RAILforum: My Sunset Limited Nightmare last week

This is topic My Sunset Limited Nightmare last week in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.railforum.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/topic/11/395.html

Posted by yummykaz (Member # 475) on :

This is not a travelogue. Just a brief comment to join the crowd.

Amtrak employees can MAKE or BREAK a ride for you. The BAD ones NEVER have name tags...that is a tip off.

Our train arrived and left Houston on time. The ride was smooth but noticed our layover in San Antonio was super long. There was some track problem and they jad to bus people from another train to ours, so we had to wait for 2 hours. No big deal...I was sleeping sort of.

When we got ready for breakfast, we were told it would be up to a 2 hour wait! They were seating in groups...not one in one out. Many people w/ hungry little ones were having a bad time of it. Kids crying...hungry. Finally we were seated after about 1hour and 45 min...and after much bugging the diner car attendant. While we were sitting there a woman FREAKED out screaming at the diner attendant and he calmly argued back with her. It was MOST uncomfortable! The woman serving us was rude ( no name tag), and they ran out of everything for ALL meals.

Same story for lunch...wait two hours...same for dinner..but we would pull up into El Paso at 4:20 Pm. No need for dinner...but wait...we did not pull in to El Paso until 6:30! We had not made a dinner reservation. My kids are now starving...and we still have to rent a car. My husband freaked out on the diner attendant who told him we would be in El Paso in 20 minutes at 4. The diner man saw to it that we got food to go...now there was some good service.

Our trip on the way back was bad too. We got to train station at 2:30 for 3:20 train. It did not arrive until 7:30! So of course we were too late for dinner! We had a great car attendant and diner staff this time. Bill (car) and Alice (diner)( good servers have name tags!) packed up food and we ate in our family sleeper. That was fun! But the driver must have been driving to make up time. My daughter slammed her head into the wall while she was asleep and I could not fall asleep until 4AM.

Meals were better after we dumped a bunch of people in San Antonio! Not so crowded. Richard or diner attendant and Mary Lou Perez were AMAZING!

We got in about 5 hours late...my husband hates Amtrak! But realizes I don't fly so he puts up with it.

The trains both ways were PACKED! How can Amtrak lose money? Jim Barlow said they lose 347. per passenger on long distnace.

Posted by MPALMER (Member # 125) on :

Yummykaz,
Thanks for the story. It had not occurred to me to look for employee nametags but that's a good tip.
As for meals, long ago we started packing food along, no matter what mode we take. We've had too many experiences where the wait is too long or they are out of stuff, Amtrak or otherwise.
MP

Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :

quote:
The trains both ways were PACKED! How can Amtrak lose money? Jim Barlow said they lose 347. per passenger on long distnace.

According to URPA the long distance trains do cover their day to day costs. Amtrak may be allocating other costs to them that may or may not be related to actually running them.

I find it odd that they now say they lose $347 per passenger. A few months ago they said the losses were about 10% of that.

According to a recent NARP newsletter, half of Amtrak's $1.1 billion "loss" was depreciation, not a cash-flow deficit. Another fourth was NEC infrastructure related. Only about $250 million of the loss was attributed to train operations.

------------------
Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

The Del Monte Club Car

Posted by jimmymac (Member # 1182) on :

Mary Lou Perez was on our trip in March from LA to JAX. She was great. Also George and Juan in the diner on the west bound leg we excellent.

Posted by lakeshorelimited (Member # 576) on :

I'm sorry that you had such a crummy trip, yummykaz. You're usually such a big Amtrak supporter. It's hard to support Amtrak, only to be let down when you've been looking forward to your trip for so long. I haven't taken the Sunset, but honestly, due to it's horrible on-time stats, I don't know if I'd want to take it, even as someone who enjoys rail travel and has a high tolerance for en-route problems.

Posted by JAChooChoo (Member # 723) on :

quote:
Originally posted by yummykaz:
..........Our trip on the way back was bad too. We got to train station at 2:30 for 3:20 train. It did not arrive until 7:30!

Were you told it would be that late when you called ahead to check its status?

Posted by yummykaz (Member # 475) on :

We were told train was 2 hours late when we called at 10AM (for a 3:20 Pm Train). We were 150 miles away so we drove to be sure to be there in case train made up time. Got to train station was told it would be in at 5:30...then at 6:30..then at 7:00...nope...not until 7:30 with no working toilets due to some malfuntion or no water.