EB at Grand Forks - unstaffed

[the_traveler]

I just received an email stating that the Grand Forks station will be unstaffed. And that it began starting June 1, 2015. That means it will not have checked baggage service either.

 

[willem]

Same here, even though Grand Forks is not an endpoint for any of my scheduled itineraries.

 

[KmH]

On the CZ route I use OTM (Ottumwa) because it at least has a ticket office agent and restrooms. My other option, OSC (Osceola), has a parking lot - no ticket office, not even restrooms.

 

[snvboy]

Amtrak was kind enough to give me an automated phone call last night regarding this situation in Grand Forks.

For a trip I'm taking in October.

From Whitefish to St. Paul.

Better safe than sorry, I guess.

 

[fairviewroad]

Well, it really stinks for the people who actually use this station, as I do roughly once every other year. And relatives do

once or twice a year. Amtrak suggests that people who wish to check bags drive down to Fargo instead, which is laughable.

I'm sure they have seen decreased ridership figures at Grand Forks, but it's worth noting that the EB's sporadic directional

running in North Dakota would have artificially driven GFK's ridership totals down. And to think that a few years ago they

were talking about making GFK a connecting point between Amtrak and VIA's Canadian in Winnipeg. And now, they can't

even bother to staff the station. :angry2:

 

[stageman12]

We're taking the EB to and from East Glacier Park in August, so I received 2 emails and 2 phone calls...

 

[neroden]

Amtrak should be able to provide trainside checked baggage service, as Amtrak did at some unstaffed stations on the California Zephyr route (or did they stop doing that?).

 

[fairviewroad]

Amtrak should be able to provide trainside checked baggage service, as Amtrak did at some unstaffed stations on the California Zephyr route (or did they stop doing that?).

I remember that (though I thought it was along the Southwest Chief) but I can find no reference to it on Amtrak's website now. Maybe it was a short-time experiment. At any rate, that would be better than nothing in Grand Forks, though it should be noted that the trains stops there in the middle of the night in both directions, and with the bitterly cold overnight temperatures there in winter, perhaps it would not be the best idea to invite passengers to wander up and down the platform to deposit/retrieve their bags. The additional complication in GFK is that a checked bag belongs in different parts of the train depending on destination, which further confuses things. (The curved platform doesn't help in that respect, since passengers and train crew can be just a few cars apart and be completely out of sight).

 

[saxman]

This seems odd to me. GFK use to be my station when I was there for college. It was pretty popular with the college students, even with its not so popular calling times. I do remember in 2002, during the financial crisis, GFK abruptly ended checked bags and only had staffing on weekdays. Once that was over checked bags returned. It was bad because I showed up to the train with many bags as I was moving home for the summer.

 

[fairviewroad]

Grand Forks' most famous critic pays a visit to the Amtrak station...

One potential upside of no agent: Passengers actually talk to each other!

There no longer is an attendant, but there were helpful signs around the station. Nobody knew exactly when the train would arrive.

They were sending and receiving messages and sharing the latest word.

 

[PaulM]

Amtrak should be able to provide trainside checked baggage service, as Amtrak did at some unstaffed stations on the California Zephyr route (or did they stop doing that?).

That radical idea is still alive and well, at least it was a few days ago at Mt. Pleasant.

Last winter I had the opportunity to self check bags on #3 at Ft. Madison. Based on that experience, I don't see why the practice isn't more wide spread.

 

[Chaz]

The June 14 Grand Forks Herald article (linked to above)

"Marilyn Hagerty: In the early morning, the Empire Builder rolls in"

http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/featured-columnists/3765924-marilyn-hagerty-early-morning-empire-builder-rolls

has a (May29) article about the retiring G F Amtrak ticket agent retiring after 42 years

http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/business/3754960-one-last-ride-amtrak-ticket-agent-retire-after-40-years

Chaz comments

I tried to post this during the server outage...glad I kept a copy!

Amazing no local protesting about the end of the agency there!

Also amazing

"Sivertson was one of seven employees—three in the baggage area and four in the ticket office—in the downtown station when he started in 1973"

[TO today has a post about the Hastings NE (trains 5/6) agency becoming unstaffed effective today:]

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3774985

...As I understand it, the incumbent has left to become an Amtrak assistant conductor

and Amtrak has chosen not to replace her.
Similar thing happened at Grand Forks, ( ND ) when the incumbent retired and was not
replaced.

.... I was also told the same person made the decision that made it for Grand Forks. "

 

[Joe F]

Grand Forks' most famous critic pays a visit to the Amtrak station...

One potential upside of no agent: Passengers actually talk to each other!

From the article:

"And then we saw it, gliding around the bend and stopping quietly at the station. There was no sound — save for a soft clinging of the two engines. There was a mail car, seven passenger and sleeping cars."

Mail car??

 

[fairviewroad]

Grand Forks' most famous critic pays a visit to the Amtrak station...

One potential upside of no agent: Passengers actually talk to each other!

From the article:

"And then we saw it, gliding around the bend and stopping quietly at the station. There was no sound — save for a soft clinging of the two engines. There was a mail car, seven passenger and sleeping cars."

Mail car??

Definitely a generational term. She's in her late 80's...old enough to remember when mail was routinely shipped via passenger train. She's also old enough to remember when passenger rail operators cared about their passengers, which Amtrak clearly does not.

"We think people will be able to manage" says the Amtrak flack.

I'm guessing a lot of Americans "would be able to manage" without Amtrak existing at all. Wonder what the Amtrak paid spokesperson would think about that?

 

[Triley]

Grand Forks' most famous critic pays a visit to the Amtrak station...

One potential upside of no agent: Passengers actually talk to each other!

From the article:

"And then we saw it, gliding around the bend and stopping quietly at the station. There was no sound — save for a soft clinging of the two engines. There was a mail car, seven passenger and sleeping cars."

Mail car??

Definitely a generational term. She's in her late 80's...old enough to remember when mail was routinely shipped via passenger train.

I'm not going to touch on your other comments, because I find them to be a bit above and beyond. That being said, there are still some heritage baggage cars that on the outside have the label "mail car", not "baggage car". So it may not have been a generational term as you put it.

 

[jphjaxfl]

I was stationed at Grand Forks AFB from 1/72 through 5/75. During that time, I made over 50 trips on the Empire Builder. The old station downtown was still used, but required a long reverse move in either direction. Often times, east bound, a whole coach car would fill up at Grand Forks. In the cold winter months, you need to be able to get inside from strong winds. It sounds like the travelers at Grand Forks has really deteriorated.