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So Say your nearest Amtrak station is unstaffed and you are catching the train in 1 hour and want to book a sleeper isntead of purchasing a coach ticket onboard then upgrading. If you called Amtrak and got a reservation number, what would you tell the conductor, and how could they check the reservation number, etc.
Passneger railroads in Europe carry PDA devices enabled with cell phone technology to instantly get a manifest of passenger onboard the train they are currently working.
notelvis Member # 3071
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If you've booked sleeping car accomodations to start with your name will appear with the space assigned on the car attendant's printed manifest. Assuming that your car attendant is 'on the ball' (and the majority of those working the sleepers are) once the train comes to a stop he'll (or she'll) be opening his door, putting out his (or her) stepbox, and calling out for Mr. Starlight99.........even at an unstaffed station.
NOW.......if you call Julie and book the sleeping car space only an hour ahead of the train's scheduled departure I don't know how they could do it......unless there is a specific type of reservation number used only in these circumstances.
Good Question.......and, b-t-w, how was your recent ride on the Southwest Chief?
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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Online, they will not let you make a reservation from an unstaffed station unless there is time to mail you the ticket. Will they let you do that by phone?
Kiernan Member # 3828
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Radios? Cell phones?
CoastStarlight99 Member # 2734
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Kiernan, I doubt they could use the radio since its not for that purpose, but your probably right about the cell phone, they carry Nextel phones and can probably direct connect some kind of special Amtrak line for this kind of situation.
Notelvis, thanks for asking about my SW Chief trip, it was a rather enjoyable trip. I will have the trip report up in less then a week.
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