Passenger Trains > Which Train to Penn Station? The Polar Express

Being in the right place at the right time putting railfanning to a good use.

I was in Wilmington, DE on the NEC boarding train #171 that runs Boston-Lynchburg, VA with bus connection to Roanoke.  Scheduled departure is 2:34PM. The message board said on time.   I made my way to the platform and a man asks me "Is this the train to Penn Station?".   I paused and said no, thinking Penn NY.  After a short discussion it was apparent that the gentleman was mentally challenged. (can I say that here?)  So I looked at his ticket and it read Baltimore.   Oh....Penn Station Baltimore.  I told him I would stay with him as that is also my train.  Acela train 2159 also from Boston was scheduled at 2:30 but was 8 min late,  But the message board said next train was 145 to Lynchburg.  145 is the same train as 171 but runs on Sunday, this is Monday.  A lady on the platform was to meet somebody "on the train Boston".   She did not know the train number.   There are 3 tracks in Wilmington and at 2:38 PM all 3 tracks had moving trains.  The signs on track 3 had the wrong train arriving, w/ wrong train number and a continual blare of announcements, again w/ wrong number.  It finally got corrected just as our train arrived.

Bottom line: On the NEC  it can be challenging for the average person to know which train to board.  There are no signs on the train itself to tell you which train to board.  I feel bad for folks with little English skills or cognitive challenges.  In Europe many trains have neat little sign boards on the side of coaches.  Some are electronic, some just heavy cardboard or plastic.  This would be a big help on the NEC, if crews properly placed the sign on the train.   SEPTA, VRE do this.  Of course much of America only sees 2 trains a day so they are typically not hard to confuse.  I was able to help the gentleman get on the train.  And the poor lady trying to meet her party, kept asking me "which train?"   She finally met up.   Train 171 followed 2159 by about 2 minutes (one block?). 

My Trip to Roanoke
  5 min late to Washington
  Engine Change took like 30 min with no HEP.  
  Signal Problems on CSX Washington to Alexandria   We sat in the middle of Potomac River Bridge for 10+ min.  Then moved restricted speed.  VRE came along side and we paced each other.  Crews kept us informed of delays.
  After leaving DC we were the Polar Express, with the AC set to full wind chill.  It was the hotest day of the year. 
  We were 90 min late to Lynchburg and some passengers stressed about missing bus to Roanoke.  They did not understand/realize it was a guaranteed connection. 
  We only passed one freight, a stack train, between Alexandria and Lynchburg.
  Bus connection was fine to Roanoke.  It drops off a civic center, not the station in Roanoke. It was pretty full.
  The total route is over 600 miles, 12+ hours.  Coaches get really trashy with no coach attendant.  Crews were pleasant and helped a number of folks with challenges.

 

Not only on the NEC.  I have helped a lot of people at Newark - Broad Street on the former Lackawanna.  Not just people with limited English or mental/physical issues.  It seems that many people in the "under 40" category are not familiar with public transportation and do not know how to read a timetable.

Tim

And even places with only a handful of trains a day, like the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center, can be confusing.  Texas Eagle trains 21 and 22 are scheduled there close to the same time in the afternoon, and sometimes they are there at the same time across the platform from each other.  Just about every time I am down there at train time, someone asks "do you know if this the train for San Antonio" or "do you know if this the train for Chicago", etc.  Doesn't help any that the line numbers for many of the cars still show "58" or "59" or some train other than 21 or 22 (sleepers are generally correct, but not coaches).  And furthermore, it doesn't help that instead of numbering the individual tracks, they call the platform closest to the station "Track 1" (which is only used by TRE), and the next platform that sits between the 2nd and 3rd tracks that are used by Amtrak is marked as "Track 2".  So when the station announcer says "Train 21 is on track 2", they mean the second platform, but the train could actually be on either the 2nd or 3rd track from the station.  No help at all if both trains are there at the same time.  Heck, even I get confused at times.

Newark Penn has "next train boards", so track 3 is train 171, calling at... lists all stations.

Posted from Android

On my one and hopefully last visit to NY Penn station, a barely decipherable announcement said my train was "en route to the station from the coach yard" while the large board said it had a 20 minute delay. I asked the employee at the entrance to the seating area and he said "its boarding right now on platform XX, you better hurry".

That is a horrible station.

Michael