Stop picking on Stevepostal. You know he is right about that our government is embarrassing us with a rail system which should have been much better and fully-funded and should be the best in the world. All his grievances are right-on! I want a better Amtrak funded fully by congress and not threatened for it's very existence EVERY budget year!
Posted by CoastStarlight99 (Member # 2734) on :
I agree. I was agreeing with him as well on his AMtrak stations celan bathroom thing.....I think were all togethor about Amtrak's financial problems.We need to shut down amtrak all togethor! IM JUST KIDDING, people I love amtrak.!
peace out, Anton
Posted by Konstantin (Member # 18) on :
I also agree. He has brought up some excellent points. Amtrak customer service has been terrible for 32 years and I think their customers have a right to complain.
I haven't gotten into these discussions yet, but two things stand out in this thread.
First, I don't think we need to feel a sense of personal shame for our government's treatment of passenger trains, specifically Amtrak. I'm ashamed of our government, but that shouldn't reflect on us mere citizens, individually or collectively. Polls show that the majority of Americans want a good passenger rail system. The government (supposedly "of the people") just hasn't caught on yet for some unfathomable reason.
Second, I keep hearing about the terrible service Amtrak provides, but I have yet to experience bad service. At least not anything that is within Amtrak's control. On all of my trips in recent years the service has been good to exceptional. It may be uneven, and there are no doubt some bad apples in the company, but that is no reason to make blanket statements about service across the entire national system.
As one who rode Amtrak regularly in the 1970s, I can tell you that service today is 1000% better than it was then. The current crews may not be perfect, but there are a lot of good, hard workers on the trains and I hate to see them lumped into the same category as the few bad ones.
Yes, Amtrak does need to deal with the problem areas. But, as I've said before, I think Amtrak would have more resources to deal with these internal problems if the company didn't have to spend so much effort dealing with external problems, including a inconsistent Congress, a hostile White House, and uncooperative host railroads.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
[This message has been edited by Mr. Toy (edited 09-21-2003).]
Posted by vincen47 (Member # 2201) on :
Railbug,
Of course you agree with Stevepostal. You must be his twin.
Suspicious similarities.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
I'm going to amend my previous statement about not experiencing bad service. Actually, I did experience some bad service on our return trip from Denver in August 2000. There were two problems. 1) No dinner service even though the train was 4 hours late into Emeryville. 2) Bagggage claim at Emeryville took a full hour. It was frustrating, but not enough to spoil the overall experience.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
Not as bad as trying to claim baggage at Philadelphia International Airport…
Posted by CK (Member # 589) on :
Railbug, I think vincen47 has got you figured out. Strange your 1st post is in defense of Stevepostal and your home page in "your" bio is......."Stevepostal" According to your bio's you both even share the same occupation as film directors. Now that Railbug has appeared on this forum, Stevepostal has disappeared.
[This message has been edited by CK (edited 09-22-2003).]
