I'm new posting on this board, but I've been a regular visitor for about six months.
I thoroughly enjoy my train travel from BAL to NYP, a route on which I am a regular commuter. Today, however, I went through what was probably my worst Amtrak experience in about four years. I was scheduled to depart NYP on train 99 today, which pulled in late because of a downed catenary wire. We departed something like 10 minutes late--not unacceptable at all--and were running at a nice clip until Philadelphia. At this point, the train began to move slowly, and barely crept along by Wilmington. At Wilmington, the conductor announced a stalled train ahead of us, attributable to an engine problem. He invited us to stretch/smoke on the platform. The conductor did a passable job keeping us up to date on the status of the delay, but generally chatted with passengers and crew outside while eating snacks. As I had a ride picking me up in Baltimore, I tried to check on our delay status with him twice. Granted, I sat in a window seat, but I called out to him twice, and neither time got a response. He seemed caught up in conversation and wasn't attentive to the concerns of the passengers. Also, the bathrooms on the train became progressively worse. The handicap restroom in my car--nicely refurbished Amfleet--was trashed with toilet paper, napkins, and water.
When we were about to cross the Susquehanna, however, we suddenly slowed to less than 10 mph. The reason for the delay went unexplained as we crossed the bridge at a very slow pace. On the other side of the bridge, we began to approach police tape and forensic officers. Again, no announcement or warning from the conductor. All of a sudden, all passengers on my side of the train saw mutilated limbs of a human body all across the roadbed. I won't go into details, but it was the most graphic image of a human body I'd ever seen. Again, no advisory from the conductor about the scene, and no warning about an "incident" that people might want not want their children to see. (There were at least a dozen children in my car alone.) I felt so sick that I ran to the bathroom, which was a mess. All this time, I could not find any personnel to answer my question about the delay except for the cafe attendent, who wasn't rude so much as he was indifferent.
Finally, all the escelators were out at Baltimore. Again, no apologies from the station--just a notice to take the stairs. I also saw no extra Red Caps dispatched to help people with particularly heavy luggage.
I am very dissapointed with the employees' approach to all of the emergencies we encountered today. While I realize there was not much they could do, the least bit of attentiveness to customer concerns as we tried to make our way through the mess would have made the ride more pleasant. I am tempted to send a letter of compaint to Amtrak about this subject. Does this seem like a combination of unfortunate events and powerless employees, or is it a more of serious customer service problem?
--Eric
Posted by Eric R. (Member # 4123) on :
And I even got the subject line wrong on my first post!
NYP->BAL.
Woops
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Eric - welcome to the forum!! It sounds like you had quite a trip!! Fortunately, this type of combination of events does not happen too often, especially in the NEC. In your case, I am sure the crew probably didn't know much more about what was going on than anyone else did.
Keep riding the trains!!
Posted by I Missed the Ma&Pa (Member # 4300) on :
As someone who has worked on the front line in Transportation Operations (local Bus Operator), I can say that in many cases, employees who you may expect to know much about a situation may not be as informed as you may think, and they are likely to be just as annoyed by the delays as the riders are.
While the engineer may know the nature of a delay, it may not always be entirely conveyed to the conductor, and I wouldn't expect the cafe car attendant to know much at all. From the sounds of things, I'd assume everyone's nerves on that train were a little rattled, and its hard to say just what would have made everyone happy. If an announcement had been made suggesting that all on the right side of the train refrain from looking out at the grizzly scene, would it have only piqued the curiosity of those on the other side?
Delays are a nearly impossible thing for those on the ground to estimate, and given the chain of events that befell that train, I'd think no one wanted to furnish an ETA which could not be realistically met.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Probably the only people who knew what was going on were the engineers in the cab. While the conductors are tuned in to the front end on their radios at all times, they may or may not convey any information to the passengers. And, as "I Missed the Ma & Pa" said, the cafe car attendants are generally the ones who know the LEAST about what is going on.
Posted by abefroman329 (Member # 3986) on :
quote:Originally posted by Eric R.:
I am tempted to send a letter of compaint to Amtrak about this subject.
I definitely would - the situation wasn't handled well at all. If they were going to go to the trouble of disguising the incident as "a delay due to a stalled engine" then they definitely should have taken steps to ensure passengers didn't have to view a mutilated body! Write or call about the incident - I called about a bad experience with rude conductors and broken seats on a WAS-BAL trip some time ago and found the woman working the phone to be pretty condescending, so I'd probably go the snail mail route if I were you. Just be sure to include either your ticket stub or a copy in the letter. They'll send a nice letter and probably a voucher for around what you paid for the ticket.
Posted by Tanner929 (Member # 3720) on :
I've booked an august trip from NHV to BAL leaving early for a 4 pm Yankees v Orioles game. I hope they the problem solved by then.