California Zephyr issues in Salt Lake City

[JustReady]

So...It looked something like this? (360 panoramic from Google, train pointed in the opposite direction.)

Not exactly. The train track was about 1/4 mile away from the station. And the engine was parked nearest the station. The people in the cars in back were no where near the lit up part. It’s dark, and we were crossing other tracks in the dark to get to the paved part.

And, just because the picture makes it appear that the station building was lit up, That does not mean the surrounding area was. it was very dark.

For those of us, who experience the situation, it really doesn’t help for others to come at us like we are at fault. Please do not blame the victim. Sometimes you just have to set your loyalty aside and say yes you’re right, we could’ve done better and we will do better.

 

[Brian Battuello]

I had the sorta opposite experience to you. I was burning miles, so my son and I planned to take Amtrak from Boston to Sacramento and transfer to Portland, where my spouse and daughter had sensibly flown for a conference. We were running late, and we pulled into Salt Lake City westbound roughly 8 hours behind schedule and approaching dawn. As we approached, I could see that there was no way we were going to make the Sacramento connection, and at that point we'd had just about enough Amtrak. While my son slept, I fatfingered frequent flyer tickets from Salt Lake City to Portland. I then had to wake him up at 0 dark 30 and told him we were getting off in 10 minutes. I found the same Uber stop, and the rest of the trip went smoothly until our Trimet light rail managed to jump the track about a mile from our hotel. The conductor let people off to a nearby street and we Uber'd the rest of the way.

 

[PaTrainFan]

It's a darn near a risk to take a long distance Amtrak trip now. The risks being exceedingly hours-long delays, cancellations or involuntary downgrades due to equipment issues. True enough, extreme weather and freight derailments are not Amtrak's fault, but it seems their crisis response all too often is lacking. It's to the point I am not sure I can get excited about taking a trip anymore. In fact the older I get the more anxiety it causes.

 

[JustReady]

It's a darn near a risk to take a long distance Amtrak trip now. The risks being exceedingly hours-long delays, cancellations or involuntary downgrades due to equipment issues. True enough, extreme weather and freight derailments are not Amtrak's fault, but it seems their crisis response all too often is lacking. It's to the point I am not sure I can get excited about taking a trip anymore. In fact the older I get the more anxiety it causes.

Agree. There seems to be no plan in place for urgent/crisis management. Rather it be a low level crisis or a high level crisis.

Very unfortunate for rail riders.

 

[Brian Battuello]

It's a darn near a risk to take a long distance Amtrak trip now. The risks being exceedingly hours-long delays, cancellations or involuntary downgrades due to equipment issues. True enough, extreme weather and freight derailments are not Amtrak's fault, but it seems their crisis response all too often is lacking. It's to the point I am not sure I can get excited about taking a trip anymore. In fact the older I get the more anxiety it causes.

Right on. If the high prices didn't discourage me, the risks would. I'm glad I did as many Florida and California Zephyr trips as I did back when things were more predictable.

 

[lstone19]

Yes. Just click on the "up arrow" in the first line of the quote of the post to get to the original post wherever it is.

Ah. Thanks.

 

[BoulderCO]

For as long as I have used Amtrak, it has been too unreliable (except for Acela) to use for business travel.

Now, it seems that it is also too unreliable to use for most vacation or family event travel.

Given that it is now only suitable for adventure travel for rail enthusiasts with extra time on their hands, I don't understand why the demand still exceeds AmTrak's ability to provide service.

 

[glensfallsse]

I would gladly accept the risks if I could find more reasonable fares. I was planning one of those "circle" trips I've seen some of you write about upon my retirement, but Coast Starlight and the LSL are too expensive, or not available. So my circle trip looks more like a Rand McNally Interstate map from the 1960s, (you have to be pretty old to get this), with airplanes linking up the gaps between train trips. Also, it's not very enjoyable to go back and forth among trains, planes and hotel rooms. I wish now I'd just gone one-way all the way and flown back.

 

[lsfinn]

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what folk can reasonably expect to happen in any given situation. All of us are different, so one persons mild inconvenience, is the next persons total disaster.

If Amtrak underlined clearly: "If the train gets stuck and you have to detrain, you are on your own, except we can refund unused portion", then there can be no "false expectation" of better service.

They probably already state that somewhere in their "conditions", but maybe, given the almost mandatory delays, make that more prominent?

I would be interested to know what response or compensation, if any, the original poster received?

Focusing on compensation for the unused portion misses the larger and more important ramifications of this kind of treatment.
Passsengers contract with a carrier to get them from point A to point B. They have plans at B: e.g., vacation or business. While in transit they do not have plans, support networks, or access to resources to deal with the failure of the carrier.
For example, regarding support network: how many of the ~100 passengers (number quoted earlier) detrained at Salt Lake City knew any one there? Or, regarding resources: how much out-of-pocket expense could many of the passengers determined at SLC sustain? Or, regarding plans: do you think any of the passengers unwillingly detrained at SLC had contingency plans set-up? At 4:30 AM what could you reasonably expect of passengers. I read some contributors on the forum say there is a “nearby” cab/Uber/Lyft stand. [For the latter two there must be a cell phone with the app installed and a credit card registered: this cannot be universally assumed for coach passengers.] Ok: assuming you can catch a cab/Uber/Lyft there are 4:30 AM, where do you ask it to take you?

When you contract with a carrier to get you from A to B the carrier is assuming responsibility for your reasonable care during the journey. It is unacceptable for the carrier to just walk away when, midway through the journey, they no longer find it convenient to fulfill the contract. Refunding the “unused portion” is not just compensation for a failure of this kind.

 

[JustReady]

Focusing on compensation for the unused portion misses the larger and more important ramifications of this kind of treatment.
Passsengers contract with a carrier to get them from point A to point B. They have plans at B: e.g., vacation or business. While in transit they do not have plans, support networks, or access to resources to deal with the failure of the carrier.
For example, regarding support network: how many of the ~100 passengers (number quoted earlier) detrained at Salt Lake City knew any one there? Or, regarding resources: how much out-of-pocket expense could many of the passengers determined at SLC sustain? Or, regarding plans: do you think any of the passengers unwillingly detrained at SLC had contingency plans set-up? At 4:30 AM what could you reasonably expect of passengers. I read some contributors on the forum say there is a “nearby” cab/Uber/Lyft stand. [For the latter two there must be a cell phone with the app installed and a credit card registered: this cannot be universally assumed for coach passengers.] Ok: assuming you can catch a cab/Uber/Lyft there are 4:30 AM, where do you ask it to take you?

When you contract with a carrier to get you from A to B the carrier is assuming responsibility for your reasonable care during the journey. It is unacceptable for the carrier to just walk away when, midway through the journey, they no longer find it convenient to fulfill the contract. Refunding the “unused portion” is not just compensation for a failure of this kind.

100% agree with you.

With Amtrak, you plan to go from point A to point B.
All of a sudden, something gets in the way of that.
Amtrak then thinks the solution is to get you back to point A.
They wash their hands of you and tell you to get to point B on your own and at your own expense!

it’s befuddling!