posted
My wife works for a woman who took her first Amtrak trip Friday. Don't know if they'll be fans or not. She and her husband went from Jack London Square in Oakland to Santa Barbara on the Coast Startlight. They were in coach, so whether or not the consist inlcuded a parlor car didn't matter. However, she reported today that the train was 6 hrs late into Oakland, and I'm sure the crew was not at their best. Not much in the way of scenery due to the late hour. She said the trip back was wonderful, and the fact that their hotel gave away their confirmed and credit-carded room on Friday night, after several calls to let the hotel know they were late, deflected their anger at Amtrak. So I'll just have to wait and see if they try again or not.
Too much to hope that a Daylight would ever come into being again.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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Obviously their anger is misdirected. Their anger should have been targetted at the hotel. 6 hours late is not out of the ordinary for that train.
-------------------- Patrick Posts: 387 | From: Bakersfield, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Riding in Coach on a 6 hour late Coast Starlight from OKJ to SBA is not my idea of fun. Unfortunately, they did not get to experience what that train COULD potentially be. Specifically:
-If they are able to take the train northbound out of Los Angeles (or even Oxnard), they will get the FULL ocean and coast views that this train has to offer----all in daylight. Since they took a southbound train that was late (and they got off before hitting all of the beautiful scenery), I would assume they are not impressed.
-If they can swing it, pay the extra $$$ for a sleeper next time so that you can escape the coach crowd and have your own room where you can close the door and shut out the world. I love taking a nap during the day when I'm on the train.
-If the train has a Parlour Car, being in a sleeper of course gives them free access to this car. However, if they are in Coach, Amtrak now allows Coach passengers to come up for the wine tasting in the Parlour Car for a nominal fee (which I think is around 10 to 20 bucks). IMHO, this is a mistake because that car is marketed/advertised as a sleeping car amenity. But heck, I have more issues with Amtrak than just this. Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Mr. Maniac, poor choice of words on my part. They WERE angry at the hotel, and therefore forgot some of their unhappiness w/Amtrak. I told my wife to let her know the train was often late.
Smitty, I agree. When I took my kids on the route in 2005, we flew from the Bay Area to LA just so we could ride the entire route along the coast. And we ended up 5 hours late to Seattle, but the coast was beautiful.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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Wrong answer. Passengers have every right to expect to be delivered to their destinations on the advertised.
If that means Amtrak needs to pay more for its time on the line, then Amtrak needs to pay more.
Money talks.
-------------------- The City of Saint Louis (UP, 1967) is still my standard for passenger operations Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Mr. Pullman, what was the question? HArd to believe, but there are Economist jokes. One goes - an economist and engineer were stuck on a deserted island , with only canned food and no utensils. They need to figure out how to open the cans to eat. The engineer says, "let's scoop some salt water onto the tops, and in a few days it will corrode the cans enough to open them." The economist says, "too slow. Let's assume we have a can opener...."
Point is, I agree Amtrak should get people to where ever on time. But, in this case, it was the folks first trip, and reality is Amtrak doesn't, so I thought it prudent to let them know, and mitigate their expectations a bit.
Ham Radio, I will get the hotel name from my wife. She wanted to know why I cared, so I had to admit to her I am spending some time on this forum. More rolled eyes, as she doesn't entirely understand my fascination with trains Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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Hotel giving away room not unheard of. I had an arrival on Amtrak in San Antonio at 11:45pm so guaranteed my hotel with credit card. Arrived late at 3am and hotel had given my room away (Holiday Inn Express Suites). They taxied me to another Holiday Inn downtown.
Posts: 114 | From: pismo beach CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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rr4me, I apologize, I was responding to amtraxmaniac's comment that 6 hours late is not out of the ordinary for that train.
Passengers riding Amtak have every right to expect on-time departures and arrivals, absent signficant extenuating circumstances, imo (derailments on the line being one example).
Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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PullmanCo, I agree with you. And one of the good things about forums like this is the chance to learn a lot - I did not know about the "on-time incentives" you talked about in another thread, that no longer exist.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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If you pay for your hotel room in advance with a credit card, the hotel should keep the room (and charge you) if you don't show up, not give your room away--ESPECIALLY if you phone them and tell them you are coming late. Pismobum, when the Holiday Inn gave your room away, did you phone them and tell them you were coming late? RR4me, what arrangements did the Santa Barbara hotel make?
There are of course some smaller hotels that don't even man their desks at night, but I would try never to book at one of those when I am coming in by train (or plane) to a place.
In August 2006 I took the CA Zephyr west and after several days with someone who flew out and met me in San Francisco, we were heading to San Luis Obispo and then Santa Barbara and parts south. She was not an experienced train person, and I didn't think she'd appreciate sitting around Jack London Station waiting for hours for the Coast Starlight, which that summer was running often 10-12 hours late due to track repair. So instead of taking the Starlight, we switched tickets to a San Joaquins train (from Emeryville I think) to Hanford and an Amtrak shuttle bus to San Luis Obispo. We then made the rest of the trip on Pacific Surfliners (and I came home from Los Angeles on the Sunset Ltd). Everything worked out great; most trains were close to on time; I think one Surfliner (SBA to San Juan Capistrano) was 1/2 hour late. I wasn't thrilled taking that shuttle bus, but it wasn't too long, and the ride across the desert was interesting. And we loved the San Joaquins train and found the truck farm areas etc through which it passed quick interesting as well.
I have been on the Coast Starlite twice, with sleepers, but have never been on it south of Sacramento.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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The Coast Starlight currently holds the record for the latest train I have ever ridden........8 hours and 11 minutes down arriving Portland in 2005.
Previous record holder was a DC-bound Cardinal 6 hours and 3 minutes late into Charlottesville in 2002.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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I arrived into Oakland on #11 (Coast Starlight) a little over two years ago at 8:45PM (scheduled arrival I think was about 8:30AM). Luckily, it hasn't had this disastrous OTP lately.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Anyone able to determine a more cogent root cause than "Union Pacific did it?"
-------------------- The City of Saint Louis (UP, 1967) is still my standard for passenger operations Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by notelvis: The Coast Starlight currently holds the record for the latest train I have ever ridden........8 hours and 11 minutes down arriving Portland in 2005.
Hope that was on 14 and not 11!!
-------------------- Railrev Escondido, CA Posts: 99 | From: Escondido, California | Registered: Jul 2003
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On June 27, 2008, during the "Midwestern Floods" period, the SWC was 17 hours late into Los Angeles.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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The worst I ever had was over 12 hours late into Dallas on the w/b Texas Eagle. Amtrak cancelled the train from that point westward.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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I can top that but can't tell you by exactly how many hours. In 1993 a Zephyr I took with my wife during the humongous Midwest flood of the year was approximately 22-23 hours late getting into Oakland. I think that No. 5 was the last out of Chicago before Amtrak suspended service on the route.
The train was sent north of its normal route from Chicago to Denver, on the C&NW.
I also recall the crew as bearing up well under the strain, and the dining car chef calling ahead for replenishments.
It was fun except for the last six hours, during which I kept turning to my spouse and whining, "Are we there yet, Mama? Are we there yet?"
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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when hurricane Isabelle struck we were leaving to take the Zepher out of Denver. I made one last check on conditions and was told that there were no trains going eats of Chicageo ad we should stay in Denver. We did for 2 days.My daughter-in-laws take was "Don't fret you gto to spend 2 extra dayswith us courtesy of Amtrak.". So we stayed and 2 days later they called to say the trains were now running and we had a bedroom all the way to DC. In 1995 we were leaving Denver after our son's wedding. The CZ was 9 hours late. Later than that by the time we got to Galesburg. So we were put on a bus and taken to Cincinnati where we met the Cardinal at 1 AM. Since we were supposed to be on the CL we were a full day late .
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Passengers riding Amtak (sic) have every right to expect on-time departures and arrivals
What law grants them that "right"…? I see nothing in Amendments I through X.
And how should Amtrak be the exception to other modes of fixed-schedule travel, where passengers have unique "right(s)" to lord over it? Not even commuter rail acknowledges passengers having any such "right". Airlines certainly don't…
Posts: 566 | Registered: Mar 2002
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A bit late, but the hotel was the Doubletree. They had called 4 times en route,and reserved it with a credit card. The hotel did put them up at the Hampton Inn for the first night, and gave them a big suite the second night, along with a coupon for a free room, so they tried to atone.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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