I just completed trips on both #2 and #1 in the past several weeks. The reservatins were made last September.
That was almost certainly a Superliner II. Ironically, while they look older they are actually the newest Superliners. They were delivered in the early 1990s. The Superliner Is, delivered in 1980, look much newer as they were refurbished in the 2000s. The HVAC and internal plumbing were largely untouched in that refurb though. Those core systems certainly were not replaced or extensively rebuilt as part of that refurb.
Sad to say but I agree with you.
I'm the most frequent rider on the Sunset Limited, have around 900,000 miles on Amtrak. To answer your situation, you have to understand that these are not the "good old days of passenger trains" as just 1-2 percent of the traveling public take trains. Amtrak is a bureaucracy and it's also a way for the freight railroads to "milk" the federal government since they know they own the tracks and the federal government wants to keep these trains going. Believe me, your complaints are legitimate, but right now Amtrak is under bad management (CEO) and under pressure to cut expenses as, even though people are returning to traveling by train, the COVID hit Amtrak really hard. A bureaucracy, as Amtrak is, takes a long long time to adjust to reality, Me and you adjust to changing situations on a daily basis, but a bureaucracy doesn't happen that way. By the way I was going from Houston to LAX today 9/10, the train was cancelled, so I rescheduled to 9/13. I'm a die hard Amtrak rider till the end but have come to understand how it really is, you have to.
Good question. I'm guessing that was the "simple" answer.
We were on 49 about 6 or 7 years ago and walking from the Boston sleeper to the dining car in the morning I noticed that all but two of the toilets in the numerous coaches were closed and out of service. The crew had no explanation for the problem. As I recall, the toilets in the Boston sleeper were working.
You know, it's not just Amtrak in my own honest and humble opinion. It kinda seems to me like nothing in America works very well anymore. I'm old enough that I know how things were 50+ years ago and they weren't like this! Things really got bad in our country when the pandemic hit but nonetheless, I noticed the trend even before that.
I was getting so nervous about the #422 woes, with regard to my planned October trip, between horribly late trains, missed connection at San Antonio (as happened again today), and was not wanting to find out on the 13th or even train day that the TE422 was cancelled.
Nice Plan B, you are correct about the Sunset/Eagles troubles, UP is really sticking it to Amtrak on this route!
In our case, last week on the Sunset Limited, we were put on a bus from San Antonio to NOLA. Not what we paid for. Amtrak emailed my husband and me their apologies along with a voucher that we think is totally inadequate. Not sure how to address that.Feeling bad about the cancellation, but wonder how the passengers on the in-bound trip felt.
“Sorry the bathroom are off line, next stop 5 hours, but no station just a platform. So walk a 1/2 mile to the McDees. No worries we will wait.”
Call the USA rail or guest rewards line and ask for a guest relations representative. They should be able to issue you a voucher. Usually they offer a fair amount.
We have been compensated several times but it always amounts to a pittance compared to the inconvenience and disruption to our travel plans which took place. Good Luck.
I've been lucky in the past with reimbursements but Amtrak's Bean Counters seem to have been ordered to cut back on the make good Vouchers!
That's a pretty sad commentary on the state of Amtrak.
