Questions from a reporter

[Anthony]

Today, I received an email from a reporter at the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Oregon, looking for answers to the following questions for a news story. If anyone would like to take these on, feel free to reply here and I'll forward the link to the reporter.

—What’s the policy if the train is overbooked? Some students who boarded were told to go sit in the lounge car because there weren’t enough despite them having tickets. While it’s great they didn’t get “bumped” because of overbooking, can they received a rebate because they didn’t technically have seats?
—The train was three hours late to the station because of an accident involving a farm trailer on the tracks. This is obviously not the fault of Amtrak, but how often do delays occur as the result of collisions with vehicles on the tracks? Or for other reasons? Are there any protocols being adopted to reduce accidents and delays?

—Down in the club car, about five men who had obviously had too many drinks were yelling obscene and sometimes sexist remarks at the tables across the hall. I would not have wanted children to hear. No attendants stepped in to say anything, though three were right there. How are disturbances with drunken passengers supposed to be dealt with?

—I noticed a fair amount of food scraps and other assorted garbage in various spots of the passenger car I was in. How often are passenger cars cleaned?

 

[Anthony]

Just FYI, I am pretty sure this is concerning the Coast Starlight.

 

[Ryan]

For the question on delays, I would point the reporter at the privately run amtrakdelays site - (s)he can pull the data over a period of time and develop their own stats. Also, isn't OTP for each train reported monthly by Amtrak directly (or is it just yearly)?

As far as overbooking, I've never heard of that on LD trains (not that that means much, there are far more of you with far more experience than I).

 

[tp49]

I would suggest that any issues relating to delays due to collisions with vehicles on the tracks and how they are handled be directed to Amtrak PR. As for protocols to reduce accidents those would best be directed to the FRA or to local jurisdictions.

 

[Asst Conductor-okj]

Please kindly direct this person to the Amtrak Governemnt and Media Relations Department at 202-906-3860. Thanks

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

As far as overbooking, I've never heard of that on LD trains (not that that means much, there are far more of you with far more experience than I).

Unlike airlines, Amtrak doesn't sell more tickets than seats on LD trains. However, specific seats aren't pre-assigned. So, it is possible that it was suggested to these students that if they all wanted to sit together, that they might be able to do such in the lounge car.

If there are obviously drunk people who are causing a "scene", the concerned passenger needs to make the conductor aware of it in a timely manor. Maintaining one's silence and only later mentioning it to a reporter, doesn't allow Amtrak an opportunity to correct the problem.

 

[AlanB]

As far as overbooking, I've never heard of that on LD trains (not that that means much, there are far more of you with far more experience than I).

Unlike airlines, Amtrak doesn't sell more tickets than seats on LD trains. However, specific seats aren't pre-assigned. So, it is possible that it was suggested to these students that if they all wanted to sit together, that they might be able to do such in the lounge car.

Actually while it doesn't happen too often, there are times when an LD train does get oversold. It can happen if a train from the day before missed a connection and it can happen if people screw up and show up on the wrong day. And that does happen, and generally Amtrak will try to accomodate them, even though they are there on the wrong day.

If there are obviously drunk people who are causing a "scene", the concerned passenger needs to make the conductor aware of it in a timely manor. Maintaining one's silence and only later mentioning it to a reporter, doesn't allow Amtrak an opportunity to correct the problem.

The employee in the lounge car can make some suggestions to those creating a disturbance, but beyond that they can't do too much more. It's up to the conductor to deal with that problem and most do so and quite harshly if their first warning is ignored. Harsh in the sense that ignoring the conductor's warning to chill out usually results in a police car meeting the train at the next crossing or station and giving those causing a problem a free night in the local jail.

I've seen this happen with my own eyes, so I know what I speak of.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I agree Alan but do feel that on board staff sometimes are nowhere to be found or slow to find

the conductor if asked by pax!I too have seen unruly and under the influence cretins(thats what they are!)

taken off @ an unscheduled stop and deservedly so!

 

[Crescent ATN & TCL]

As far as overbooking, I've never heard of that on LD trains (not that that means much, there are far more of you with far more experience than I).

Unlike airlines, Amtrak doesn't sell more tickets than seats on LD trains. However, specific seats aren't pre-assigned. So, it is possible that it was suggested to these students that if they all wanted to sit together, that they might be able to do such in the lounge car.

Actually while it doesn't happen too often, there are times when an LD train does get oversold. It can happen if a train from the day before missed a connection and it can happen if people screw up and show up on the wrong day. And that does happen, and generally Amtrak will try to accomodate them, even though they are there on the wrong day.

I've also been told by conductors that ARROW doesn't account for varying numbers of seats in the different coach configurations. He said if a 4 coach train was assigned the lowest capacity coaches for all 4 coaches and ARROW sold out the seats for the highest capacity coaches the extra passengers would almost fill up the cafe car.

 

[Tony]

IMHO, I think this reporter is looking for a story, even if doing such means a bit of an exaggeration or "spin".

Of course I wasn't on this particular train, but I have been on enough trains to know that if a large group of people, in this case students, wanted to all sit together in coach, there might not be a group of empty seats available. That doesn't mean there aren't enough seats to accommodate them, just not all together.

In those circumstances, I can easily foresee an Amtrak employee offering the suggestion that they could possibly all go to the Lounge Car to socialize together during their journey.

It is just such a suggestion might not be as "villainous" as the reporter wanted for his story.

 

[MikefromCrete]

If this guy is actually a reporter, he should be dealing with Amtrak public relations, rather than one of us. While we may have opinions on Amtrak operations and policies and even actual experience, nobody here is an official source.

 

[frj1983]

Could be that like most reporters, he/she has little to no experience with Railroads in general and Amtrak in particular!

 

[MrFSS]

If this guy is actually a reporter, he should be dealing with Amtrak public relations, rather than one of us. While we may have opinions on Amtrak operations and policies and even actual experience, nobody here is an official source.

I agree with what you say. An article about Amtrak should be based on what Amtrak has to say about the situation.

 

[Tony]

I agree with what you say. An article about Amtrak should be based on what Amtrak has to say about the situation.

Why would it be wrong to interview actual passengers, for their take on Amtrak travel?

 

[haolerider]

Today, I received an email from a reporter at the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Oregon, looking for answers to the following questions for a news story. If anyone would like to take these on, feel free to reply here and I'll forward the link to the reporter.

—What’s the policy if the train is overbooked? Some students who boarded were told to go sit in the lounge car because there weren’t enough despite them having tickets. While it’s great they didn’t get “bumped” because of overbooking, can they received a rebate because they didn’t technically have seats?
—The train was three hours late to the station because of an accident involving a farm trailer on the tracks. This is obviously not the fault of Amtrak, but how often do delays occur as the result of collisions with vehicles on the tracks? Or for other reasons? Are there any protocols being adopted to reduce accidents and delays?

—Down in the club car, about five men who had obviously had too many drinks were yelling obscene and sometimes sexist remarks at the tables across the hall. I would not have wanted children to hear. No attendants stepped in to say anything, though three were right there. How are disturbances with drunken passengers supposed to be dealt with?

—I noticed a fair amount of food scraps and other assorted garbage in various spots of the passenger car I was in. How often are passenger cars cleaned?

Anthony: these questions need to be aswered by Amtrak Media Relations. They are the only department authorized to speak on behalf of Amtrak.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

OTOH, given the fact that Amtrak is a semi-governmental institution, and given both the recent (over years) climate of secrecy and of highly spinned government-generated propaganda that was then dished out for public consumption, this reporter may be making a genuine effort through internet research to understand the subject matter enough to have a chance of "finding the truth" and then to report it, rather than to simply regurgitate a highly polished and spinned response that he or she expects to receive from the organization itself. I would be inclined to give him or her the benefit of the doubt and try to provide both a source location at Amtrak AND our collective take and background info on the questions provided. If nothing else, if the reporter has our responses when he or she contacts Amtrak, it would give the reporter a little insight going in, to possibly use as ammunition with Amtrak if all he or she gets in response is obviously spin. Ultimately, what the public reads of what the reporter ends up writing is at least partially in our hands. Amtrak will probably tell him/her what the rules are. We can tell him/her, from experience, what typically actually happens. And the reading public will be better informed and prepared from that. And the pols are more likely to take corrective action if warranted, if they get both sides of the story.

 

[had8ley]

OTOH, given the fact that Amtrak is a semi-governmental institution, and given both the recent (over years) climate of secrecy and of highly spinned government-generated propaganda that was then dished out for public consumption, this reporter may be making a genuine effort through internet research to understand the subject matter enough to have a chance of "finding the truth" and then to report it, rather than to simply regurgitate a highly polished and spinned response that he or she expects to receive from the organization itself. I would be inclined to give him or her the benefit of the doubt and try to provide both a source location at Amtrak AND our collective take and background info on the questions provided. If nothing else, if the reporter has our responses when he or she contacts Amtrak, it would give the reporter a little insight going in, to possibly use as ammunition with Amtrak if all he or she gets in response is obviously spin. Ultimately, what the public reads of what the reporter ends up writing is at least partially in our hands. Amtrak will probably tell him/her what the rules are. We can tell him/her, from experience, what typically actually happens. And the reading public will be better informed and prepared from that. And the pols are more likely to take corrective action if warranted, if they get both sides of the story.

Great post~ glad to see you back!

 

[ruudkeulers]

OTOH, given the fact that Amtrak is a semi-governmental institution, and given both the recent (over years) climate of secrecy and of highly spinned government-generated propaganda that was then dished out for public consumption, this reporter may be making a genuine effort through internet research to understand the subject matter enough to have a chance of "finding the truth" and then to report it, rather than to simply regurgitate a highly polished and spinned response that he or she expects to receive from the organization itself. I would be inclined to give him or her the benefit of the doubt and try to provide both a source location at Amtrak AND our collective take and background info on the questions provided. If nothing else, if the reporter has our responses when he or she contacts Amtrak, it would give the reporter a little insight going in, to possibly use as ammunition with Amtrak if all he or she gets in response is obviously spin. Ultimately, what the public reads of what the reporter ends up writing is at least partially in our hands. Amtrak will probably tell him/her what the rules are. We can tell him/her, from experience, what typically actually happens. And the reading public will be better informed and prepared from that. And the pols are more likely to take corrective action if warranted, if they get both sides of the story.

Great post~ glad to see you back!

As a journalist myself I couldn't agree more!

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

Please kindly direct this person to the Amtrak Governemnt and Media Relations Department at 202-906-3860. Thanks

Second that...

OBS gone freight...

 

[Amtrak OBS Gone Freight]

OTOH, given the fact that Amtrak is a semi-governmental institution, and given both the recent (over years) climate of secrecy and of highly spinned government-generated propaganda that was then dished out for public consumption, this reporter may be making a genuine effort through internet research to understand the subject matter enough to have a chance of "finding the truth" and then to report it, rather than to simply regurgitate a highly polished and spinned response that he or she expects to receive from the organization itself. I would be inclined to give him or her the benefit of the doubt and try to provide both a source location at Amtrak AND our collective take and background info on the questions provided. If nothing else, if the reporter has our responses when he or she contacts Amtrak, it would give the reporter a little insight going in, to possibly use as ammunition with Amtrak if all he or she gets in response is obviously spin. Ultimately, what the public reads of what the reporter ends up writing is at least partially in our hands. Amtrak will probably tell him/her what the rules are. We can tell him/her, from experience, what typically actually happens. And the reading public will be better informed and prepared from that. And the pols are more likely to take corrective action if warranted, if they get both sides of the story.

Point well taken, however, at least one of those questions pertains to company policy and overall operation/customer service practices. And while many of us here are able to provide adequate answers to those questions, this person should start by going straight to Amtrak on those matters! And after that, then be free to move on from there to find what they believe is the real truth in regard to their agenda.

OBS gone freight...

 

[MrFSS]

You would think that if this reporter wanted un-biased (or maybe biased) opinions from folks on this forum they would register and join and begin asking questions the way all of us did when we first came here. They wouldn't have to say they were a reporter at all, just ask some questions and see where it goes.

 

[ruudkeulers]

They wouldn't have to say they were a reporter at all, just ask some questions and see where it goes.

Which I would regard totally unethical and a shame to my profession.

 

[caravanman]

As the question was posted by Mr Amtrak Unlimited himself, Anthony, member #1, it is hard to know quite how to respond..

I would say from my own experiences that staff do not intervene as quickly as they should towards rowdy or anti-social behaviour in the lounge or observation car. The public are not that respectfull of authority these days, and staff might feel it is beyond their mandate to control "annoying but not violent" behaviour.

The trains are not as clean as they should be, or could be!

Overbooking is quite rare, it seems a good and fair thing that travellers get something back if denied a booked and paid for seat...

I am all for undercover reporting.. we need the inside story, not the P.R. spin from the official press office !

Ed

 

[MrFSS]

They wouldn't have to say they were a reporter at all, just ask some questions and see where it goes.

Which I would regard totally unethical and a shame to my profession.

What's the difference in the reporter asking Anthony and then Anthony asking us. Anthony could have asked the questions without telling us why.

The report should come to the source, announced or unannounced as a reporter.

 

[AlanB]

I've also been told by conductors that ARROW doesn't account for varying numbers of seats in the different coach configurations. He said if a 4 coach train was assigned the lowest capacity coaches for all 4 coaches and ARROW sold out the seats for the highest capacity coaches the extra passengers would almost fill up the cafe car.

Except that most cars have the same amount of seats. All Amfleet II's have the same number of seats, unless a seat is broken. All Superliner cars have the same number of seats, except for the coach/bag and that ARROW does recognize.

Frankly the place for the biggest varriance might be on Regional and short hauls, and even there there are only about 14 cars that are odd balls in terms of seating.