Amtrak Reno contact?

[tricia]

I don't care how they do it--phone, website, or passenger pigeon--but Amtrak really ought to have SOME adequate way of conveying station-related info to customers. What they've got now, without local staff being available to answer questions, is NOT adequate. For example, the notes on Amtrak's website that specific stations have "parking" are almost no help at all. Is long-term parking allowed? Does parking cost $50/day or is it free? Is the parking lot usually full?

 

[Bob Dylan]

True this Tricia!

 

[TiBike]

The real problem is that there's no adult supervision in the field. It's as much a problem in stations as it is on trains, judging by the inspector general's report on station management. Standardising procedures, such as parking or passenger boarding processes, would go a long way toward reducing the need to talk to someone in a station. There will always be things unique to a particular place, but when everything is left up to the people on the spot to arrange in way that suits themselves, there's no consistency and no way for Amtrak to reliably provide information to passengers from a central source.

 

[me_little_me]

Does the national reservations center even have the ability to call or chat the office to answer those station-specific inquiries? I'd assume so, but sometimes I'm not 100% sure.

Most of the station specific answers are on their computer. Like is there parking or taxis available. Even how to get from the station to nearby locations. If they need to call a station they can.

No it isn't. How many spots? Long term free or pay? Is it safe around the station at 4AM when the train is due in? I left my wallet in the restroom and I'm on the train that just left. Can you check for it before someone walks off with it?

Amtrak info on stations is half done and is slow to be updated. Agents should have input on the info online so it becomes more accurate and thus would reduce the number of calls locally.

Best might be that calls route to 800 number and they redirect to agent or they call agent and relay info to caller when they can't handle that question (ten of course they submit a website update request if appropriate).

 

[me_little_me]

I found this number on YELP. 775-329-8638. Do not know if it is accurate or if you will be transferred to the regular Amtrak number, but you are welcome to try and report your findings.

All I received when I called that number was a series of rings followed by an ear piercing fax tone.

Fax that number your question with your phone number and email address.

 

[Lonestar648]

Without a quality control procedure, the establishes a procedure for everything so everything is standardized. Then an employee knows an exception is an exception. Too many Amtrak Managers seldom see the field and when they do they do it with blinders on, not wanting to see real problems. How are unmanned stations maintained? Many do not belong to Amtrak, so there are many different groups who maintain the station, unlock/lock the doors, maybe even answer a question for a passenger if they are able. So getting information for all these locations and keeping it updated would be next to impossible. Many of the low volume stations, I expect the agent(s) know the end is near. Maybe it is a retirement pending, etc. so keeping information updated is not an incentive. Maybe if Amtrak was caring and supporting the Agents, they might be proactive, but I doubt anyone in corporate really cares if the station info is correct and updated.

 

[railiner]

Here is one number that I happen to recall from my day's working at the Denver station.....303-534-2812....what you will hear, is the Agent's recording of today's expected train arrival and departure times. I don't know if that number is published, but since it is for the public, I don't see why not....

We used to also answer another number for live conversation's with the public...I will not disclose that number, as it may now be considered 'private'....

 

[Hal]

I left my wallet in the restroom and I'm on the train that just left. Can you check for it before someone walks off with it?

On the train and left wallet in the restroom at a station, request assistance from the Conductor. They can contact the station.

 

[me_little_me]

I left my wallet in the restroom and I'm on the train that just left. Can you check for it before someone walks off with it?

On the train and left wallet in the restroom at a station, request assistance from the Conductor. They can contact the station.

The point is, it may be necessary to make contact with the station for any number of important reasons. And it may be the conductor won't have time right away to address the issue.

 

[Thirdrail7]

I left my wallet in the restroom and I'm on the train that just left. Can you check for it before someone walks off with it?

On the train and left wallet in the restroom at a station, request assistance from the Conductor. They can contact the station.

The point is, it may be necessary to make contact with the station for any number of important reasons. And it may be the conductor won't have time right away to address the issue.

I'm curious as to why the OP wants to contact the station directly. As previously noted, the 1-800 can reach the station and the stations themselves are the ones that send in the information for the website.

Additionally, the vast majority of the stations are unstaffed (with another round being floated) and there is no way to reach anyone other than the central call center. That was Tricia's point. They've never had the option of reaching the station or anyone else prior to the 1-800 or the website. They had to just show up when the train was scheduled to arrive.

Even if the conductor doesn't have the time, most passengers seem to have access to a phone, which can reach the call centers that Amtrak (and most companies) instituted. If necessary, they can even three way the station and other facilities. I've had calls routed through the 1-800 that ultimately ended up in the hands of the actual train dispatcher and yardmasters as passengers searched for their belongings.

 

[railiner]

I see having calls go to the 800 number just before and during the time a train is in the station, probably the busiest for the manned station. During other times, the agent could handle various phone calls in between having people come into the station to conduct business. It would be easy to have an Agent working by themselves have a bypass switch for the times they have people at the window. Most likely, Amtrak wants ALL calls routed to the 1-800 number so the computer can distribute accordingly. Plus they can track number of calls, from where etc. they also know how many people gave up waiting and how long they waited. Managers want data to count their beans and make numeric decisions. The fall out is the station agent. There is no one tracking how many bags were checked, loaded and unloaded each day. How many questions were answered each day, how many people walked up to the window each day. They only data is how many tickets were sold, there is no data on how many bought on line were after talking in detail with the local agent. Bottom line, numerically, there is nothing that justifies what the agent does each day, unless there are a lot of revenue transactions.

A call center phone system could pretty easily make a "local" phone number route into the call center system, place in a specific queue, and ring that local office first and forward over to national reservations after a predetermined period of time (or if the operators in that queue are busy or unable to be on the phone.) It's not as easy as just plugging a phone into a wall jack, but given that Amtrak likely has the call center software already it likely could be modified to add those additional queues.

When I worked at the Denver station in the '80's, they actually had something sort of like this....we were a prime choice for the "Ticket's By Mail" program, as we had to have several agents to handle the fairly large crowds at train time, but for only one or two trains on each shift...so there was a lot of 'idle time' mid day. We would work 'queues' of PNR's that desired their tickets mailed out to them (before the advent of self-ticketing), and we would print the tickets, and mail them out at the end of shift along with the invoice....kept our agent's very busy between trains....

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Here is one number that I happen to recall from my day's working at the Denver station.....303-534-2812....what you will hear, is the Agent's recording of today's expected train arrival and departure times. I don't know if that number is published, but since it is for the public, I don't see why not....

We used to also answer another number for live conversation's with the public...I will not disclose that number, as it may now be considered 'private'....

You worked at Amtrak Denver too?

 

[railiner]

Here is one number that I happen to recall from my day's working at the Denver station.....303-534-2812....what you will hear, is the Agent's recording of today's expected train arrival and departure times. I don't know if that number is published, but since it is for the public, I don't see why not....

We used to also answer another number for live conversation's with the public...I will not disclose that number, as it may now be considered 'private'....

You worked at Amtrak Denver too?

From 1979 until 1989....yeah, I know...like the Hank Snow song, "I've Been Everywhere"...