Amtrak Timetables

[Eric in East County]

I'm obsessed with looking at a simple concise summary printed on paper that I can circle things, scribble notes on, and compare times at a glance. Maybe even hold two of them together to easily work out connection times and cross-reference other information.

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.

 

[PaTrainFan]

This obsession with printed timetables is eclipsed only by Detroit Tigers fans still posting and canonizing Mark Fidrych on Facebook and elsewhere. Get over both obsessions and I'll end with obligatory: GO BLUE!

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.

 

[west point]

RR timetables are by their nature are not like airline timetables. No airline operates anymore between more than 3 - 4 stations. But it is completely differently with 10 or more stops at all times of the day and night. When will Amtrak management stop treating its passengers as just bodies to move without any feedback? Or as third class persons?

 

[Anderson]

Also, with PDF timetables, what does it "cost" Amtrak? A day or two of time from a staff member a few times per year? I hate to say it, but they could probably buy a computer program to automate the generation process for a full-timetable PDF...

 

[Amtrak25]

I always print E-tickets, maybe produce another copy at a Quicktrack machine, and also save the pdf document on my phone.

It was one person at Amtrak, who did timetables who retired .

The RPA timetable is done by a volunteeer from RPA & ESPA who is very good at gathering raw data and formatting it.

What does that say about Amtrak with 500 new management positions who do God knows what but can't do something a volunteer does ?

Covid has become an excuse to be both cheap and lazy. They can hire an IT intern to do the job. I won't get into how awful their website is that they made us totally dependent on. There is no getting on line in God's country.

Some bus companies do get it. Orleans Express in Quebec, which is owned by Keolis, which is 70% owned by SNCF, has this:

https://www.orleansexpress.com/wp-c...raires-aoe-imprime-EN_2-juillet-2024_rev2.pdf

That's more than you'll get from VIA Rail, which for the least few years has been picking up a lot of dirty habits from Amtrak and the airlines.

 

[John Bobinyec]

You can find reasonably up to date timetables here.

jb

 

[Asher]

They have one that's six years old and many of the thruway bus links shown are no longer exist: w.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/Maps/Amtrak-System-Map-1018.pdf

Nice easy to read maps.

 

[Harmon Shay]

Of all the questionable Amtrak decisions, in the past, I think that the most idiotic one has been Amtrak's inability to understand the value of timetables. I still have a 2015 hard copy of national Amtrak timetables and it has sort of become a bible. Of course, not up to date, but it still gives me some idea of Amtrak station stops with time information.

https://is.gd/Wg11c4

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.

 

[jimdex]

I can understand that printed timetables may not be cost-effective for Amtrak. But I think the absence of PDF timetables on Amtrak's website may contribute to a lot of confusion for potential customers. As it is, the only way to see if you get from Point A to Point B conveniently is to start a speculative ticket purchase. Many potential riders who are only casually interested may not be ready to take that step.

 

[Amtrak25]

This is how it is done from a "mom & pop" bus company (also a Thruway bus contractor) in Vermont that has 3 buses that has the online tools as well:

https://www.vttranslines.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-Bus-Rail-Link-Printable-Schedule-V5.pdf

There is a lot of information there, not a sloppy mess of unprintable infor all over a website. Amtrak's view of being "with the times" is to be only a Smartphone App zombie while you happen to have a dataline, and don't count on that on a train in God's country, or even in certain locations in NY Penn Station or the tunnels.

 

[zephyr17]

As it is, the only way to see if you get from Point A to Point B conveniently is to start a speculative ticket purchase. Many potential riders who are only casually interested may not be ready to take that step.

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.

I would like see the pdfs back, but having to start a reservation to see a schedule is untrue and such misinformation cannot go uncorrected.

 

[lrh442]

This obsession with printed timetables is eclipsed only by Detroit Tigers fans still posting and canonizing Mark Fidrych on Facebook and elsewhere. Get over both obsessions and I'll end with obligatory: GO BLUE!

Translation: "If you prefer printed timetables, your feelings are not valid."

 

[west point]

Here is what a non railfan might do with a timetable. My train is going thru XYZ where aunt goldilocks lives. I can tell her that I am going thru on Amtrak AA at O dark thirty and would like to speak to her for the 15 minute station stop. Now would anyone know that the stated train stops at Aunt's station without looking at a timetable? Maybe I will even break up the trip to visit longer with her?

This is another example of the tendency of persons only looking at origin / destination of trains or even their riders.

 

[Anderson]

I always print E-tickets, maybe produce another copy at a Quicktrack machine, and also save the pdf document on my phone.

It was one person at Amtrak, who did timetables who retired .

The RPA timetable is done by a volunteeer from RPA & ESPA who is very good at gathering raw data and formatting it.

What does that say about Amtrak with 500 new management positions who do God knows what but can't do something a volunteer does ?

Covid has become an excuse to be both cheap and lazy. They can hire an IT intern to do the job. I won't get into how awful their website is that they made us totally dependent on. There is no getting on line in God's country.

Some bus companies do get it. Orleans Express in Quebec, which is owned by Keolis, which is 70% owned by SNCF, has this:

https://www.orleansexpress.com/wp-c...raires-aoe-imprime-EN_2-juillet-2024_rev2.pdf

That's more than you'll get from VIA Rail, which for the least few years has been picking up a lot of dirty habits from Amtrak and the airlines.

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.

One wrinkle with Amtrak's system: You can search by "route", but (for example) the Virginia Regionals aren't shown separately, and when getting into VA trains that will only show about half of the trains into Richmond (or Charlottesville). This shows up on basically any "mixed" route.

Also, you can't search allowing for more than one origin or destination - which is an issue if you're looking at, say, NFK vs NPN (or RVR vs RVM...or NPN/NFK vs RVR). Yes, some of this is VA weirdness, but I think it can apply to California as well (with some of the strangeness there). So at least in my situation (which is, again, somewhat VA-specific) Amtrak's tools really aren't fit for purpose.

 

[Anderson]

Here is what a non railfan might do with a timetable. My train is going thru XYZ where aunt goldilocks lives. I can tell her that I am going thru on Amtrak AA at O dark thirty and would like to speak to her for the 15 minute station stop. Now would anyone know that the stated train stops at Aunt's station without looking at a timetable? Maybe I will even break up the trip to visit longer with her?

This is another example of the tendency of persons only looking at origin / destination of trains or even their riders.

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.

 

[Rasputin]

Many companies are adept and aggressive about getting information about their products to potential customers. Some do it by online advertising, some do it by print media and some do it by both. Amtrak provides a lot of information on its website but seems to hide other information such as useful timetables which people could print. An unusual corporation which does not seem interested in success.

 

[jimdex]

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.

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.

 

[zephyr17]

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.

You do not need to enter dates if you choose the "Route" option instead of the "Station" option, though it defaults to "Station". I think it would be more intuitive defaulting to "Route", but that's Amtrak UI designers for you.

Didn't say I Iiked it, I prefer pdfs, too, and mostly use the ones RPA generates off Amtrak's GTFS API. One nice thing about Schedules tab function is it shows the scheduled dwell times at all stations, not just really long ones.