or close enough that I can get back before the CZ departs at 2PM?
> I do NOT travel light, so I will have a ginormous suitcase or two, which will complicate things unless Amtrak has a secure holding area for connecting train luggage, Any ideas, suggestions, or tips are greatly appreciated.
> 
> PS - I'm sure this has been discussed on the Forums nefore, I was unable to find a thread specific to CHI station. Thanks!
> ...


I have the same dilema for a trip from Cleveland on the CL with a layover in CHI before an EB departure. I know Chicago well, but I would rather have an afternoon to blow than a morning and early afternoon.


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## OTownDog (Mar 15, 2010)

Acela150 said:


> Sorry but what train are you coming into Chicago on?
> Steve



I'm arriving from WAS on the Capitol Limited, estimated arrival 8:45AM. I do have a Roomette booked on the CZ, scheduled to depart at 2PM. The date will be August 28 which is a Saturday. I'm interested in seeing the highlights.

That being said, I have an even longer layover in WAS, arriving at 7:46AM on the Silver Meteor from Orlando, and departing on the Capitol Limited at 4:05PM (Roomette accom.), on Friday August 27.

Thanks again!


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## domefoamer (Mar 15, 2010)

I'm planning a trip with a similar layover between SW Airlines (from Denver) and an evening departure on the Cardinal. So I appreciate advice on this question, too. I'll offer an interesting website I just found on Chicago landmarks: http://egov.cityofchicago.org/Landmarks


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## OTownDog (Mar 16, 2010)

domefoamer said:


> I'm planning a trip with a similar layover between SW Airlines (from Denver) and an evening departure on the Cardinal. So I appreciate advice on this question, too. I'll offer an interesting website I just found on Chicago landmarks: http://egov.cityofchicago.org/Landmarks


Thanks for the link dome!


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## Acela150 (Mar 16, 2010)

As far as your layover at WAS. I would go to the Capitol Building or any other of the attractions in DC and arrive at the Station around 245 300pm. Since you have a roomette go to Clubacela! Free drinks, snacks, and priority boarding. Just listen for announcements. When you arrive at CHI the Cap has a history of being about an hour and a half late but goto the Metropolitan Lounge and leave your bags there. Same in DC. The attendant will ask for your ticket and will ask if you are leaving at any point and will give you a pass so when you return you just "flash" it so the attendant(s) see it.

Steve


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## Rail Freak (Mar 16, 2010)

Last September, I had the SM-CAPITOL layover in WAS . I took the Old Town Trolley ( sales desk just inside the front doors ) for a $35 tour around the city. Beautiful day and a very good "Time Killer"!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/railfreak/set...57607284744380/

RF


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## OTownDog (Mar 17, 2010)

Thanks, everyone, for the advice!


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## Zevzec (Mar 17, 2010)

OTownDog said:


> If the stars align perfectly and all trains are on time, I will have approximately 5 hours between trains in CHI. Is there anything to do, or sights to see in the vicinity of the train station, or close enough that I can get back before the CZ departs at 2PM?
> I do NOT travel light, so I will have a ginormous suitcase or two, which will complicate things unless Amtrak has a secure holding area for connecting train luggage, Any ideas, suggestions, or tips are greatly appreciated.
> 
> PS - I'm sure this has been discussed on the Forums nefore, I was unable to find a thread specific to CHI station. Thanks!
> ...


Try the Art Institute of Chicago. You can eat there too.


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## AAARGH! (Mar 18, 2010)

Acela150 said:


> As far as your layover at WAS. I would go to the Capitol Building or any other of the attractions in DC and arrive at the Station around 245 300pm. Since you have a roomette go to Clubacela! Free drinks, snacks, and priority boarding. Just listen for announcements. When you arrive at CHI the Cap has a history of being about an hour and a half late but goto the Metropolitan Lounge and leave your bags there. Same in DC. The attendant will ask for your ticket and will ask if you are leaving at any point and will give you a pass so when you return you just "flash" it so the attendant(s) see it.
> Steve


For WAS, I also suggest the tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (where they print the paper money). It's very near a Metro stop (near the Washington Monument). It's interesting to see a room with 16 palettes of uncut $100 bills. IIRC, Each palette had $32 million worth of bills, so the room had $512,000,000 in it. No samples given though. Darn.

Of course there is that small museum called the Smithsonian!


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## Ringman (Mar 18, 2010)

Zevzec said:


> OTownDog said:
> 
> 
> > If the stars align perfectly and all trains are on time, I will have approximately 5 hours between trains in CHI. Is there anything to do, or sights to see in the vicinity of the train station, or close enough that I can get back before the CZ departs at 2PM?
> ...



It's spring!! take a walk around the park!- you can mug at the webcam by the Art Institute-- grab a bite--


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## delvyrails (Mar 20, 2010)

Now that this topic seems to be winding down, I'll ask what to me seems to be an obvious question: why does Amtrak schedule such long layovers in Chicago? (Longest layovers are 7:10 from CL to CZ and 7:08 from TE to LSL.) It seems that recent late arrivals have been much less extreme than before.

It appears to me that Amtrak is driving away the non-tourist, through-Chicago business, which would generate more revenue than it would cost occasionally to deal with very late arrivals.

At their hubs, transit operators use a "timed transfer" of about ten minutes. Why not a standard timed transfer for Amtrak at Chicago of about three hours, with chronically late arrivals assigned a somewhat earlier arrival?


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## RRrich (Mar 20, 2010)

A multi-hour layover in CHI allows me to sit in the Metro Lounge and get my Internet fix prior to boarding


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## AlanB (Mar 20, 2010)

delvyrails said:


> Now that this topic seems to be winding down, I'll ask what to me seems to be an obvious question: why does Amtrak schedule such long layovers in Chicago? (Longest layovers are 7:10 from CL to CZ and 7:08 from TE to LSL.) It seems that recent late arrivals have been much less extreme than before.
> It appears to me that Amtrak is driving away the non-tourist, through-Chicago business, which would generate more revenue than it would cost occasionally to deal with very late arrivals.
> 
> At their hubs, transit operators use a "timed transfer" of about ten minutes. Why not a standard timed transfer for Amtrak at Chicago of about three hours, with chronically late arrivals assigned a somewhat earlier arrival?


It's not that Amtrak is deliberately scheduling such long layovers to deal with late trains. It's far more complicated than that. And there are some connections that are less than 3 hours, like the Builder to the Cardinal.

Factors that affect how long a layover might be are; how many trains can Amtrak handle arriving & departing at the same time in Chicago, schedules of the various trains at major cities along the way and the other end point, cleaning the inbound train in time for its outbound departure, and of course what windows was Amtrak able to get from the freight hosts.


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## hello (Mar 20, 2010)

I have a question reagarding one of the OP's original questions: isn't it possible to check your luggage all the way through? We will be catching the Lake Shore Limited from Boston, connecting to the Empire Builder to Portland, connecting to the Cascades to Eugene ... will we need to collect our luggage at any point? I know that not all stations have checked luggage .... just hoping that we won't need to collect, and re-check in our luggage. I know that when we caught the CS to Portland from San Francisco, to connect to the EB we did not need to collect our luggage in Portland ... of course, this was when they connected in Portland ... I know they no longer have a same day connection there ... we did love the Metropolitan Lounge, though!!


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## lthanlon (Mar 20, 2010)

Here's my suggestion:

Check your bags and then walk up the main staircase in Union Station's Great Hall. You'll find yourself on South Canal Street. Turn left and walk north about a half block until you reach Adams Street, cross Adams (there's a CVS drugstore on the corner) and then turn right and cross Canal. Walk east until you reach the river, then turn left and walk along the elevated riverfront for about two blocks until you come to 2 North Riverside Plaza. It's a tall 1930s-era building with a CVS on the ground floor. Just past the CVS is the entrance to Chicago Water Taxi; descend the stairs to the river level to board the boat.

For a $2 fare, ride the Water Taxi to Michigan Avenue. Along the way, you'll pass a number of recognizable buildings including the Merchandise Mart and Marina City before the boat docks between the Trump Tower and the Wrigley Building right next to the North Michigan Avenue Bridge. Walk up the stairs and turn right and you'll find yourself on Lower North Michigan. A block north is Billy Goat Tavern. Climb the stairs and you'll find yourself on upper North Michigan Avenue. Depending on how much time you have, you can stroll along North Michigan and do some shopping or have an early lunch in a restaurant.

To return, catch the Water Taxi again at Michigan Avenue -- or just take a regular taxi back.

Chicago Water Taxi information.


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## jmbgeg (Mar 20, 2010)

lthanlon said:


> Here's my suggestion:
> Check your bags and then walk up the main staircase in Union Station's Great Hall. You'll find yourself on South Canal Street. Turn left and walk north about a half block until you reach Adams Street, cross Adams (there's a CVS drugstore on the corner) and then turn right and cross Canal. Walk east until you reach the river, then turn left and walk along the elevated riverfront for about two blocks until you come to 2 North Riverside Plaza. It's a tall 1930s-era building with a CVS on the ground floor. Just past the CVS is the entrance to Chicago Water Taxi; descend the stairs to the river level to board the boat.
> 
> For a $2 fare, ride the Water Taxi to Michigan Avenue. Along the way, you'll pass a number of recognizable buildings including the Merchandise Mart and Marina City before the boat docks between the Trump Tower and the Wrigley Building right next to the North Michigan Avenue Bridge. Walk up the stairs and turn right and you'll find yourself on Lower North Michigan. A block north is Billy Goat Tavern. Climb the stairs and you'll find yourself on upper North Michigan Avenue. Depending on how much time you have, you can stroll along North Michigan and do some shopping or have an early lunch in a restaurant.
> ...



Great ideas on the water taxi and the Goat. The Billy Goat is of legend (Saturday Night Live fame).



Other fun establishments in the area are the House of Blues (Sunday gospel brunch) http://www.houseofblues.com/venues/clubvenues/chicago/

and Dick's Last Resort. http://www.dickslastresort.com/domains/chicago/


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## AlanB (Mar 21, 2010)

hello said:


> I have a question reagarding one of the OP's original questions: isn't it possible to check your luggage all the way through? We will be catching the Lake Shore Limited from Boston, connecting to the Empire Builder to Portland, connecting to the Cascades to Eugene ... will we need to collect our luggage at any point? I know that not all stations have checked luggage .... just hoping that we won't need to collect, and re-check in our luggage. I know that when we caught the CS to Portland from San Francisco, to connect to the EB we did not need to collect our luggage in Portland ... of course, this was when they connected in Portland ... I know they no longer have a same day connection there ... we did love the Metropolitan Lounge, though!!


Since the OP didn't tell us what station he's leaving from, much less what station he's traveling to, we can't really know if it is possible for him to chack his bags through. If both stations do have checked bags, then yes he could check them through.

As for your question/trip, as long as you make sure to tell the redcap in Boston when you check your bags and show them your tickets to Eugene, your bags will be handled by Amtrak all the way. You won't need to pick them up at any point and recheck them. But again, make sure that you show all tickets and specify that you're traveling to Eugene. If you only show the first ticket to Chicago, then the Redcap might only check your bags to Chicago. They should put EUG tags on all of your bags.

As for the Coast Starlight to the Empire Builder, that connection was broken for a few years and they were bussing people instead. But that connection has now been restored back to Portland, unless there is a problem.


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## jmbgeg (Mar 21, 2010)

AlanB said:


> hello said:
> 
> 
> > I have a question reagarding one of the OP's original questions: isn't it possible to check your luggage all the way through? We will be catching the Lake Shore Limited from Boston, connecting to the Empire Builder to Portland, connecting to the Cascades to Eugene ... will we need to collect our luggage at any point? I know that not all stations have checked luggage .... just hoping that we won't need to collect, and re-check in our luggage. I know that when we caught the CS to Portland from San Francisco, to connect to the EB we did not need to collect our luggage in Portland ... of course, this was when they connected in Portland ... I know they no longer have a same day connection there ... we did love the Metropolitan Lounge, though!!
> ...


I was so glad when the Klamath Falls-Pasco bus bridge from the Coast Starlight to the Empire Builder ended. Since then, I have never had any problems with my Portland connection eastbound. Watching the CS' on time performance, I know that there have been some infrequent days in has missed the EB connection. Someone on the board said that when that is predicted, they proactively bus passengers connecting using the old bus bridge.


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## delvyrails (Mar 21, 2010)

AlanB said:


> delvyrails said:
> 
> 
> > Now that this topic seems to be winding down, I'll ask what to me seems to be an obvious question: why does Amtrak schedule such long layovers in Chicago? (Longest layovers are 7:10 from CL to CZ and 7:08 from TE to LSL.) It seems that recent late arrivals have been much less extreme than before.
> ...


Nobody suggested that Amtrak is scheduling trains deliberately for long and inconvenient Chicago connections, but they have had about four decades to bring convenience to the mess of arrivals and protracted departures. During this period, freight carriers have modified their schedules many times, giving Amtrak many opportunities.

If Amtrak had a plan for optimized connections from the first, they could have insisted on incremental improvements for their schedules as those carriers changed their own operations.

Successful businesses learn how to adjust their operations to suit the customers' needs, and they get more customers as a result.


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## jmbgeg (Mar 21, 2010)

delvyrails said:


> AlanB said:
> 
> 
> > delvyrails said:
> ...


For discussion's sake, let's assume that the goal was to have all long distance trains that connect west bound in Chicago with the Empire Builder, California Zephyr and Southwest Chief arrive no more than two hours from their departure, and that the EB, CZ and SWC arrive in Chicago to connect with the CL, LSL and all other CHI departing LD trains within two hours of their departure. It would seem to me that would be a scheduling, capacity and logistical disconnect (though passengers would love the shorter connections). Am I missing something?


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## hello (Mar 21, 2010)

Thank you, Alan, what a great relief!


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## delvyrails (Mar 21, 2010)

jmbgeg said:


> delvyrails said:
> 
> 
> > AlanB said:
> ...


Actually, it's an easy case, if compared to what happens daily now at Penn Station, New York and what formerly happened locally at Suburban Station and old Reading Terminal. At CUS, four westbound Eastern/Southern trains (LSL, CL, Card, and C/NO) would arrive on four parallel station tracks, be unloaded, and be pulled to the yards. Later, four westbound Western trains (EB, CZ, SWC, and TE) would be brought in to the same four tracks to load and depart.

Then at a different time (probably much later) four eastbound Western trains would arrive, be pulled, and four eastbound Eastern trains would be placed and depart in similar fashion.

If the separate westbound and eastbound pulses occur outside the commuter peaks, that would simplify the operational issues. Between the morning and afternoon peaks, empty track space opens up as commuter trains are removed to their separate yards for maintenance. Four tracks at Chicago Union Station would be needed for the four LD trains during each of those pulses. One of those tracks would (as now) be the through track used for moving the Empire Builder's consists between the north side of the station and the yard which is located south of Union Station.

The amount of time each LD consist would stand in the station (especially for arriving trains) should be much less than a hour, plenty of time to be vacated for the departing train to replace it. A fifth track might be kept available in case of late arrivals.

There would seem to be two options for scheduling the westbound and eastbound pulses: (1) westbound, within the 10am-noon range and eastbound, within the 1pm to 3pm range or (2) midday for the westbound pulse and after the afternoon commuter peak (about 6pm and later) for the eastbound pulse.

Running most of the eight trains a bit later would have some advantages: a more reliable connection from the CS to EB at Portland, more convenient eastbound station times at Salt Lake City and Lincoln, and later departures (after work for most people) at both the East and West Coast terminals.

People hate transfers, especially long ones. I think there would be many more Amtrak customers if the trains at least connected promptly with each other. Later, through cars and eventually through trains would attract even more.


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## MikefromCrete (Mar 21, 2010)

C'mon guys. Chicago's a great place to kill a couple hours between trains. Get out, walk around, visit the Sears (Willis) Tower, have a pizza or visit Lou Mitchell's, take one of those double deck bus tours, ride a boat on the Chicago River to Michigan Avenue. You'll be a better person for it. You're traveling by long distance train. Time has no meaning.

Of course, since I live in the Chicago area, I never have to change trains, except to and from Metra, of course.


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## Ryan (Mar 21, 2010)

MikefromCrete said:


> You're traveling by long distance train. Time has no meaning.


My thoughts exactly. I'm taking 4 days to get from one coast to another, what's another couple of hours in Chicago? For me, a few more hours to see the sights.


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## GG-1 (Mar 21, 2010)

Ryan said:


> MikefromCrete said:
> 
> 
> > You're traveling by long distance train. Time has no meaning.
> ...


Aloha

I agree with the above sentiments, but additionally if one did desire it shorten the Chicago connection times what would you do to the times these trains make other stops and connections?


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## delvyrails (Mar 22, 2010)

Ryan said:


> MikefromCrete said:
> 
> 
> > You're traveling by long distance train. Time has no meaning.
> ...


Amtrak is primarily for railfans?

These sentiments are not what I hear from non-railfan long-distance drivers. They just want to get there reasonably quickly. They're at least 95% of non-flyers. Let's get some of them on the trains.


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## rrdude (Mar 22, 2010)

Ryan said:


> MikefromCrete said:
> 
> 
> > You're traveling by long distance train. Time has no meaning.
> ...


And get off the "Tin Can" for a few hours too.

No matter how much I like train travel, I need to get out every so often, or I go stir crazy.

I think if they had open observation cars, it would lessen that urge to "de-train".


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## Ryan (Mar 22, 2010)

delvyrails said:


> Ryan said:
> 
> 
> > MikefromCrete said:
> ...


I never said that Amtrak was primarily for railfans. Like Mike said, if you're really worried about saving 3 hours on a 3 day trip, you're driving or flying. Decreasing connection times is far, far lower in importance to getting the trains to run faster overall - that will benefit everyone, not just the subset of people that have to transfer in CHI.


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## delvyrails (Mar 23, 2010)

Ryan said:


> delvyrails said:
> 
> 
> > Ryan said:
> ...


Total end-to-end travel time does matter for people contemplating any mode of transportation. Make a three-day trip into a two-and-a-half-day trip, and you'll see more through-Chicago Amtrak passengers. Possible example: leave New York after dinner Friday afternoon, arrive LA Monday morning at breakfast time. A friend of mine did it before Amtrak, proceeding from one job assignment to the next.

The East Coast-West Coast travel markets plus the intermediate ones are far larger in total than the to-Chicago travel markets. Amtrak's share of U.S. travel may be small, but it varies only a little over different trip lengths compared to planes and cars.

Of all our American institutions, I think Amtrak is the one capable of the most improvement!


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## AlanB (Mar 23, 2010)

delvyrails said:


> jmbgeg said:
> 
> 
> > delvyrails said:
> ...


Let's forget for a moment some of the other issues that I've already raised and just talk about the idea of having all the train leave at the same time. It's simply not possible. Period.

Amtrak doesn't have the space, both in terms of track space and in terms of waiting area space. Already on most days the waiting rooms are already packed, to say nothing of the Metropolitan Lounge. I'll leave out for the moment the Empire Builder since it leaves from the north side, although it still does impact the lounge.

Currently Eagle departs at 1:45 PM, the Zephyr departs at 2:00 PM, and the Chief at 3:15. If Amtrak were to move the Cheif up to 2:00 PM, they couldn't fit everyone in the waiting room. As it is now it's standing room only by the time the Eagle departs, and that's with many of the Chief's passengers not yet in the waiting room at that hour. They certainly couldn't fit everyone into the Metro Lounge, especially when adding the Builder's pax which departs at 2:15 PM.

Regarding tracks, Amtrak only uses the highest numbered tracks, and then only like 5 or 6 tracks. Commuter ops use the rest all day long. Not to mention that the lower track numbers aren't behind a secured area. The inbound Eagle arrives in the midst of all those departures at 1:52 PM and pretty much maxes out the tracks that Amtrak has available to them.


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## Ryan (Mar 23, 2010)

delvyrails said:


> Ryan said:
> 
> 
> > I never said that Amtrak was primarily for railfans. Like Mike said, if you're really worried about saving 3 hours on a 3 day trip, you're driving or flying. Decreasing connection times is far, far lower in importance to getting the trains to run faster overall - that will benefit everyone, not just the subset of people that have to transfer in CHI.
> ...


We're in violent agreement on the bolded part.

Taking the opposite tack from Alan, assuming that the tracks and waiting space were magically available, what makes more sense for Amtrak. Spend money to shorten connection times, which only increases the speed for some passengers, or increase average train speeds, decreasing that time for everyone. Put another way, to take that 3 day trip and make it a 2.5 day trip you can either shorten the layover by 12 hours (not possible) or slightly increase the average speed over the entire journey.


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## delvyrails (Mar 24, 2010)

Being an engineer by training, I tend to think of Amtrak improvement in terms of getting the biggest improvements for the buck. To pick the best or better alternative for quickening travel, one must consider dollar comparisons of some kind.

Put it this way. Which costs less: some money for planning the close Chicago transfers and negotiating with the host carriers to change some Amtrak schedules, or the total construction cost for reducing travel time by several hours on each of the routes invoved that radiate from Chicago?

And which is likely to produce results in the shorter time?

I seem to recall similar, earlier arguments in the Northeast against running more trains through Penn Station, New York; but doing so proved successful.

Let's have close Chicago connections now, run-throughs later when practical.


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## Ryan (Mar 24, 2010)

Then you've got to fall back on Alan's reasoning - the massive amount of money required to expand CHI to have the required number of tracks would likely be better spent elsewhere.


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## ThayerATM (Mar 24, 2010)

AlanB said:


> hello said:
> 
> 
> > I have a question reagarding one of the OP's original questions: isn't it possible to check your luggage all the way through? We will be catching the Lake Shore Limited from Boston, connecting to the Empire Builder to Portland, connecting to the Cascades to Eugene ... will we need to collect our luggage at any point? I know that not all stations have checked luggage .... just hoping that we won't need to collect, and re-check in our luggage. I know that when we caught the CS to Portland from San Francisco, to connect to the EB we did not need to collect our luggage in Portland ... of course, this was when they connected in Portland ... I know they no longer have a same day connection there ... we did love the Metropolitan Lounge, though!!
> ...


Alan brings up a *very* important point here. Show the agent your tickets through to where you want to pick up your checked luggage.

We had tickets from Emeryville (EMY) to Chicago (CHI) on the Zephyr, then tickets on home to Rochester (ROC) on the Lake Shore Limited.

When I checked our luggage in EMY the agent said: "Gimmie your tickets." :angry: I had my tickets from EMY to CHI handy, and handed them to the agent. In a flash I was handed claim checks that had CHI on them. I'm glad that I'd had some coffee and was paying attention. When I told him that I wanted to check the bags all the way to ROC he huffed and asked me why I didn't show him *those* tickets in the first place. I could tell that he was mightly unhappy with having to redo all the tagging, and he did it with a great display of "attitude."

Had I not been paying attention, we would have gone right through from EMY to CHI to ROC, and our luggage would have been hanging out in CHI for a few days before it finally caught up with us in ROC.


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## delvyrails (Mar 24, 2010)

Ryan said:


> Then you've got to fall back on Alan's reasoning - the massive amount of money required to expand CHI to have the required number of tracks would likely be better spent elsewhere.


The south side of Chicago Union Station has 14 main station tracks. Between the peak commuting periods, Metra's commuter trains are taken out to the yards for maintenance. They're not in the station. Only a few off-peak trains per hour run in and out of the station, requiring only a few tracks. That's when the four long distance Amtrak trains would in series arrive and depart.

Plenty of spare track space exists in off-peak periods. No expansion is needed.


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## Ryan (Mar 24, 2010)

Alan disagrees, and I've never gone wrong trusting his knowledge. Plus, you're still ignoring the massive expansion to the lounge and waiting areas that he spoke of.


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## delvyrails (Mar 25, 2010)

Ryan said:


> Alan disagrees, and I've never gone wrong trusting his knowledge. Plus, you're still ignoring the massive expansion to the lounge and waiting areas that he spoke of.


Whatever Alan says, I wouldn't regard more passengers (and revenue) for Amtrak as any real kind of problem  .


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