Return From 4th of July on Texas Eagle (AUS > SAS)

[Devil's Advocate]

I was heading back to San Antonio after spending the 4th of July weekend in Austin. I had rode up with a friend who had to head back before I did so I got online and snagged an Amtrak reservation for $20. Normally they're under $15 even at the last minute but for some reason the tickets were 30% more this time. Either way it's not a huge expense so no biggie. The website said the train was running on time which means a lot to me. It also makes things a lot easier for those dropping me off or picking me up. We jumped in the car and headed to the station a little early just in case traffic was bad or something went wrong. Sure enough we got a little confused about where the station was and we had to do a little back-tracking. Oh well, we found it easily enough.

The station building in Austin is ugly, even compared to San Antonio, but the attendant has always been friendly and helpful. I saw him helping folks in all sorts of ways, from simple inquires to helping a blind man navigate the station to helping someone get a stuck bottle out of the vending machine! Talk about first class. I really need to write a thank you letter to Amtrak about his guy. The train arrived pretty close to when the attendant had estimated. The "last call" notice played as people were still detraining so we started lining up to begin the not so efficient Austin boarding process. It's not unworkable but I don't understand why they can't divide up the task of checking tickets among multiple attendants instead of funneling all coach pax through the conductor. He was pretty quick for one guy and friendlier than the last conductor I had on the TE. I got on and the coach class was about 50% full by my rough estimate.

The train started to move and then stopped again for a few additional minutes with no explanation given. Then finally we were off. I had a rather annoying neighbor who was singing to somebody through his mobile phone so I grabbed my laptop and went off to the lounge. The lounge was loud and a little dirty with trash on the floor and scuff marks on the tables. I got a drink and sat down. Looking around I could see that the highway traffic was traveling much faster than our train which follows roughly the same route. As a result a trip that can take as little as 90 minutes by car is blocked for 180 minutes by train, which seems bizarre to me but I guess that's just how these things are. This time I got a chance to smell the infamous backed-up toilets. Oh god. Please make it go away. Well, god wasn't available so I spent the entire trip in the non-sightseer lounge car just to get away from the abnormal funk.

A couple of us inquired with the lounge attendant as to why they didn't have a sightseer lounge car or dining staff, but he didn't seem to know or care. I spent about an hour chatting with a girl I met in the lounge and before I knew it we were back in San Antonio about an hour early. Luckily my ride was able to pick me up early or I'd be stuck at the station for quite a while. The toilet smell was pretty bad, no idea what was going on there, but I was glad to be able to get away from it. When I was leaving the coach car smell seemed to have improved so I guess they managed to do something about it while on the move. The staff on this trip ranged from indifferent to good, so no serious problems there. Some folks were pretty friendly so that was nice. I also received a form in the mail to fill out regarding a previous trip on the Eagle, so maybe Amtrak is taking an interest in how well these crews are doing. However, if I wanted to send a freeform letter who and where should I send it to in order to get the most eyeballs on it?

 

[stntylr]

Austin has a site for a new station picked out. It's only a couple of hundred yards away from the current site by the seahorn power plant and would be shared with Lone Star Rail.

 

[AlanB]

The "last call" notice played as people were still detraining so we started lining up to begin the not so efficient Austin boarding process. It's not unworkable but I don't understand why they can't divide up the task of checking tickets among multiple attendants instead of funneling all coach pax through the conductor. He was pretty quick for one guy and friendlier than the last conductor I had on the TE. I got on and the coach class was about 50% full by my rough estimate.

That would be because only the conductor is officially supposed to deal with tickets. Attendants are not supposed to collect tickets or deal with revenue management in any way. That's not to say that there aren't still some sleeping car attendants who will for the convienence of their passengers collect the tickets for the conductor. But again, officially they aren't supposed to do that.

I also received a form in the mail to fill out regarding a previous trip on the Eagle, so maybe Amtrak is taking an interest in how well these crews are doing. However, if I wanted to send a freeform letter who and where should I send it to in order to get the most eyeballs on it?

Send it to the 60 Mass Ave address found in every time table and on the website. You can just address it to customer service if you like, they do actually read them, or you can consider sending it to either Mr. Boardman or Mr. Emmett Fremaux VP of product management and marketing.

 

[Bob Dylan]

daxomni: found your comments about your Eagle trip and Austin interesting since I live in Austin and ride this train often.(25-30 times a year)As the previous poster said Austin has plans (read in the next 5-10 years :lol: )for a new intermodel station up the tracks past all the new condos.We are slowly struggling with our transportation gridlock problems and our crack bus/rail operator CapMetro is slowly coming out of its cave to join the 21st Century! (ie the new Redline/plans for expansion and weekend service etc.) As to the location, even natives have trouble finding this station (old MP),it's not exactly easy since they closed the road that crossed the tracks next to the station for the new condos!(where people are complaining about the noise from the trains! )

As to the Eagles, others have pointed out the poor job the yard crew is doing in CHI cleaning/servicing the train since it started running through with the CONO, it's a long way from NOL-CHI-SAS-CHI-NOL!! :help: Also the diner crew gets off in Austin,lays over so diner on the SB is @ 4;30PM and breakfast comes in a box the next morning as you know!This is because Amtrak doesnt want to pay the crew for the time from AUS-SAS-AUS, it will change when the daily CHI-LAX train starts,whenever that is?(perhaps in our lifetimes?? <_< )I know all the conductors on this route (SAS-FTW )and have found them to be friendly/helpful and on occasion even make excellent and amusing announcements!A CCC is being substituted more and more for the Sightseer Lounge, which is not good as we all know, Amtrak doesnt have any spare diners and lounges but plenty of CCCs hence the substitute when a lounge or diner is bad ordered!( they even do this on the CS when a PPC is on bad order! )Your comments about the fare increase is happening all over , even this train has been running full most days this year, sleepers are twice what low bucket normally is, also you rode on short notice during a holiday period hence the higher fare! (I pay $10 Senior rate!)Totally agree about the padding on the the schedule to SAS, even the infamous IH35 is twice as fast to drive AUS-SAS, and the great circle route into the station takes way too long, this should be @ most a 90 minute trip but UP freight traffic is picking up! Also there's lots of track work around here, some of the tracks have been ignored for years!Alan answered the part about how/who to contact, also call customer service, e-mails dont get far in Amtraks system, bring a canned response!Unfortunately the route manager in SAS seems to have a need to engineer his desk, Ive seen him once on all the hundreds of trips Ive made through the years on this route!BTW, one thing you may want to do is become an activist in SAS to see if you can help the City once again let Amtrak use the old Sunset Depot which sits empty most days and nights while the small Amshack is over flowing with pax and street people! :help: Totally agree that the agents in Austin and SAS are friendly and helpful, Alan addressed the boarding problem re lines/slowness, however the SCAs do pull tickets in Austin, SAS as you know has the "line up @ the red poles"policy!

 

[RailFanLNK]

I was on the Eagles in the last week and both were full to the brim. Both ways were sold out and we even had a diner on one of the trips and got to experience the CCC car back. The thing I don't like about the CCC is they are SO LOUD! With the non-carpet floors the place is like eating at a 110 decibel concert. I couldn't hear myself think nor understand what my lunchmates were attempting to say to me. All in all, the crews were very good and we had a SCA named Jim that was tops!

 

[Guest]

You are correct about your SCA Jim, he's in the OBS Hall of Fame IMO!Also interesting about the comparison between a real diner and the CCC, totally agree also!(that's the first diner Ive heard of on the eagles in a long time!)