When we travel, we always have several paper copies of our e-tickets scattered among our carry-on bags. We also have paper copies of the timetables of the trains we will be on. Paper copies can be referred to at any time and aren’t subject to being lost in cyber space should some event occur that wipes out all the information contained in our laptop or makes it otherwise unavailable.
I'm fine with timetables not being made available in printed form, but still can't get over them not being available for printing in .pdf. The prior format was great, with a tremendous amount of useful information presented in an efficient, easy to digest manner.
Nice easy to read maps.
I keep old 2015 and 2016 paper timetables handy too. They can still tell me a lot and are light years easier to use than any of the tech nonsense. I'd happily pay for a current paper timetable if it's money that Amtrak's concerned about, but Amtrak isn't exactly entrepreneurial.
I prefer the pdf timetables, but the statement that one has to start a dummy reservation being the "only way to see if you can get from point A to point B" is flatly incorrect. While I do not particularly like them, the dynamically generated timetables on the "Schedules" tab of Amtrak.com will show you the schedules and connections between any two points. It uses and displays precisely the same data as the reservations pages, including connections loaded into the system. A "potential rider" does have to go to Amtrak.com, but they'd have had to do that when the pdfs were available, too.
So, I'd point out that the UK rail companies can all kick out timetables. Some of those are massive. For that matter, so can MARC, the LIRR, and so on.
Can you tell when her train stops at the station with a timetable? I think you're gonna need the tracking tool for that use case.
You appear to be right, but when I tried to use that function just now, it didn't work. I would also note that it requires you to put in a date --or a range of dates -- for travel, which is sensible, I suppose. But perhaps a bit off-putting to a potential customer who is just trying to get a general look at the service.
Just checked it, it works for me if a bit slow.
"1000" series train numbers are used for limited duration schedule changes, also for Spring Forward/Fall Back time change day impacts.
I commend to you https://juckins.net/ . This fellow has put in a lot of time creating timetables for all the routes and updating them as he can/ An Herculean task to be sure, and worthy of your support. The site also has maps and other interesting stuff.
I guess one example of where this would be useful is the New Haven to Springfield corridor where Amtrak only shows their trains and not the CTRail trains covering the same territory. CTRail schedules show the Amtrak shuttles and Valley Flyers but not 55 and 56.
