Boarding and alighting

[SomeArt]

How the passengers get on the coaches they appointed to stay? Do the coaches have let the passengers to recognise? Could they find the position of coach on the platform?

When the train arrives the destination, how the passengers get off if the platform is more shorter than the train?

Thank you.

 

[amtkstn]

What station and train?

 

[joelkfla]

How the passengers get on the coaches they appointed to stay? Do the coaches have let the passengers to recognise? Could they find the position of coach on the platform?

When the train arrives the destination, how the passengers get off if the platform is more shorter than the train?

Thank you.

If you have a sleeper room, the car number & room number will be on your e-ticket. The car number is displayed in a small lighted window next to the door (not to be confused with the physical car number near the ends of the car). Any Amtrak employee on the platform or at a car door will happily direct you to the right car.

If you buy a coach ticket, seats are not assigned, except for business class on some trains. An Amtrak employee will direct you to a coach car, and the employee at the car door may direct you to a specific seat or tell you what area of the car to sit in.

When approaching a station, there will usually be an announcement telling which car doors will open, and asking deboarding passengers to move to that car. If it's nighttime when there are no announcements, the conductor or car attendant should find passengers getting off and personally notify them. There's a "seat check" ticket that the conductor places over your seat that says where you're getting off, and the conductor or car attendant will try to keep track of where passengers for each station are sitting. If you change seats, it's important to take your seat check with you, and notify the car attendant if you're getting off at night or at a small station.

If the train is very long and the platform is too short, the train may make 2 or 3 stops at the station. When this happens, usually there will be one stop for coach passengers and another for sleeper passengers.

 

[MARC Rider]

If you have a sleeper room, the car number & room number will be on your e-ticket. The car number is displayed in a small lighted window next to the door (not to be confused with the physical car number near the ends of the car). Any Amtrak employee on the platform or at a car door will happily direct you to the right car.
View attachment 28795

If you buy a coach ticket, seats are not assigned, except for business class on some trains. An Amtrak employee will direct you to a coach car, and the employee at the car door may direct you to a specific seat or tell you what area of the car to sit in.

When approaching a station, there will usually be an announcement telling which car doors will open, and asking deboarding passengers to move to that car. If it's nighttime when there are no announcements, the conductor or car attendant should find passengers getting off and personally notify them. There's a "seat check" ticket that the conductor places over your seat that says where you're getting off, and the conductor or car attendant will try to keep track of where passengers for each station are sitting. If you change seats, it's important to take your seat check with you, and notify the car attendant if you're getting off at night or at a small station.

If the train is very long and the platform is too short, the train may make 2 or 3 stops at the station. When this happens, usually there will be one stop for coach passengers and another for sleeper passengers.

On the Northeast Regional, business class is the last car of the train, and seats are assigned. Boarding the rest of the train is more or less a free-for-all, just pick your car and find an empty seat. Things seem to be similar on the Pacific Surfliner, Empire Service and Keystone/Pennsylvanian, but I'm not sure which end the business class is found, and the Keystones don't have business class, anyway. Also the same on the Hiawatha, and they don't have business class, either. I suspect this is the case for all the corridor trains.

 

[SomeArt]

If the train is very long and the platform is too short, the train may make 2 or 3 stops at the station. When this happens, usually there will be one stop for coach passengers and another for sleeper passengers.

Any examples?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Any examples?

The Capitol Limited at Harper's Ferry

 

[zephyr17]

Any examples?

Coast Starlight at Chemult
Sunset at Maricopa
Builder at Browning.

Lots of places with short platforms or just little pads.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Coast Starlight at Chemult
Sunset at Maricopa
Builder at Browning.

Lots of places with short platforms or just little pads.

Lots of the Stops on the Eagle/Sunset Route have to do multiple Spots due to Short Platforms .( on the Eagle it's when they run the Regular consist which was 7-8 Cars before the idiotic decision to run a 4 Car consist! )

 

[SomeArt]

Coast Starlight at Chemult
Sunset at Maricopa
Builder at Browning.

Lots of places with short platforms or just little pads.

Should the platform extend? I think Amtrak platform should have at least 1000ft, let the passengers on most of the train can get off directly in one stop, from the coach they stayed. The Connecting US should include that.

 

[zephyr17]

Many small town platforms are very short. While I do not disagree with you, even many recently refurbished small town platforms are still very short.

I am just glad there's a platform, some, like Lordsburg, NM just use a grade crossing. It is what it is. Double spots aren't really that big of a deal.

 

[SomeArt]

If you have a sleeper room, the car number & room number will be on your e-ticket. The car number is displayed in a small lighted window next to the door (not to be confused with the physical car number near the ends of the car). Any Amtrak employee on the platform or at a car door will happily direct you to the right car.
View attachment 28795

If you buy a coach ticket, seats are not assigned, except for business class on some trains. An Amtrak employee will direct you to a coach car, and the employee at the car door may direct you to a specific seat or tell you what area of the car to sit in.

Does the passengers be arranged to sit at some cars that near the door for get off?

 

[pennyk]

Where passengers are seated depends on the particular train. I assume you are referring to coach. On some trains, passengers can sit wherever they choose. On other trains, an attendant will assign seats. Usually an announcement is made shortly before the train will arrive at a station. It is quite common, at that time, passengers will gather their belongings and head towards the doors.
I mainly travel in sleepers on long distance trains, so someone else may have to chime in. I believe in instances where all doors will not open at a station stop, there will be an announcement as to which doors will open. I have seen passengers in coach line up at the doors waiting to alight the train.

 

[Rasputin]

Should the platform extend? I think Amtrak platform should have at least 1000ft, let the passengers on most of the train can get off directly in one stop, from the coach they stayed. The Connecting US should include that.

I don't find that it is a significant enough problem that it should warrant a large expenditure. The speed of detraining or entraining is not much of an issue.

 

[joelkfla]

Does the passengers be arranged to sit at some cars that near the door for get off?

It's up to the conductor to manage seating. Yes, sometimes they will direct passengers to a particular car based on their destination, but not always. I think it's more likely if there are stops scheduled in the middle of the night, or stations where they plan to open just one door. Sometimes they may try to fill up one car and keep another car empty for passengers boarding at a later station. They may also tell single riders to share a row so there are empty rows available for groups boarding later.

As someone said earlier, on major corridors like between Boston & Washington, if you're on a "corridor train" (which is basically a long distance commuter train), you can usually sit wherever you want and they typically open all doors.

 

[Cal]

It's up to the conductor to manage seating.

On LD trains I believe coach attendants handle seating more-so than conductors.

 

[zephyr17]

Does the passengers be arranged to sit at some cars that near the door for get off?

They know what doors will open at stops they don't open all of them. You will be directed to sit in a coach that will have a door opened at your destination.

 

[BalmyZephyr]

On the trains with platforms level with the train doors, there is often no conductor to ask. When we took the (new) sleeper southbound from Kingston RI one night last December, we had no idea where the sleeper car was and there was no one to ask. We fumbled through the coach cars at 11 PM looking for it. Finally we heard an attendant calling, "Where are my sleepers" meaning us. Then when we took too long to move through the cars (one of us is slightly handicapped), we got yelled at by the attendant. NOT a good start. If there is an attendant inside the station, or on the platform, you can ask them where the X car stops. They don't always know exactly, but usually it's close.

 

[joelkfla]

On the trains with platforms level with the train doors, there is often no conductor to ask. When we took the (new) sleeper southbound from Kingston RI one night last December, we had no idea where the sleeper car was and there was no one to ask. We fumbled through the coach cars at 11 PM looking for it. Finally we heard an attendant calling, "Where are my sleepers" meaning us. Then when we took too long to move through the cars (one of us is slightly handicapped), we got yelled at by the attendant. NOT a good start. If there is an attendant inside the station, or on the platform, you can ask them where the X car stops. They don't always know exactly, but usually it's close.

Maybe this will help:

On single-level trains, Viewliner Sleepers & the Diner are box-shaped, while the coaches are tubular. Sleepers and the Diner will both have a double row of windows, either the full length of the car or half the length. Sleepers have the door at one end; the Diner has the door in the center. Again, there is a small window near the door showing the car number (which should be lighted), and the words "Sleeping Car" should be somewhere near the door.

On bilevel trains, Superliner Sleepers have 4 windows on the lower level: 3 together on one side of the door, and a single window on the other side. Other cars have fewer windows all on one side of the door, or no lower level windows. Again, "Sleeper' or "Sleeping Car" should be near the door, along with a small window displaying the car number.

 

[BalmyZephyr]

Sleepers have the door at one end; the Diner has the door in the center.

In our case, it was a Northeast Regional, with a Cafe car, not a diner. That has doors at either end.
Anyway, we didn't have much time to look at car labels before boarding, just a few seconds really.
There should be a conductor sticking their head out at every such stop, so you can at least call to them "Which way is the sleeper?" and go the correct direction once inside. But your advice sounds good for most trains, especially the lines of windows, shoulda thought of that.

 

[jis]

In our case, it was a Northeast Regional, with a Cafe car, not a diner. That has doors at either end.
Anyway, we didn't have much time to look at car labels before boarding, just a few seconds really.
There should be a conductor sticking their head out at every such stop, so you can at least call to them "Which way is the sleeper?" and go the correct direction once inside. But your advice sounds good for most trains, especially the lines of windows, shoulda thought of that.

Right you are. Amfleet I Food Service cars have vestibules (doors) at both ends. 65/66/67.which apparently was the service you were using is indeed a NE Regional train. It used to have a Sleeper. It does not anymore when it resumes running in a couple of days (July 11).

The Amfleet II Cafe/Lounges have vestibule (door) only at one end. They are generally used on long distance trains.

In your case, that attendant you mentioned should have been the one on the platform looking for his Sleeper Passengers, not just asking about them inside the train. Additionally, the Conductor should have known about the boarding and helped in the process in the middle of the night instead of acting like a vanilla Regional Conductor. But that is NEC for you.

 

[BalmyZephyr]

Right you are. Amfleet I Food Service cars have vestibules (doors) at both ends. 65/66/67.which apparently was the service you were using is indeed a NE Regional train. It used to have a Sleeper. It does not anymore when it resumes running in a couple of days (July 11).

The Amfleet II Cafe/Lounges have vestibule (door) only at one end. They are generally used on long distance trains.

In your case, that attendant you mentioned should have been the one on the platform looking for his Sleeper Passengers, not just asking about them inside the train. Additionally, the Conductor should have known about the boarding and helped in the process in the middle of the night instead of acting like a vanilla Regional Conductor. But that is NEC for you.

 

[BalmyZephyr]

Sorry for accidental post above.
And, sorry to hear the sleeper didn't pan out on the NEC. That was a great way to get from New England to Washington and have breakfast in Union Station before boarding the Cardinal! Plus, free parking (for days) at KIN.

 

[jis]

Sorry for accidental post above.
And, sorry to hear the sleeper didn't pan out on the NEC. That was a great way to get from New England to Washington and have breakfast in Union Station before boarding the Cardinal! Plus, free parking (for days) at KIN.

It might eventually return when Amtrak manages to get more Viewliners out of mothballs, or get the ones outside actually in a serviceable form with adequate staffing to do so in a steady state.

But coming back to boarding, I am not sure that the staff handling corridor Regionals are adequately trained to handle Sleepers and that is what caused your problem.

Whenever I have boarded on LD trains in Sleeper on the NEC stops, I have always found the SCA standing at the door looking around for customers headed to his/her car.

 

[BalmyZephyr]

<< Whenever I have boarded on LD trains in Sleeper on the NEC stops, I have always found the SCA standing at the door looking around for customers headed to his/her car. >>

That only works if you're heading the right direction!

 

[joelkfla]

In our case, it was a Northeast Regional, with a Cafe car, not a diner. That has doors at either end.

Maybe I wasn't clear, but I meant to look at the shape of the car and the double rows of windows first for single-level trains. The door location was to rule out Viewliner diners.

There should be a conductor sticking their head out at every such stop, so you can at least call to them "Which way is the sleeper?" and go the correct direction once inside.

I fully agree.