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Hi Y'All, After reading the comments about Wilma I thought this was a good time to tell you about our trip to Trumbull Ct. On Saturday the 15th. Our son picked us up at 9:15, alittle early for a 10:20 train but the million man march was going to take place and all the main roads to the station were closed. That meant we had to go around by "Mac Donald's barn".My intuition should have warned me that this was a harbinger of things to come. The Red Cap put us on board business class train 82 and we got settled in. I had made sandwiches and fruit and cookies for lunch so all we needed was our drinks, The cafe attendant told me the only diet soda available for business class was a very small pepsi. Since ice tea was also off limits I had that. Every train is different. Just before Newark Airport I got a call from my niece who was meeting us to report that she had called Amtrak to check the time and was told that the train was terminating in N>Y and the passengers were being sent back to DC. I told her I would check it out and call back. Off I went to find the conductors who were sitting in the lounge. They were really upset because no one had told them. The head conductor said they were supposed to keep us informed about things and how could they when no one told him anything. A few minutes later he came into our car ( the p a system wasn't working) to say the train was ending in N Y. and we would be bussed to our locations. This was because the heavy rains had flooded the tracks and they couldn't run electrified trains over water.We weren't particularly upset and this has happened before and it's no big deal. In NY the conductor took our bags off the train, got us a red cap, and told us to go up to customer service where they would tell us which bus we should go to. I got in line, my husband stayed with the bags when the conductor appeared with a young woman.Turned out she was coming up from Richmond and was to be met in Stamford by relatives. Would I keep her with us and see that she got off in Stamford, the stop before us. No problem..oh yes, she doesn't speak or understand a word of English. At customer service the NY attitude was in full sway. We could wait for the 5 o"clock train (it was now 2) or go get the Metra.( right, draging all our luggage as there is no checked baggage in Bridgeport)Keeping my temper in check I said we were from Virginia and I had no idea wher Metra was. He said "42nd st" It would killed him to say grand central(which is what I felt like doing at that point) I explained about the girl and his response was a shrug. He informed me that this was an act of God so Amtrak had no responsibiity. We found seats and I called my niece to tell her that we would wait for the 5 o'clock at which point my nephew insisted he was coming in to get us. That dear man drove in 65 miles and back 65 stopping to deliver Olga to her aunt. We got along quite well with sign language. I had my cell and she had her aunt's no. She called her aunt, who speaks perfect English and could translate for us. Olga has come here from Hondurus to go to College and learn English. As you can understand she was nervous so I asked the lounge attendent if someone spoke English and could translate for us. His answer, " I do but I m busy" . He was just sitting there. So I looked around the lounge and spotted a cleaning woman who looked Hispanic and asked her if she spoke Spanish. She did and was very willing to help us. She explained the whole situation and Olga then calmed down/ We finally got to Trumbull in time for dinner. On Monday I called customer relations and reported the incident. There was dead silence and when I said "Hello,Hello" the man I was talking with said he was stunned that anyone ould act that way."How did he know the rails would be ok at 5? Were they going to vacuum up the water?"I think he was even angrier than I. He was going to call the station manager and really let him know this must never happen again. He said they would send me a travel voucher for our next trip. The return trip was fine and we got in early at every stop. BTW all you people who fuss about Union Station need to remember these are tracks,not the Ritz. I don't even notice them , I am eager to either get on or off. The station itself is a great place and in my mind that is what is important. I am willing to bet most people don't even notice the platforms.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Well Train Lady, you caught the floods but you missed the fires and terror attack that had closed Penn Station during the past month. Fun City. You would have loved the the transfer from NYP to GCT to catch Metro-North (not Metra!) you'd have loved lugging the bags thru the subway. For next time Take the 1,2,3 Uptown to Time Sq Up the stairs turn right head for the Time Sq Shuttle its one stop to GCT. Either that or Mmm probably about a $15 cab fare these days.
Also its amazing that American kids today can't travel down the block with out a certified adult with cell phones and tracking devices, and here was a young girl (Olga)with the full belief those "in charge" would get her to her destination.
Posts: 516 | From: New Haven, CT USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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thanks Tanner 929. I do hope there is no next time. I think you missed the point about Olga. She is not American. she came here to go to college and learn English. She is a freshman at a college in Richmond. Someone put her on the train there and her aunt was meeting her in Stamford.Obviously the conductor knew the situation when they left Richmond and was looking out for her. Otherwise he wouldn't have asked me to "watch over her"/ I think it was brave of her to attempt the trip. A lot of people would wouldn't have the courage to go to a foreign country knowing nothing of the language. On the other hand that's just what millions of immigrants did in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Tanner, part of it is that Olga is not exactly a kid. "She is going to college to learn English" That means she is probably 18. And, yes in many other countries it is quite normal for high school age kids to hop on the train or bus or plane and go from city to city. It is probably a lot more common it the US than you realize, particularly with so many split families.
Having been on the other end of it, having everything happeing in a language you do not understand can be quite daunting. And anywhere you go, if a second language is used at all, it will probably be English, so non-English speakers have more difficulty in foreign travel than almost any other people. Knowing schedules, you can usually muddle through. It is usually when things go wrong as in the case with Olga that it gets you. I had the experience of standing on a platform in Japan listening to a very lengthy announcement thinking "I sure wish I could understand that" and then after getting on the train learning that the essence of it was that the line had just reopened after a heavy snowfall, so trains were moving very slow and we would be quite late but not sure how much, and it ended up being very late, and I mean Amtrak late not Japanese late.
George
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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She was going to college to LEARN English? That's very strange. I sure hope she was on a 5 or 6 year program.
Posts: 363 | From: Southwest North Central Florida | Registered: Apr 2002
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