You know Amtrak's "kindergarten walk" is ridiculous when

[user 1215]

Here'e s pic I took at WAS a long time ago. Other than being completely run down, rusted, and just blah, the platforms are plenty wide.

One thing you have to deal with in WAS and many other Amtrak stations are golf carts toting passengers and baggage - which I've never seen done in Japan.

 

[Ryan]

Here'e s pic I took at WAS a long time ago. Other than being completely run down, rusted, and just blah, the platforms are plenty wide.

Repeated assertions do not make it any more true. Yes, a couple hundred feet from the station, past the end of the train where nobody ever goes they look nice and wide open.

Try walking down a platform when a crush loaded Penn Line train dumps 1200+ people onto one of those platforms and tell me they're wide enough.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

In cities like Tokyo you have busy stations with crowded platforms and yet folks still manage to board and deboard without running into each other like a mob on the run. Maybe the issue with stations like NYP lies with the people who live there. You let them all on the platform at once and unlike other cities they'll just push each other onto the tracks as they make their way to the train or the exit or whatever.

 

[FriskyFL]

Millions negotiate the NYC subway platforms daily without kindergarten walks.

I've never seen a kindergarten walk in NYC... I've just seen a checkpoint where an Amtrak staff member checks the tickets. As I have noted, the boarding process is not any easier on the NJT side where there is no checkpoint. The problem at NYP is the physical nature of the station is not designed to handle the crowds. Hopefully in the distant future if the Moynihan Project becomes reality this can be worked.

I didn't mean to imply that there was a K-walk at NYP. But there is a bottleneck at the gate escalators where the gate dragons check tickets, "people" pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line. My DW nearly took a tumble down the escalator when she was shoved from behind. So I'm no fan of these ineffective and pointless exercises.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Part of the problem with NYP is that trains are (especially in rush hours) not necessarily tracked much more than 10-15 minutes before boarding, and even if they are, it is possible or even likely that the train that was announced 10 minutes before boarding is sharing its platform with a train that arrived 15 minutes ago and thus the platform would have been far too crowded to accommodate the boarding passengers. New York Penn is a general mess because it was never built to handle the service it currently handles the way it handles it. And the way it handles it is the best possible way to handle the maximum amount of trains it can handle.

All trains entering or leaving New York Penn to the west have to negotiate a single two track choke point at A Interlocking. LIRR trains enter the station near that choke point from West Side Yard. Those trains have to be grouped in specific areas based on length or operator or route out of this mess (West Side Yards, East River Tunnels, North River Tunnels, or Empire Connection). These trains, in order to maintain the maximum number of trains in and out of this fustercluck, have to be emptied or boarded as fast as possible, despite the fact that only single level LIRR equipment, and NJT Arrow III, Comet IVs, and Comet Vs are properly designed to do so.

Amtrak's equipment is not so densely packed that it really needs center-doors or LIRR style doors, but the commuter stuff is. The Comet II and Comet MLV have absolutely terrible loading parameters. They take FOREVER to board and clear. NJT's pigheaded insistence on locomotive hauled trains means the bulk of their commuter fleet is far too slow to clear Penn's platforms well, either.

When you take all of these absurd but true realities into account, you realize that the NYP boarding procedure is a symptom of a much bigger problem, and not much can be done about it.

Now, as for other stations, I don't know them well enough to comment.

 

[user 1215]

Here'e s pic I took at WAS a long time ago. Other than being completely run down, rusted, and just blah, the platforms are plenty wide.

Repeated assertions do not make it any more true. Yes, a couple hundred feet from the station, past the end of the train where nobody ever goes they look nice and wide open.

Try walking down a platform when a crush loaded Penn Line train dumps 1200+ people onto one of those platforms and tell me they're wide enough.

That photo was actually taken from the end of the platform at the end where it begins to taper in. The image shows a pretty constant width to where it goes out of frame.

As for your reference to the Penn Line, it's a terminus. ALL the passengers are exiting to the South. The flow is unidirectional. Now, I don't know the dwell time before it turns back North, or if Amtrak is trying to load a train across the same platform at the same time, but for general boarding for Amtrak, the platforms they use are plenty big enough to handle the boarding passengers without submitting them to the kindergarten walk.

Now at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, the platforms are a bit wider to accomodate commuters. Notice that nobody is carrying baggage nor is luggage being transported by golf carts:

 

[TVRM610]

Millions negotiate the NYC subway platforms daily without kindergarten walks.

I've never seen a kindergarten walk in NYC... I've just seen a checkpoint where an Amtrak staff member checks the tickets. As I have noted, the boarding process is not any easier on the NJT side where there is no checkpoint. The problem at NYP is the physical nature of the station is not designed to handle the crowds. Hopefully in the distant future if the Moynihan Project becomes reality this can be worked.

I didn't mean to imply that there was a K-walk at NYP. But there is a bottleneck at the gate escalators where the gate dragons check tickets, "people" pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line. My DW nearly took a tumble down the escalator when she was shoved from behind. So I'm no fan of these ineffective and pointless exercises.

Why do you think the crowds on the escalator would be better if there was not a check point? In fact the crowds and shoving would be worse. This is a fact that can be plainly seen on the NJ Transit side.

I agree that NYP is a problem... see GML's excellent explanation.

 

[FriskyFL]

Assigned seating would eliminate much of the mad rush to be first on the platform. Or adopt the Southwest Airlines model. It doesn't need to be a Darwinian free for all at NYP. The technology exists. Only the will is lacking.

 

[Ryan]

That photo was actually taken from the end of the platform at the end where it begins to taper in. The image shows a pretty constant width to where it goes out of frame.

As for your reference to the Penn Line, it's a terminus. ALL the passengers are exiting to the South. The flow is unidirectional. Now, I don't know the dwell time before it turns back North, or if Amtrak is trying to load a train across the same platform at the same time, but for general boarding for Amtrak, the platforms they use are plenty big enough to handle the boarding passengers without submitting them to the kindergarten walk.

I know where that picture was taken from. I've taken pictures from there myself, and boarded trains there when my train was parked out past another train. That happens frequently in the evenings. I commuted through there daily for over 3 years, so I'm intimately familiar with the station.

If you can guarantee that you won't try to load and unload two different trains on either side of the platform, the width would be sufficient. But you can't always make that happen, and it would be completely impossible to manage without holding passengers in the station until the platform is clear and the train is ready to receive passengers.

I'm sorry that you don't like it and keep insisting that everything is fine, but it's obvious that you're painfully ignorant of the day to day operations that make the K-walk necessary at WAS.

That said, there is no reason for the gate dragons to check tickets and slow the boarding process once the platform is ready for boarding. Once the platform is ready, the doors should open and everyone should be free to head out there. That's how MARC trains board and it works just fine.

 

[berliner]

I'm not familiar with Washington's platforms, but are they really that much narrower than European ones where nobody's ever heard of restrictions as such?

Here's an example from Warsaw to compare:

Yes, many big city American train platforms (NYP, LAX, CHI, to name but a few) are less than half that size...

 

[trainman74]

I've never seen a kindergarten walk in NYC...

The escorted walk from ClubAcela to the appropriate escalator might be labeled a "kindergarten walk" by some.

 

[afigg]

Part of the problem with NYP is that trains are (especially in rush hours) not necessarily tracked much more than 10-15 minutes before boarding, and even if they are, it is possible or even likely that the train that was announced 10 minutes before boarding is sharing its platform with a train that arrived 15 minutes ago and thus the platform would have been far too crowded to accommodate the boarding passengers. New York Penn is a general mess because it was never built to handle the service it currently handles the way it handles it. And the way it handles it is the best possible way to handle the maximum amount of trains it can handle.

I agree with your assessment of the problems with the narrow platforms at NYP. I understand why Amtrak tries to control access at the top of the escalators. Platforms that can totally jammed if a full NJT train pulls in with a nearly full Amtrak train on the other side. Because of the bottlenecks presented by the platforms and access stairs/escalators, there is a need for crowd control for the Amtrak trains, specifically because Amtrak passengers are usually carrying or towing luggage while the commuter passengers are mostly not.

There is also the issue of people getting on the wrong train, hence screening them at the top of the escalator. Not just between Amtrak trains, but people who have a NJT ticket and don't understand that the Amtrak trains are a different service. Yes, Amtrak does not try to screen at the smaller stations on the NEC, but the sheer numbers boarding at NYP means they can cut down on passengers who get on the wrong train with just one or 2 people checking the tickets in advance.

As for WAS, the master plan for the station is for a complete do-over of the platforms and tracks with new wider platforms, mostly high level platforms, and more access points to the lower level tracks leading to the First St tunnel. With modern wide platforms, Amtrak may eventually change how they line up and screen passengers before letting them board. But it take many years before the reconstruction of the platforms and boarding areas at WAS is complete.

 

[MARC Rider]

Here'e s pic I took at WAS a long time ago. Other than being completely run down, rusted, and just blah, the platforms are plenty wide.

Repeated assertions do not make it any more true. Yes, a couple hundred feet from the station, past the end of the train where nobody ever goes they look nice and wide open.

Try walking down a platform when a crush loaded Penn Line train dumps 1200+ people onto one of those platforms and tell me they're wide enough.

Tell me about it. I do I'm part of the rush every day

But WAS doesn't have the "kindergarten walk" so much as the gate dragons and the cattle lines that spill into the concourse, block it, and create a security hazard. If you're a sleeper passenger in the Club Acela, you might have them do a kindergarten walk from the east gate to the lower level platforms. Actually, having a guide is helpful if you're not familiar with the station, becuase you have to make a few turns to get to the right gates for the lower level tracks.

 

[JoeBas]

But WAS doesn't have the "kindergarten walk" so much as the gate dragons and the cattle lines that spill into the concourse, block it, and create a security hazard. If you're a sleeper passenger in the Club Acela, you might have them do a kindergarten walk from the east gate to the lower level platforms. Actually, having a guide is helpful if you're not familiar with the station, becuase you have to make a few turns to get to the right gates for the lower level tracks.

I dunno... they have these newfangled things called "Signs" that could just tell people which way to go.

FWIW, last time I was in WAS I just walked right out the doors from Club Acela down to the platforms a few times on my own, and back, and was never questioned.

 

[John Bredin]

Reminds me that when I was a kid in NY in the '70s...

Sometimes it seems like the 1970's were the last decade when US citizens were still allowed (and expected) to determine their own fate. You saw it in the big city and I saw it in a remote town where I was free to roam the switching yards and climb all over the hardware until it was time to go home. If I hurt myself I kept it to myself because I knew I'd be the one blamed for it, not the railroad. When the 1980's rolled around we started marching down the long road to Nancy's nanny state. Instead of protecting us from the actions of others our society chose to spend most of its time and effort trying to protect us from ourselves. Which is just about the last thing I'd expect a pro-freedom society to be worrying about.

NYP gets a little tricky... I'm not exactly sure what the best solution would be. It's a pretty busy place.

How about calmly checking tickets before it's time to board? How about calmly checking tickets on the train after boarding? NYP is a station where you're expected to stand around waiting for the carefully managed signage to update and then RUSH! RUSH! RUSH! with the rest of the clumsy mob at the last possible moment to your train. Only to be held up by indifferent gatekeepers as you approach some arbitrary choke point that slows the mob's mad dash into mad crawl. As you descend further and further down a packed escalator your stress level rises higher and higher. Meanwhile folks in the know are using redcaps or sneaking around the lower levels of the basement and onto their trains. Is this really the best solution anyone could come up with?

LAUS is comical today as Metrolink pax walk past Amtrak pax lined up behind the old Gate E & F (which are scheduled to be removed). to do their kindergarten walk. I see absolutely no reasaon for this at LA. Their platforms are plenty wide and well marked for the appropriate train. Nobody knows what Amtrak will do with the coach pax when they take their "gate" away.

The sooner Amtrak lets go of the kindergarten nonsense the better it will be for almost everyone. If you're too young to know any better than to get hit by a train then your parent or guardian should be busy watching you, not Amtrak. If you're too old or clumsy or frail to avoid getting hit then maybe it's just your time to go. Amtrak shouldn't be in the "protecting you from yourself" business. If the courts need a new law to extricate Amtrak from that responsibility then so be it.

Most people think there's a happy medium between "protecting you from yourself" and "maybe its just your time to go." Also, most people don't invest with all sorts of portentious socio-political meaning the fact that "we" don't leave everyone to fend for themselves.

After all, all stations (transit, commuter, or intercity) have signs, and many have information booths, attendants, etc. They've had them as long as there have been train stations, for a lot longer than since the 1970s. Most people don't think it would build moral fiber or reduce dependency to take away all such guidance and leave it 100% to every passenger to find his/her way to the right train. Is adding one more path-finding procedure a good idea? Maybe, maybe not. It's debatable. What it isn't is some conscious effort to wrap everyone in bubble wrap or to insult every person's intelligence.

Regardless of whether its a legal issue -- I doubt it is, or there wouldn't be stations without a "kindergarten walk" -- is it possible, just possible, that Amtrak, as operator of the trains and employer of their on-board and station crews, has decided that the balance of the inconveniences in both directions ("kindergarten walk" has costs, and so does "every man for himself") works out to providing some level of guidance greater than commuter or subway passengers?

I live in Chicago and commute by Metra. As people are fond of pointing out, Metra doesn't have the kindergarten walk at CUS, Amtrak does. However, Metra and Amtrak aren't the same. There's a difference between trains that run every hour or two and ones that run once a day, or even three times a week. And there's definitely a difference between commuters who take the same train daily, or even suburbanites who go downtown once a week, and people who travel infrequently who are taking the trip of a year or even a lifetime.

You may not be that person, and you may resent the inferred insult to your intelligence. But no system is designed for the high-information frequent user. 90% of the people going through a subway station on a given day don't even need the signage. They go through that station twice a day or more, and could find their platform in their sleep. Newsflash! That signage ain't there for them, and it isn't some sort of insult to the experienced riders nor a waste of money that it's there.

It's easy to say "check tickets on the train after boarding". (Oddly enough, Metra, or at least UP at Ogilvie, checks tickets at the mouth of the platform on busy outbound Saturday night trains.) But if someone riding a train for the first time in ten years gets on the wrong train that goes three days a week, it's a different matter.

And yes, Amtrak could tell him "tough toenails, you boarded the wrong train." But the crew, station personnel, etc. have to deal with the upset passenger rather than doing their various other duties. The "abandoned" passenger says "never again" and tells his friends -- or blog readers -- the same; whether that's "right" or fair is irrelevant. Its possible that through experience Amtrak (or even its predecessors: were there "kindergarten walks" at pre-Amtrak CUS?) reached a conclusion that an ounce of prevention in the form of the "kindergarten walk" outweighs those costs of letting infrequent travelers fend for themselves reaching infrequent trains.

 

[neroden]

ASSuming that people developed an idiotic procedure for a good reason... when you can't actually come up with that reason... well, it usually turns out to be wrong. I've traced the history of weird social procedures before, and they were usually developed for reasons which are long-obsolete, but often enough they were developed for no good reason at all in the first place. Face it, people are in general stupid and do stupid things; it takes a lot of effort to get competence.

It's a bit different in engineering, where procedures often are developed for good reasons, even if you can't see them. But in social organization, oy.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Ah, so you are an engineer. I've seen equally stupid reasons for crappy engineering paradigms. It works all over humanity.

 

[JoeRids]

NYP is my home station and I'd really love to know how to "sneak around in the basement" to board my train less stressfully!

You wait for the track to be called and go one level down to the exit concourse underneath the main concourse and go down the stairs to your platform. Try it at your own risk.

.

On trains that run through NYP (i.e. Washington-Boston Acela and regionals) you can also check the arrival monitors to see what track the train is arriving on, and then immediately proceed to the arrival concourse, down the steps, and to the train as soon as it arrives the arriving passengers have gone up the steps. I've done it every time I travel to Boston. Of course, if your train originates at NYP, you do not have this option.

 

[neroden]

Ah, so you are an engineer. I've seen equally stupid reasons for crappy engineering paradigms. It works all over humanity.

Oh no. I'm not an engineer. And it certainly happens in engineering too. I'm just saying that in engineering it is *also* fairly often true that things are done for a *good* reason... which everyone has forgotten.
The classic example is the extensive cross-bracing on bridges which was used on every bridge before Galloping Gertie -- people had forgotten what it was for and assumed it wasn't necessary, but it was... (if you've looked up Galloping Gertie).

This is actually pretty common in engineering, due to engineers constantly failing to write down why they did things (which is a very bad habit of engineers).

In social situations, I can think of very few similar examples -- things which were put in place for a *good* reason which everyone has forgotten. The installation of proportional-representation election systems, and its subsequent repeal in a number of cities might count as an example -- repeal because people forgot why it was installed in the first place. But it's not hard to look up why it was installed.

In social/political situations, when something had a good reason, we almost always have a pretty thick paper trail explaining Why They Did It This Way, so the situation of something being done for a good reason, and nobody writing down what it was, seems to be quite rare.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Is it possible, just possible, that Amtrak, as operator of the trains and employer of their on-board and station crews, has decided that the balance of the inconveniences in both directions ("kindergarten walk" has costs, and so does "every man for himself") works out to providing some level of guidance greater than commuter or subway passengers? I live in Chicago and commute by Metra. As people are fond of pointing out, Metra doesn't have the kindergarten walk at CUS, Amtrak does. However, Metra and Amtrak aren't the same. There's a difference between trains that run every hour or two and ones that run once a day, or even three times a week. And there's definitely a difference between commuters who take the same train daily, or even suburbanites who go downtown once a week, and people who travel infrequently who are taking the trip of a year or even a lifetime. You may not be that person, and you may resent the inferred insult to your intelligence. But no system is designed for the high-information frequent user.

In the case of NYP the station seems designed almost exclusively for the high information frequent visitor who doesn’t have any need or desire for signs, maps, instructions, or any other assistance. Folks who couldn’t care less if the signage is located where it would actually help anyone or makes any sense at all. Folks who know better than to bother with the departures board even when they’re departing. In the case of NYP I do not want less signage. I want signs that make sense and are located where they actually help you find where you are and where you’re going. I want track listings that don’t withhold information until the last minute. I want maps that are clearly posted and easily digested. Once those features are in place I want fewer obstacles to the free movement of passengers. Let them make their own way without having to become a slave to the track listing or getting hung up trying to appease the gate dragon in time to reach the train before it departs. Can you imagine an airport that didn’t release any gate information until just a few minutes before departure? When they chose to turn NYP into an underground shopping mall that just happened to have trains in the basement they created a situation were you can’t see what’s above you or below you. Without proper signage it’s hard to visualize what’s going on and even harder to figure out where you need to be and how to get there. I’ve traveled through European and Asian train stations and many of the world’s largest airports without any issue finding my way around. Yet NYP still remains just as confusing and convoluted as ever. You can claim that the people in charge know what they’re doing because they see things we cannot. You can claim our situation is unique compared to other countries. You can claim we do things this way because it’s what’s best for us. You can claim any or all of these things but I still disagree.

 

[John Bredin]

Devil's Advocate:

(1) I'm sure you don't want less signage. I was using signage (and information booths and attendants) as examples of path-finding things that virtually nobody opposes to argue that the "kindergarten walk" is another step in making sure that passengers get on the right train, or don't get on the wrong one, and should be debated on whether the cost of the "kindergarten walk" outweigh the cost of passengers getting on the wrong train and not treated as some kind of insult or deprivation of rights.

In short, I wasn't arguing that you have to agree as much as arguing that the debate should be held on a logical basis and not be invested with the symbolism you seemed to be vesting it with.

(2) My familiarity with NYP is fleeting, having only been there a couple of times. But the "kindergarten walk" at Chicago Union Station seems to me to be of at least arguable value, where (as I said earlier) (a) many trains are once-a-day (and one is worse), and many others run only two or three times a day, (b) many passengers are only occasional train riders, and © many trains leave in the same early-afternoon period from the same area, the South Concourse.

Such circumstances set Amtrak at CUS apart from Metra at CUS, or the L/subway/Metro/light-rail etc., and tend to contradict the simple argument some make that "there's no kindergarten walk on the subway." No, but getting on the wrong subway train isn't as big a deal as getting on the California Zephyr when you wanted the Texas Eagle or the Lincoln Service when you wanted the Illinois Zephyr. :wacko:

 

[Simon]

They don't do a "kindergarten walk" at London Euston, even though someone could easily get on the 21:07 to Liverpool or the 21:10 to Preston instead of the 21:16 sleeper to Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William, or the 23:30 to Wolverhampton instead of the 23:50 sleeper to Glasgow and Edinburgh. (And yes, the Aberdeen/Inverness/Fort William train is only six times a week, not even daily.) Similarly, there's nothing at London Paddington to stop passengers wanting the 23:45 sleeper to Penzance getting the 23:30 to Cardiff by mistake. None of these are commuter trains.

I can't imagine Amtrak passengers are any less capable of following signs, listening to announcements or watching monitors to British passengers (many of whom are unused to rail travel or at least the London terminals).

 

[afigg]

In the case of NYP the station seems designed almost exclusively for the high information frequent visitor who doesn’t have any need or desire for signs, maps, instructions, or any other assistance. Folks who couldn’t care less if the signage is located where it would actually help anyone or makes any sense at all. Folks who know better than to bother with the departures board even when they’re departing. In the case of NYP I do not want less signage. I want signs that make sense and are located where they actually help you find where you are and where you’re going. I want track listings that don’t withhold information until the last minute. I want maps that are clearly posted and easily digested. Once those features are in place I want fewer obstacles to the free movement of passengers. Let them make their own way without having to become a slave to the track listing or getting hung up trying to appease the gate dragon in time to reach the train before it departs.

...

I agree there is a serious need for improvements in wayfinding and pedestrian flow through NYP. One of the major obstacles to better wayfinding signs is the confusing layout, the many routes through and destinations in and exits from the station, the different boarding areas, and low ceilings in parts of the 2 levels. In the low ceiling and tight corridor spaces, the clutter of wayfinding signs end up getting stuck on overhead beams horizontally spread out or on a wall where it is easy to miss the one sign that is relevant to that person.

Why they have let the situation at NYP continue for so long while ever more people use the station is a good question. I think it is mostly due to that there are 3 fiefdoms in the station - Amtrak, LIRR, NJT - each with their own area, a long list of physical plant projects that have needed to get done while Amtrak has not had enough funds to tackle all of them, the politicians distracted by the shiny plans for Moynihan Station, the question of what to do about MSG, the lack of an agency or person to take charge although that should be Amtrak and so on. So the years pass with this or that piecemeal project. NYP can be improved, although we have to accept that the physical space constraints limit what can be done.

The West End Concourse project finally got enough money to get built, so that will provide additional access routes to and between the Amtrak, LIRR and NJT tracks above #4.

There have been reports about the players at NYP getting serious on how to improve the existing NYP setup, but it gets overlooked in the press coverage which focuses on the high profile (shiny) stuff: NEC Gateway, Moynihan station, etc. In the FY15 budget and FY14-FY18 5 year financial plan document, it says this about NYP in the Gateway project description (bold font mine):

Planning is also underway to coordinate Gateway Program elements with the recommendations of the just-concluded Penn Station Visioning Study, a cooperative study with partner railroads to consider future improvements to the existing Penn Station facility. The program elements have been carefully designed as modular components, each offering independent utility, in recognition of an uncertain federal funding environment. Gateway's modular design allows the entire terminal complex to expand in a cohesive, integrated manner, transforming Penn Station into a facility truly worthy of the city it serves.

Ok, if there is a just completed Penn Station Visioning Study, where is it? Maybe it will get published soon? Also, "Visioning" study? I can handle "Vision" plans, but now the buzz word is "Visioning"?

 

[jis]

Were you looking for this document?

Penn 2023: Envisioning a New Penn Station, the next Madison Square Garden, and the future of west Midtown.

 

[HAL]

They don't do a "kindergarten walk" at London Euston, even though someone could easily get on the 21:07 to Liverpool or the 21:10 to Preston instead of the 21:16 sleeper to Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William, or the 23:30 to Wolverhampton instead of the 23:50 sleeper to Glasgow and Edinburgh. (And yes, the Aberdeen/Inverness/Fort William train is only six times a week, not even daily.) Similarly, there's nothing at London Paddington to stop passengers wanting the 23:45 sleeper to Penzance getting the 23:30 to Cardiff by mistake. None of these are commuter trains.

I can't imagine Amtrak passengers are any less capable of following signs, listening to announcements or watching monitors to British passengers (many of whom are unused to rail travel or at least the London terminals).

Every day some people manage to get on the wrong train at New York Penn even with the gate check because they use the "backdoor" passages. Likely it happens in London too. Ihave not been to that London staation but probably the difference is that Amtrak cares and the London railroads don't care.

I prefer that people get on the right trains going to their destination. And safely. They need to go in the opposite direction of what some propose, they need to close the backdoor ways of boarding.

As for Washington if you observe the gate there you would see why it is needed. There are always some trying to get on the wrong train or trying to get on who should not get on. Before they had the gate procedure there were robberies, pickpockets, bums, and crazy people who got on the train and caused delays down the line when the police had to be called. Late arriving passengers grabbing on to trains or trying to jump on while the trains were moving and huring themselves.

Amtrak's boarding procedures are not insane. Those objecting are armchair professors who fortunately will be ignored.