You can print out schedules from their website. And by having it done this way you’ll know the times are up-to-date.
Amtrak Timetables
- Thread starter Northwestern
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Trains that begin with 10 followed by the regular number are trains that will arrive at a station the same day as the previous train. Arrow, Amtraks system, cannot handle two #3’s arriving at XYZ station on the same date.
What they call a timetable is not a timetable. It is origin-destination throughout the day, requiring a tap to Details drop-down to get intermedate stops for each train individually, a sloppy mess and not printable on one piece of paper. It does not contain the information that pdf's once had. It does not show connections.
The times on a pdf can be mainained up to date because every commuter railroad manages to do it. LIRR changes their schedules every 2 months, with far more editions for weekday or weekend engineering-driven changes, and are far more complicated than anything Amtrak has. This is what one of them looks like: https://new.mta.info/document/85026
This is about Amtrak being cheap and lazy.
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jis
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In my thinking technically there is no show stopper in generating upto date PDF each day and automatically posting them on the website. It should not take more than one competent knowledgeable person to do so once the basic workflow is set up. It is mostly a management decision to not do so possibly based on lack of understanding of customer needs and technical feasibility. Afterall, why would the gold plated consultant want to lose their source of income? 
cirdan
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I guess this is the sort of thing that Google Maps is good at . Maybe there is even an eclectic bus service that just happens to fill a gap between two trains but whose timetable you would never ever think of checking. But Google will fill you in on the details.
Not sure what TRE Texas Eagle means.
cirdan
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you could even automate that.In my thinking technically there is no show stopper in generating upto date PDF each day and automatically posting them on the website. It should not take more than one competent knowledgeable person to do so once the basic workflow is set up. It is mostly a management decision to not do so possibly based on lack of understanding of customer needs and technical feasibility. Afterall, why would the gold plated consultant want to lose their source of income?
Scheduling routine jobs to run automatically has been the standard since the 1960s. There is no "even" about it, it's SOP.
Huh, apparently you haven't tried looking and printing by route. It's not perfect but it's better than what you've described.
It should not require hunting, discovering, taking screen prints and pasting to Word, or some other method, or take a training course. When I see Schedule, I want to see a PDF timetable, period.
Your attachment is for a route for one train a day. Try that for the NEC or Empire Corridor.
Amtrak is a railroad, not a software educational firm.
Your attachment is for a route for one train a day. Try that for the NEC or Empire Corridor.
Amtrak is a railroad, not a software educational firm.
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You'd sincerely hope not, given just how badly Amtrak does with software.
There is still lots of information missing, like local transit and airport connections as well as Thruway schedules. I don't trust Amtrak to keep the Thruway connections on the system map up to date, and as far as I know the only other way to find them is by trial and error through the reservation system or schedule system. Even then, one still must know which stations/stops they serve. Burlington, VT is especially confusing: Ethan Allen Express leaves "Burlington, VT - Union Station" downtown, the Vermonter leaves "Essex Junction, VT -Amtrak Station" 10 miles away, and Trailways buses leave from "Burlington, VT - Downtown Transit Center".
The timetables also described more complex situations, like where trains are split/combined and how that affects dining service, as well as the confusingly complicated different types of bicycle service.
The schedules from the website also don't have an effective date, so you never know when a schedule you might have is incorrect. This also makes it much more difficult to find schedule changes because Amtrak often doesn't put out out a service alert or press release for those anymore.
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Take a look at the Lake Shore Ltd when faking a reservation to find out the schedule and dining amenities. There is absolutely nothing saying there is no cafe car (meaning no food service) at all for coach passengers between New York and Albany, actually Schenectady, right through a meal period in each direction, just that cafe exists, and not even take out beverages and snack from the diner, which they did prior to Anderson's destruction. His AeroMexico hire Roger Harris, who is now Amtrak President, of course does nothing to reverse that.
Only a railfan knows there is such a thing as a Boston section, which has the cafe car.
As I have said - lazy and cheap.
Only a railfan knows there is such a thing as a Boston section, which has the cafe car.
As I have said - lazy and cheap.
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When VRE tickets were accepted on some Amtrak trains, VRE did include those Amtrak trains in its own timetables. And the Virginia Assn. of Railway Patrons used to compile schedules showing all the trains in Virginia (I used to do the compiling).
TRE is Trinity Railway Express, the commuter line between Dallas & Ft. Worth. The slash means you can ride either TRE or the Eagle. Note that it says service is every 60 minutes, which certainly does not apply to the Eagle.
toddinde
OBS Chief
The lack of timetables is just stupid. Apparently, it was a Richard Anderson cost cutting move. They eliminated the position of the person that used to do them. RPA has them on their website. That’s a tremendous public service. I’m sure that a national timetable, with lots of advertising, or for purchase, will come back. Print has a place, even in the digital age.
toddinde
OBS Chief
The biggest beef I have with Amtrak has been their failure to understand their market. An airline guy is incapable of grasping why a timetable is important. Same with not understanding why it’s important to have lounge space on a train. The new Venture cafes have no seating and feequently, in the cafes they have, the crew is sprawled out on multiple tables. I believe Amtrak has some better personnel now that are improving the experience. I think a National Timetable would be a money maker, not only in the way it encourages ridership by showing clearly what’s available, but through advertising. The other thing that needs to come back is Amtrak Package Express. It literally had no cost since baggage service is offered anyway. Getting rid of that was really dumb. Hopefully, Amtrak has turned the corner on stupid decisions.
You should double check RPA's anyway. I have found a few small errors or omissions, perhaps some out of date infor and it is a tedious volunteer job by a human.
They eliminated that person's position with an untargeted, free-for-all buy-out that David Gunn and others warned against because Anderson wanted institutional knowledge flushed out of that autocrat's empire for any back-talk, but have also since hired 500 management poistions. What do all these people do ?
Amtrak Express could justify a Boston - Chicago baggage car and also separate the sleeper from the locomotives. There's plenty of universities along the route with students with trunks of luggage and care packages from mom. There are no plans to bring Amtrak Express back. It was "temporarily" suspended on Sep 30, 2020 for tri-weekly service, but Congress and The Board have given Amtrak a pass on that revenue generator.
They eliminated that person's position with an untargeted, free-for-all buy-out that David Gunn and others warned against because Anderson wanted institutional knowledge flushed out of that autocrat's empire for any back-talk, but have also since hired 500 management poistions. What do all these people do ?
Amtrak Express could justify a Boston - Chicago baggage car and also separate the sleeper from the locomotives. There's plenty of universities along the route with students with trunks of luggage and care packages from mom. There are no plans to bring Amtrak Express back. It was "temporarily" suspended on Sep 30, 2020 for tri-weekly service, but Congress and The Board have given Amtrak a pass on that revenue generator.
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When my daughter finished grad school at the end of 2018 (and spent most of 2019 job-hunting), I watched some YouTube videos in which people used Amtrak Package Express for long-distance moves. They'd be moving from & to cities with checked baggage service (or at least close enough to get a ride to/from the station), travelled as passengers with the essentials (personal items/carry-ons/checked baggage), and shipped the rest via Amtrak Package Express (probably renting a small U-Haul to pick up stuff at the station and transport it to the new home). Doubtless these were only apartment-size moves, and the individuals were OK with buying replacements for any extra-large items after the move.
JamesWhitcombRiley
Lead Service Attendant
I agree half the value in the older timetables were the notes. Do LD trains still do discharge-only and boarding-only stops on the NEC?
cirdan
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I do realise what TRE is. I was just bemused by Google not being able to work out whether this particular train is the Texas Eagle or the TRE.
I’m puzzled why Google would suggest the possibility of using TRE as an alternative to connect to an Amtrak train serving the same points. I could see it as useful to a local intermediate stop not served by Amtrak.
Would they do that in other corridors where Amtrak parallels commuter trains?
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