Winona, MN to become unstaffed soon

[jebr]

The Winona Amtrak station will be a lonelier place to visit soon, after the company removes the last remaining staff member.

The move is part of a company-wide program of attrition, which will leave St. Paul and La Crosse as the only staffed stations in the area.

Full article

 

[Lonestar648]

Unfortunately, Amtrak, along with other companies, has to become more and more automated, therefore fewer and fewer employees in the field, maybe one or two more in IT. It is sad to lose the personal interaction, though a few agents will not be missed.

 

[peconicstation]

Do any of the other stations along this route have caretakers that open the station buildings for waiting ?

Ken

 

[lyke99]

Winona is my regular station so this comes as a disappointment. This seems to be a pattern emerging - agent leaving due to retirement or other opportunity; close the agency, end checked baggage service, hire a caretaker to open and close the station around train times. I think it is terribly short-sighted to keep cutting staff in the field.

The agent in Winona was always much more helpful and informative than the online status function of the website. He would give you train times and update those times after the train left either La Crosse or Red Wing, then listen to the radio to figure out when we should brave the cold/heat/rain/bugs, depending on the season, and stand near trackside (since the Winona station is set back from the platform). Often saying things like, "Well, they got past ______ siding and that's the last place they could have been delayed, so they should be here in 10 minutes." I doubt the online status updates will be that informative now to make up for the lack of an agent.

One last thought: Amtrak has all these new baggage cars and they keep slowly cutting checked baggage service. What's up with that?

 

[jebr]

Do any of the other stations along this route have caretakers that open the station buildings for waiting ?

Ken

Yes. All the unstaffed Amtrak train stations in Minnesota have a caretaker opening and closing them. Don't know about the other stations on the route.

 

[Anderson]

Winona is my regular station so this comes as a disappointment. This seems to be a pattern emerging - agent leaving due to retirement or other opportunity; close the agency, end checked baggage service, hire a caretaker to open and close the station around train times. I think it is terribly short-sighted to keep cutting staff in the field.

The agent in Winona was always much more helpful and informative than the online status function of the website. He would give you train times and update those times after the train left either La Crosse or Red Wing, then listen to the radio to figure out when we should brave the cold/heat/rain/bugs, depending on the season, and stand near trackside (since the Winona station is set back from the platform). Often saying things like, "Well, they got past ______ siding and that's the last place they could have been delayed, so they should be here in 10 minutes." I doubt the online status updates will be that informative now to make up for the lack of an agent.

One last thought: Amtrak has all these new baggage cars and they keep slowly cutting checked baggage service. What's up with that?

The old baggage cars were going to pieces; there were too many stints of cut maintenance between the 1970s and early 2000s and so they had to be replaced. They were also causing speed restriction issues on the NEC and potentially on any other routes that might get upgraded past about 90 MPH (I forget whether they triggered a limit of 100 or 110).

That being said, ideally they'd find a way to create a "trainside baggage check" service of some sort for more stops.

 

[Lonestar648]

Just a thought, maybe if Amtrak carried a "Baggage Handler" who is also part of the OBS team or an additional Asst. Conductor, a system could be set-up where passengers drop their bags at a designated spot to get tagged and loaded into the Baggage Car. Since the bags would be organized by destination, the Handler could have the bags ready for quick pick up, any not collected, would have to be reloaded since the station has no staff. Yes, there would be the additional cost of the Handler, but with the cost savings of no staff at more and more stations, this headcount is spread out over the number of stations baggage could be worked. Yes, some additional time might may be required, but with some efficiency procedures, that could be kept to a minimum. Of course efficiency, customer service, and Amtrak are contradictions of each other.

 

[Eric S]

The idea of a baggage handler on board is an interesting one - I'd be curious to see how the numbers work out. I do think it's likely that we're heading toward a situation where only a few stations are staffed (for two trains/day stations, only the larger/busier ones like Atlanta, Denver, Memphis, St. Paul, and such) and there are a whole lot more like Grand Forks and Winona. Would having a baggage handler allow Amtrak to drop station agents at all stations with fewer than 25,000 pax/year (or whatever number makes sense, that was just a guess) and keep checked baggage service on long distance trains and reduce costs?

 

[haolerider]

Actually, I think Amtrak has been generous in allowing some of these senior agents to retire before going unstaffed. It is difficult to justify a full time agent with full benefits in a smaller station with small revenue. I realize that for passengers who have benefited from the full service of agents , such as in Winona, it is difficult, but e-ticketing and information online has allowed unstaffed stations to become a reality. Self check-out in grocery stores and big box stores are now common place. Is it good customer service, probably not, but it saves money!

 

[the_traveler]

I agree. Even at a "busy" station like KIN (which has on average 1 train stopping every 2 hours in each direction) it is staffed by 1 agent. However, I can't remember the last time I went to the window. Even before e-tickets, I used the QT.

 

[lyke99]

One last thought: Amtrak has all these new baggage cars and they keep slowly cutting checked baggage service. What's up with that?

The old baggage cars were going to pieces; there were too many stints of cut maintenance between the 1970s and early 2000s and so they had to be replaced.

That being said, ideally they'd find a way to create a "trainside baggage check" service of some sort for more stops.

I understand that the old baggage cars were falling apart. My bags always got off the train dirty or covered in snow. My question was of a big picture nature - Why does the right hand order a bunch of baggage cars and even convert some of the originally ordered baggage-dorms to full baggage cars if the left hand is cutting baggage service everywhere except endpoints? It seems that Amtrak management (or at least part of it) suffers from eternal short-sightedness. This probably goes with the territory for a service that doesn't have a reliable and dedicated funding source.

Having checked baggage service in Winona was a part of what made train travel civilized and our preferred choice. Last year we took a long train trip and checked bags Winona-Vancouver, Vancouver-Toronto, Toronto-Montreal, and Schenectady-Winona. Honestly, the Montreal-Schenectady leg was a bit more of a hassle because we didn't have the option to check bags. We'll still take the train, but we'll have to be more selective in how we pack, especially for any trips that take us on Viewliner sleepers where there is not a big luggage rack by the door.

 

[neroden]

For one-a-day stations it makes much more sense to have a baggage handler on the *train* than one in each *station*.

There's probably some number of trains per day and some number of stations where it makes more sense to put the staff on the station rather than the train...

I understand the cuts to staffed stations which are only serving one train each way per day. I just don't see how that can be supported unless the station is *very* busy like Minneapolis-St. Paul. But the baggage service should be preserved with baggage checked and delivered trainside, something which is *already happening* at some of the California Zephyr stations. There's enough assistant conductors on a long train like the Empire Builder that it should be possible to arrange something, even if it requires an amendment to the union agreement.

 

[Ryan]

I understand that the old baggage cars were falling apart. My bags always got off the train dirty or covered in snow. My question was of a big picture nature - Why does the right hand order a bunch of baggage cars and even convert some of the originally ordered baggage-dorms to full baggage cars if the left hand is cutting baggage service everywhere except endpoints?

Because the presence of absence checked baggage at midpoint stations doesn't impact the need for any baggage cars?

 

[lyke99]

I understand that the old baggage cars were falling apart. My bags always got off the train dirty or covered in snow. My question was of a big picture nature - Why does the right hand order a bunch of baggage cars and even convert some of the originally ordered baggage-dorms to full baggage cars if the left hand is cutting baggage service everywhere except endpoints?

Because the presence of absence checked baggage at midpoint stations doesn't impact the need for any baggage cars?

Or from the other side of it, does my proximity to an endpoint or station with 40,000+ passengers/year impact my need for or the utility of checked baggage service?

I'm not saying the new baggage cars weren't needed. I'm saying checked baggage service should be maintained at more stations. I like the idea put forth about trainside baggage check.

 

[Ryan]

I don't disagree with you, but saying that it's silly to be ordering new baggage cars while cutting checked baggage service at some stations doesn't pass the common sense test.

 

[TraneMan]

Another thing that will be bad is the collage kids from WSU, or St. Mary's who has a few things that they can't carry on, and has to check it on.

 

[lyke99]

I don't disagree with you, but saying that it's silly to be ordering new baggage cars while cutting checked baggage service at some stations doesn't pass the common sense test.

I never said ordering new baggage cars was silly, nor did I imply it. I suggested that cutting checked baggage service was short-sighted, especially with new assets rolling around for that expressed purpose.

 

[Ryan]

The two are completely unrelated.

Cutting baggage is a bad move for passengers regardless of the age of the car it's handled in.

Getting new baggage cars is a good move no matter how many mid-route stations have checked baggage.

 

[niemi24s]

Another thing that will be bad is the collage kids from WSU, or St. Mary's who has a few things that they can't carry on, and has to check it on.

I've little sympathy for them - think of all the folks living around a station that's always been unstaffed.

 

[Eric S]

Relatively few corridor trains on Amtrak and VIA Rail offer checked baggage service. On long distance trains, it's slowly being limited to just the mid-size and large stations (or at least trending in that direction).

How is baggage service handled in other countries? From what I can tell (and my limited experience in Europe), few if any InterCity and HSR train offer checked baggage. Is it generally offered on long distance-type trains and generally not offered on InterCity (Regional/corridor, in Amtrak-speak) trains?

 

[haolerider]

I would hold little hope for an on-board baggage handler. Imagine the problems in a place like Winona when the weather is terrible - or at any unstaffed station that has little or no shelter. Rain, snow, heavy winds.....who is going to go out track-side to check in bags....plus the passengers would,have to be there as well. At stations such as Atlanta, one of the conductors/asst conductors is in the baggage car helping to load checked bags, but I don't think they are going to do,that at the smaller stations.

 

[niemi24s]

Look on the bright side. The folks in Winona will soon be in the majority. The Amtrak System Timetable booklet tells me that 296 of 534 or 55% of Amtraks railroad stations are currently of the unstaffed variety.

 

[BCL]

I would hold little hope for an on-board baggage handler. Imagine the problems in a place like Winona when the weather is terrible - or at any unstaffed station that has little or no shelter. Rain, snow, heavy winds.....who is going to go out track-side to check in bags....plus the passengers would,have to be there as well. At stations such as Atlanta, one of the conductors/asst conductors is in the baggage car helping to load checked bags, but I don't think they are going to do,that at the smaller stations.

Even at EMY I remember it took a while to unload all the bags, and then the train took off once the baggage car was locked. You have onboard baggage handlers, and then you're going to need to wait. Granted that can be done at staffed stations by existing personnel, but I could imagine that they would start cutting staff (by attrition?) if there's already onboard personnel.

In any case, I would think the big problem would be unclaimed baggage. Currently if it goes unclaimed at a staffed station, they'll typically just store them in the baggage room until claimed. A lot of passengers seem to rely on this. It would get really complicated depending on how long they give (10 minutes?), how long they hold up the train, and what would happen to unclaimed baggage. Leave it on the platform? Would they just put it back on the train? And if they put it back on the train, where does it get stored?

It just sounds too problematic.

 

[neroden]

Winona was midsized.

From the article: "The Winona station has the second-highest use in Minnesota, with 20,318 boardings and alightings, after St. Paul’s 94,077, according to 2014 Amtrak numbers.

La Crosse, which will retain its in-person staff, had 24,036 during the same period."

So there's a reason people are complaining about this, and didn't complain so much about the loss of checked baggage service at Hastings, NE (ridership ~5000).

I just checked NARP's statistics and Winona's ridership dropped off a cliff in 2014, going down from 22,348 in 2013 to 18,609 in 2014. This will probably not help its chances of getting trainside checked baggage service. Something similar happened at Grand Forks, with ridership dropping from ~20,000 to ~14,000.

Mount Pleasant, Iowa has lower ridership (~11,000) and still has checked baggage service. I think we can expect that to go away, unfortunately. :-(

Anyway, Winona was easily the busiest station to lose checked baggage service, and it should get it back.

As for people whining that it's "too hard" to do trainside checked baggage, Amtrak has *already done it*. It's obviously not too difficult...

http://www.on-track-on-line.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47267

 

[BCL]

As for people whining that it's "too hard" to do trainside checked baggage, Amtrak has *already done it*. It's obviously not too difficult...

http://www.on-track-on-line.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47267

I never said it can't be done. I still think it's problematic - especially if there's unclaimed or late claimed luggage. If someone has to duck into a waiting room to use the bathroom, how long are they going to hold up the baggage handler and are they going to put it back on the train? Is it really going to turn into a bus-like removal of luggage?