What should Amtrak change?

[AM_ROAD]

I rode my first train service on Amtrak in 5 years a couple of days ago on the Surfliner.

I will say the scheduling isa major issue with me, especially on long distance trains. I wanted to take an overnight from San Diego to SF and it just doesn't exist. If we had more overnight trains with adequate sleeper accommodations it trumps a trains travel time disadvantage.

 

[drdumont]

I envision the new Amtrak coaches will have a Smart Attendant Call Button and the ability to text to your Car Attendant or Conductor with requests such as at seat or in room dining, the Ability to pre order your meal like on the plane etc.

Also I envision pre reserved seating where you can select your seat on Amtrak.com or via the application. To can see where other passengers are going. Also the ability to add special needs requests so when a passenger with a disability activates their call button a tone sounds on the IPAD and the Car Attendant knows that this passenger has a disability.

If there is a medical emergency Pasdebgers would be instructed to press the call button there times in rapid succession which wood activate the Rapid Response Team and an alert to the Engineer, Dispatch and Amtrak Police to be ready for any emergency. An automated message would go out over the PA and radios Emergency Response Seat,77 Car 339

Also the system would tile all response no matter how big or small to ensure that passengers are attended to.

In addition I envision making your meal reservation times online or on the app 24 hours before. Those in bedrooms can make it 72 hours in advance. I don't like having to remain in your seat or room for reservations.

With this system Coach Passengers can use points or cash to pay for the meal. Also it can be used for the Cafe Car . You will get a message before it's ready. Or the option to schedule it for later. This way inventory can be controlled.


What are your thoughts?

I would settle for edible food, pleasant onboard attendants, 7 day a week service on the Sunset from MIA-LAX (Hell, even JAX-LAX). How about ELP-DAL-NOL? Return of the Sightseer lounges, actual timetables (PDF is OK), and a non Byzantine reservation website that lets you put a rez on hold, even for 8 hours while you try to put the rest of the trip together.
An old man can dream, can't he?

 

[zephyr17]

I rode my first train service on Amtrak in 5 years a couple of days ago on the Surfliner.

I will say the scheduling isa major issue with me, especially on long distance trains. I wanted to take an overnight from San Diego to SF and it just doesn't exist. If we had more overnight trains with adequate sleeper accommodations it trumps a trains travel time disadvantage.

Since that is less than 750 miles it would be up to California, or one of joint powers boards, to contract for it and fund it. Amtrak is legislatively barred from doing it on its own hook.

CalTrans has been generally disinterested in overnight trains since the Spirit of California in the 80s. There was some desultory talk about running an inland train that would go over Tehachapi overnight some years ago, but I don't think it was very serious and it got zero traction.

There doesn't appear to be much, if any, interest by any agency in an overnight Southern California to Bay Area overnight train, on either a coastal or valley route, and little to no public pressure to induce them to get interested.

 

[Asher]

If I had my druthers I’d like to be able to ride a train from San Diego to Seattle in the daylight. Never going to happen.

 

[zephyr17]

If I had my druthers I’d like to be able to ride a train from San Diego to Seattle in the daylight. Never going to happen.

Yeah, the earth's rotation probably isn't going to stop or slow to keep a 36 hour long trip all in daytime.

 

[west point]

Change Amtrak's bonus system to only award when 70% of all equipment is in revenue service and in 6 months 80 %. That will take an act of congress unless the board of directors wakes up.

 

[John Santos]

Change Amtrak's bonus system to only award when 70% of all equipment is in revenue service and in 6 months 80 %. That will take an act of congress unless the board of directors wakes up.

I think that would leave things open to some middle manager declaring 20% of the equipment is unserviceable due to burned out light bulbs and sell it for salvage, thus raising the percentage of equipment in service at the stroke of a pen and getting a nice fat bonus without increasing the number of rail cars in use. You can't make criteria such as this depend on percentages without very carefully defining what it is a percentage of.

 

[Asher]

Yeah, the earth's rotation probably isn't going to stop or slow to keep a 36 hour long trip all in daytime.

Yep. It is a shame, at times train travel at night is more endurance than enjoyment

 

[Widfara]

I agree with needing an onboard manager, and proper training of the onboard crew, and a passenger service manual that they actually adhere to. Too much of what is wrong with individual trips is due to not enough supervision, allowing, for instance, the CSA decides not to make coffee; the conductor takes up the whole dining car to do his paperwork; the cafe car attendant arbitrarily decides to open late, or close early, etc. The onboard staff is there to serve the passengers, but too many see the passengers needs/wants/desires as bothersome. Like the college professor who said, "This would be a pretty decent place to work if I didn't have to deal with the students."

 

[Cal H]

Wow, three years and a twisty winding path to page 31! I read it all, and I have questions…

What did/has Amtrak done with the 66 billion - with a “B”?
Some engines & new rail cars of all types ordered and beginning to be delivered? What else?

What seems to be a near universal complaint is food on board. If Amtrak does not want or cannot deliver, why couldn’t this service be contracted out? And why not offer a “meal ticket” that could be purchased by anyone? Riding the Crescent from NOL home to ATL in coach, I would very much like a nice supper - but being in coach I can buy a cheeseburger or a hot dog, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

 

[jis]

What did/has Amtrak done with the 66 billion - with a “B”?
Some engines & new rail cars of all types ordered and beginning to be delivered? What else?

NEC SOGR. A bunch of bridge replacements, Baltimore and Hudson Tunnels etc. is a major chunk of change from that. Also all of the 66 Billion is not pre-appropriated. Quite a bit of it is Authorization which has not been fully Appropriated as was expected.

All of that money is Capital.None of it is Expense money so cannot be used for service improvement. It can only be used for fixing up and/or acquiring hardware.

 

[Sunrobber]

Wow, three years and a twisty winding path to page 31! I read it all, and I have questions…

What did/has Amtrak done with the 66 billion - with a “B”?
Some engines & new rail cars of all types ordered and beginning to be delivered? What else?

What seems to be a near universal complaint is food on board. If Amtrak does not want or cannot deliver, why couldn’t this service be contracted out? And why not offer a “meal ticket” that could be purchased by anyone? Riding the Crescent from NOL home to ATL in coach, I would very much like a nice supper - but being in coach I can buy a cheeseburger or a hot dog, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Let’s add to the complaint along with the food is the lack of a comfortable “mattress” in on the sleeping bunks.

 

[MARC Rider]

What I think is most important is that all the trains should run reliably on schedule every day with bustitutions available, if necessary, so that nobody gets stranded in some strange town at an inconvenient hour with no alternative transportation or emergency lodging, or, even worse, just gets sent back to their point of origin with nothing more than a refund.

 

[zephyr17]

What I think is most important is that all the trains should run reliably on schedule every day with bustitutions available, if necessary, so that nobody gets stranded in some strange town at an inconvenient hour with no alternative transportation or emergency lodging, or, even worse, just gets sent back to their point of origin with nothing more than a refund.

Although more reliable schedules would be great, Amtrak remains at the mercy of the hosts.

I fully agree with you about bustitutions. In the past, Amtrak almost always responded to derailments or other line closures with bus bridges or sometimes detours. This business of returning to origin without alternate transportation is a new and distressing development. If they are going to turn the consists around anyway, why not bus passengers around the problem and let them continue? That is what they used to do.

That isn't Amtrak Future, but a return to a more reliable and humane Amtrak Past.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

What seems to be a near universal complaint is food on board. If Amtrak does not want or cannot deliver, why couldn’t this service be contracted out? And why not offer a “meal ticket” that could be purchased by anyone? Riding the Crescent from NOL home to ATL in coach, I would very much like a nice supper - but being in coach I can buy a cheeseburger or a hot dog, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

They have brought back traditional dining to the western LD and the Florida trains, which few if any have complaints about. Amd they have committed to improvements elsewhere, with a study group in process. And they do allow dining car access to coach passengers on select routes. so, basically, it's happening. There has been real progress on this front, just not as fast as might be hoped for.

 

[Cal]

They have brought back traditional dining to the western LD and the Florida trains, which few if any have complaints about. Amd they have committed to improvements elsewhere, with a study group in process. And they do allow dining car access to coach passengers on select routes. so, basically, it's happening. There has been real progress on this front, just not as fast as might be hoped for.

And the table setup on the LSL is the same as it is for traditional dining, and they plate the flex meals. So at least they look presentable. Not sure if it's the same for the CL and Crescent.

 

[MARC Rider]

Although more reliable schedules would be great, Amtrak remains at the mercy of the hosts.

Also at the mercy of weather, landslides, wildfires, etc. And that affects the reliability of freight service, too. I don't see highways closed down with the frequency that we see major rail lines shut. And the road network is such that if a stretch of highway is closed there are alternative detours.

And reasonably reliable service is essential if passenger rail is to be considered part of our transportation network and not just a nostalgic touristic experience.

 

[Lonnie]

Let’s add to the complaint along with the food is the lack of a comfortable “mattress” in on the sleeping bunks.

Riding in sleeper is a bit like camping. The first time you do it, you discover all the ways it's different from (not as comfortable as) sleeping at home. The second time, you come armed with the extras. For me, that's a small blanket that I fold to a certain thickness and remake the bed with it under the sheet, plus an extra pillow. That takes the edge off just enough to actually get back to sleep the five times I awaken in the night. And in the superliner, I remake the upper bunk so I can crawl in head first (since going up the "ladder" the head is first) and exit so that the feet are in position to be the first to go down. Honestly, I have no idea how people climb to the top and get their legs swung around to pointing away from the "ladder" end, and then doing that in the middle of the night!

 

[Cal H]

A quick question here if I may. If the LD train is underway and then canceled due to freight derailment, bridge out or whatever… there is talk of turning the train around and returning to the starting point. How, exactly, do they do that? Surely not backing all the way? But you can’t do a three point turn either

Asking as someone that doesn’t ride “backwards” very well… to the point I might be puking my guts out in pretty short order

 

[jis]

A quick question here if I may. If the LD train is underway and then canceled due to freight derailment, bridge out or whatever… there is talk of turning the train around and returning to the starting point. How, exactly, do they do that? Surely not backing all the way? But you can’t do a three point turn either

Asking as someone that doesn’t ride “backwards” very well… to the point I might be puking my guts out in pretty short order

Amtrak Long Distance train Coach seats can be turned in place, so even if they simply hook the locos in the back and run back to where they came from, most likely they would turn the seats to face forward.

 

[Cal]

A quick question here if I may. If the LD train is underway and then canceled due to freight derailment, bridge out or whatever… there is talk of turning the train around and returning to the starting point. How, exactly, do they do that? Surely not backing all the way? But you can’t do a three point turn either

Asking as someone that doesn’t ride “backwards” very well… to the point I might be puking my guts out in pretty short order

I think the last train that was truncated in ABQ was actually wyed. IIRC when it ran back to LA it was in its normal position with sleepers in the front and coaches in the back. If they had just ran around the engines the sleepers would be in the back .

 

[jpakala]

We

And the table setup on the LSL is the same as it is for traditional dining, and they plate the flex meals. So at least they look presentable. Not sure if it's the same for the CL and Crescent.

We took the CL from Chicago to DC and back several days later. No, there were no tablecloths, silverware or plates. We ate from the flex meal containers. One direction at least or maybe both, the meals were placed on the tables in sizeable white paper bags. As I recall, in at least one direction the traveler's room number was written on the bag and depending on which timeframe and meal choices you told the SCA, the bags were on tables when you entered the dining car. Nobody needed to share tables, evidently because some people had the bags delivered to their rooms.

 

[zetharion]

At this point seeing ANYTHING invested into the Texas Eaglette would be nice. Wash the windows, turn down the AC, add Marie Calendars Swedish Meatballs and Black Cherry KoolAid to the Flex Dining menu, a dining car no matter how old, a sightseer lounge no matter how old, just SOMETHING to show it isn't an abandoned route.

 

[JWM]

The first item would be to put some "teeth" into the requirement that Amtrak trains have priority over freight trains on the contracted railroads. Stiff fines are needed and maybe, just maybe, they will get the message. Then would come faster running times, better and more reliable connections etc.

Second would be clean trains, inside and out, decent food service (dining cars on overnight trains) and better mattresses in sleeping cars (too hard people tell me). Also, realistic appropriations from the Congress (you know how to vote for this in November) for new long distance equipment, track upgrades and more. It can be done but it takes vision.

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

better mattresses in sleeping cars (too hard people tell me

I haven't been in the sleeping car on Amtrak in over 40 years (and that was in Slumbercoach, and I was in my 20s at the time), so I'll have to take the word of others as to how comfortable/uncomfortable mattresses are in the sleepers currently. I remember my son quickly added a mattress topper to the cheap thin mattress in his law school apartment; would adding toppers to existing sleeping car mattresses be less expensive for Amtrak than just replacing all of the mattresses with thicker ones? Or could passengers bring their own toppers (probably sleeping bag-size, to fit the typical roomette bunk) as a DIY interim fix, the way some passengers bring their own pillows?