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Maybe I'm in a funk, but some days I can not see Amtrak lasting for much longer. Some days it's a miracle anything runs at all.
Every year, the cars get dirtier (inside and out) the windows get foggier and more scratched, and the toilets get more nasty. The last Pacific Surfliner I rode literally had POOLS of "yellow fluid" around the edges of the floor in the toilet-despite me using the facilities while this train was originating in LA. While they weren't as bad as the toilets on Metra (unspeakable horrors are in almost every restroom) at least Metrolink (LA commuter agency can keep their toilets well-stocked, and keep pee where it's supposed to go. The conductors even clean and restock the restroom between trips (gasp!)
But toilets and cleanliness are the tip of the iceberg. I think if every piece of rolling stock was audited, a large percentage would FAIL safety inspections. I believe the incident at Sunnyside earlier reveals a deeper problem of safety systemwide. Look at some NTSB reports-I'll post some links soon-crew members do not receive adequate training in evacuation and triage. Everyone on board, from the conductor to the dishwasher (do they have that position any more?) MUST receive REGULAR training in rescue, evacuation, and triage.
Even without an accident, it's only a matter of time before someone gets raped in a coach (or sleeping car) and no one will be around to help-the attendant will either be asleep or in the dorm-or both. True, there are thousands of excellent attendants, but safety is a 24/7 duty. It's not acceptable to have the sole attendant for 1-2 cars snoozing without an awake backup.
Amtrak's equipment shortage was mentioned on here a few days ago. We are literally one major derailment away from experiencing service cutbacks. While commuter agencies (also primarily government funded) are buying new locomotives and rolling stock in preparation for $4 and $5 gas and the onslaught of passengers thereof, Amtrak has no plans to acquire equipment. In fact, they are putting rolling stock into storage-and will possibly cannibalize parts from them.
I haven't touched the issue of on-time-performance. We all know the issues there.
I just had to get this off my chest. Every year things get worse, from employee morale, to how much pee is on the floors of the bathrooms. There's no hope of it getting better.
This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is the result of 40+ years of overall bad decisions regarding passenger rail. It will take BILLIONS EACH YEAR-not some measly 1.3b or even $2b-to fix these issues. I don't see that happening in my lifetime. I'm VERY pro-passenger rail, but now I'm doubting Amtrak in its present form (or any form for that matter) is a good form of transporation.
On a personal note, I'm leaving to visit my sister in Austin. I'm debating whether to spend $500 (one-way) for a room away from the crazies in coach (there's one in every crowd), eat "Simplified Dining" stew meat, smell the backflow from the toilets, and listen to the whining and complaining that comes with the train being 8 hours late. Or for $500 I can fly round trip and endure the pain for only 5 hours.
Posts: 286 | From: Knee deep in the retention tank | Registered: Jan 2006
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FWIW - please don't blame the railroad or it's employees for the condition of the toilets. The filth that collects in the toilets is a direct result of the common senseless, politeless, responsibleless public that use "the facilities". This lack of personal responsibility permeates everywhere through American society.
When the sign says "No Smoking"....it doesn't mean "Smoke Until You Get Caught". It means NO SMOKING. When trash receptacles are provided, why does gum get stuck under tables and seats and trash end up on the floor RIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE TRASH CAN. Turn signals on cars are a safety feature designed to notify those around you that you intend to change your direction of travel...THEY ARE NOT AN OPTION!!!!
Today's social trend is "ME, FIRST AND FOREMOST" rather than "WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE WHOLE OF THE GROUP". Until we return to being a more polite and socially responsible society.....we all have to tolerate the pee on the floors of our lives!!!
Posts: 34 | From: Carroll County, MD | Registered: Oct 2005
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Yes you blame Amtrak. You see a nice hotel left in such a bad way. Amtrak should hire an on board maid service.
Posts: 562 | From: Beaumont Texas | Registered: Jul 2005
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I believe, Mr. GP-35 that en-route "cleaning up after the slobs" is an assigned duty of car Attendants.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Ray, I agree with you. Please add to your list the cell phone users who seem to think the world is their telephone booth. Coming back from Ct last year the woman behind us was gabbing at the top of her lungs ad nauseum. Finally a man got up and stood right next to her seat staring at her. When she said this was a private conversation he told her that it sure wasn't apparent. Fortunately she took the hint and peace returned. I think we all waanted to give him a medal. I think this is another reason for traveling sleeper class where possible. You can control the mess and the noise to some extent.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Point indeed noted, Ms. Train Lady. I can recall how on a thirty six mile journey Stmford-New York (connecting to the Lake Shore) I learned from this fellow "in range':
1) His divorce was finalized 2) He had just purchased a second home in New Hampshire for $325; his new girlfriend loves it up there. 3) He needed a 'bridge loan' from his credit union to cover the period between closing with his ex-wife for his interest in a jointly owned house and closing on the NH property. 4) He prefers to invest in Real Estate; the stock market is too much a crapshoot.
This was just Stamford to New York, what would have I learned had I been on that train starting in Boston???
Stuff we don't discuss at this Forum?????
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Ray -- I find there is a bigger problem with unclean rest rooms in coach than there is in the sleeper cars. Partly due to the increased number of people using them. Mr Norman- the car attendant may be responsible for enroute cleaning -- but most do not. Perhaps we should eliminate a car attendent (or two) on the LD trains and put the money saved to better use hiring cleaning professionals. However someone has to supervise them and see to it they do not become cafe/diner car sitters. Train lady --- cell phone abusers are an annoyance everywhere in today's society. When they are intolerable in a resturant or store I have the opportunity to leave (and inform management why I am doing so on the way out the door). On a LD train that is not possible. Amtrak needs to make a clear what it's policy on the use of cell phones and elec devises is -- and then ENFORCE it!! Same with smokers who violate the no smoking policy.
Posts: 460 | From: North Central CT | Registered: May 2004
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Dee, you are right. On the nec trains, as you probably know, there is a quiet car. Unfortunately it's not the business car. I am not by nature a confrontationsl person. BUT last year a woman kept running int me with her bawaket while she was chatting on her phone. Finally I shoved it back into her and informed her in a very loud voice that this was a grocery store not a phone booth and if she ran into me one more time I was reporting her to the police for assault. She quickly put it away. A person standing near by said she wished she had the nerve to say that. If people can be ejected from a train for drinking to excess or smoking they should include assult on the ears and mind with a cell phone.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by DeeCT: Ray -- I find there is a bigger problem with unclean rest rooms in coach than there is in the sleeper cars. Partly due to the increased number of people using them. Mr Norman- the car attendant may be responsible for enroute cleaning -- but most do not. Perhaps we should eliminate a car attendent (or two) on the LD trains and put the money saved to better use hiring cleaning professionals. However someone has to supervise them and see to it they do not become cafe/diner car sitters.
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Will your cleaners put the bedsup and down, get you the extra blankets, carry your bags down when you detrain,bring meals to your room when necessary etc?
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by train lady: Will your cleaners put the bedsup and down, get you the extra blankets, carry your bags down when you detrain,bring meals to your room when necessary etc?
No, nobody said fire all train attendants. Just hire someone to do clean-ups;restrooms, spilled drinks, etc etc...Then attendants will have less to think about and focus more on riders needs.
Posts: 562 | From: Beaumont Texas | Registered: Jul 2005
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Just an observation to throw in--I just got back from a trip to and from the west coast on the Sunset Limited--2 nights each direction from Houston. We had the same car attendant both coming and going. He was, on the whole, fairly responsive and I tipped him adequately. However, one thing I noticed was that he could not be bothered to empty the trash receptacles in the restrooms and sleeping rooms for love nor money. By the time we pulled into Los Angeles all of the waste receptacles in every restroom were overflowing onto the floor. Just a little extra effort to consolidate that trash in the big boxes in the downstairs vestibule and at the top of the stairs would have made the car a lot more livable for everyone concerned. My mother also noticed this; as the daughter of a railroad family she remembered being pampered in the '40s and '50s by the Pullman porters of the day, and in her mind the Amtrak experience compares very unfavorably. She says that she enjoyed the trip, but from here on out she intends to fly. I can't say that I blame her.
-------------------- --------Eric H. Bowen
Stop by my website: Streamliner Schedules - Historic timetables of the great trains of the past! Posts: 413 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: Mar 2006
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Rich, that's what happens to basket when your fingers move too fast and you don't check your spelling.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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OH, OK! I was a little confused by that, Train Lady! I did not mean to criticize your spelling, but I could not figure out what word you meant which would make sense in the context of your commment. "Basket" makes sense.... Sorry about that!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Amtrak is moving to contract out cleaning and janitorial services as a result of the Sunnyside meltdown and general inability to hire enough workers on their own to keep their own equipment clean in the summer travel season. Yes, it would help if people did not adopt the attitude that "they pay people to clean that" also. I always leave my (rental cars, train spaces, campsites) cleaner than I found them.
Posts: 391 | From: Schenectady | Registered: Jan 2002
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I have long since decided that the people that are in this world can be fairly easily divided into to groups: Those that are part of the problem, and those that are part of the solution. Amtrak207, you sound like my kind of guy. That is by what you do you are being part of the solution. Those slobs that leave things messier after they were there are part of the problem. There are many other areas of life besides this one where this divide applies.
George
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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