Our recent trip on the SW Chief /Cardinal was less than desirable. The SW Chief coupled on two private cars in Anburqurque and took them off at Kansas City. This along with a line delay ate up 4 hours of time. This made it impossible to catch the Cardinal at CHI that would take us to PHL. As a solution Amtrak sends a bus at Galesburg, IL and says that we can take the bus and board at Indianapolis (after a 5 hr bus trip). When we arrive at Indianapolis the elevator was broken so it was three flights up to the platform. The Cardinal pulls in 15 minutes later and we board only to find someone sleeping in Bedroom B that we paid for. The attendant jumps in with the conductor to evict the squatter and clean up the room. We finally get into the room after midnight wanting to clean up only to find that the squatter had used up all of the water for the shower. We finally got to bed around 1 AM. We will write Amtrak about this true terrible experience.
I had a similar experience back in 2021—the Southwest Chief was running very late and we got pulled off at Galesburg with about 10 minutes' notice, then bussed to Indianapolis.
Once we got to Indianapolis—which didn't have any Amtrak personnel on duty—I found out (on my phone) that the Cardinal had not even left Chicago. It finally wound up picking us up at 3 AM in Indianapolis.
Don't write to them. Call them. Ask to speak with Customer Relations. I wound up getting about $800 worth of Amtrak vouchers by recounting the story to a representative.
A good example of why I never schedule a eastbound same day sleeper connection in Chicago. I've arrived in Chicago 6-14 hours from all three West Coast-Chicago LDs more times than I can count. Most of the time, I was heading to Indy, and did have same day coach connections, so I could be laid over and just get another seat the next day. The potential of losing a room is a much bigger deal to me. When I started making sleeper trips all the way to the East Coast, I'd already learned my lesson.
And IND is an absolute pit. Top contender for Amtrak's Worst Staffed Station.
Yeah, I didn't learn my lesson since I'm connecting from #4 to #50 in three weeks' time.
Indianapolis was a dingy, creepy, hole-in-the-ground of a station. I got a hotel room nearby last-minute for a few bucks, and wound up resting there for a few hours prior to the delayed-Cardinal arriving at 3 AM, and was seriously considering just going home on a flight until the Cardinal finally started moving from Chicago, and it was evident that it
would come pick us up and that we wouldn't be stranded for 2 days or bussed to Philly.
But if I needed a hotel room anyway, might as well be in Chicago. And if the train's on time, I can just spend more time in Chicago—which I always enjoy.
Next time, I'll seriously consider your approach.