Passenger Trains > 95 Trip Report

I'm writing this while on board train 95 from Wilmington to Williamsburg. As much as I want to like and enjoy Amtrak? They just seem to work at making the experience less than enjoyable. We were 30 minutes late out of Wilmington. Have had other unexplained stops and despite a fast turn in DC, we are now down 35 minutes. The rest rooms are filthy, the trash containers over flowing, and Business Class oversold. By the way, did Amtrak do away with a dedicated BC car attendant? Haven't seen one yet.

Sad thing is this trip was a gift from me to my spouse for our 35th anniversary and she is certainly not getting a good impression. At least we got seats.

Guess I shouldn't complain. I could be stuck in traffic on I95.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/12 13:38 by Daveb.

If the Business Class attendant is invisible, you need to write Amtrak.

I was on the Carolinian in the spring (twice) and Business Class was chock full--less space than in coach. I think this is one place Amtrak could easily raise fares.

I'm surprised that the company doesn't take the station stop / engine change interval to send a maintenance person in to service the facilities. That's pretty standard in Europe on higher end trains.

In the 15-20 minutes, the attendant could probably clean and service the business class, at least.

That's a thoughtful gift from your wife. Traffic on I-95 on a Friday evening is even more brutal than the rest of the week.

95 does not have a BC attendant. Not since the days of the Club Car.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/12 13:37 by LoadLimited.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm surprised that the company doesn't take the
> station stop / engine change interval to send a
> maintenance person in to service the facilities.
> That's pretty standard in Europe on higher end
> trains.

1) Train 95 is not a "higher end train", it's a Regional.
2) AS noted elsewhere, there is not attendant in business class -- just a newspaper, and complementary soft drink beverage service in the cafe car.
3) Train 95 originates in Boston, so on a high travel Friday the rest rooms are probably pretty well used by Wilmington. I could make the same comment about a crowded United Airlines cross country flight.

Haze,
Just because it's Friday and that train has travelled from Boston, is not an excuse for filth. Amtrak is responsible for the conditions of its trains. We paid a higher fare and should be able to expect cleanliness.

Have had 3 more unexplained stops between DC and Richmond. Luckily there enough time in the schedule that we are only down about 40 minutes.

Oh and how are you suppose to know when there is or is not an attendant? When I rode the Carolinian earlier this year there was an attendant and drink cart. Speaks to consistency of service which has often been a topic on this board.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/12 15:13 by Daveb.

Daveb Wrote:

> Have had 3 more unexplained stops between DC and
> Richmond. Luckily there enough time in the
> schedule that we are only down about 40 minutes.

Well that is normal, you are at the mercy of capacity constrained CSX. I used to ride DC-Richmond all the time and having a scanner just made things more irritating, because you could hear on the scanner that you were going to run on approaches all the way to Richmond behind a drag freight and their is no chance for getting around because of too much opposing traffic.

Incidentally, I just got some holiday tickets for my girlfriend to travel from Chicago to DC. She has ridden Amtrak for several years with me, but is by no means a railfan. Nevertheless, when I asked her how she wants to travel, alone, between Richmond and Chicago, she chose Amtrak. (And she has done the same trip several times in the past.)

I know this won't help, but I figured out a long time ago the best way to "enjoy" Amtrak. First on the list of course is to bring your own do-it-yourself repair kit (this mostly applies to long-distance trains in the sleeper). But the second thing that I always do is to travel with the ADVANCED KNOWLEDGE that things will be crappy. I know it will be dirty, I know the attendants will suck, I know the food will stink, I know we will be late, I know the a/c won't be working correctly, I know that the restrooms will look like crap.....I know all of these things in advance. Then, when I get aboard the train, if I don't find some of those things, it's like a big bonus and I'm totally happy because the car doesn't smell like poop. It's the only way to travel on Amtrak.

inRVA might have a valid point about the CSX trackage, but that doesn't explain why the train was 35 or 40 minutes late coming off the Amtrak-operated Northeast Corridor.

Also, I see on VRE's website that its Fredericksburg Line is running at 96-97% OTP this year, so CSX is handling VRE very nicely on its capacity-constrained railroad.

I believe that the Acela Express trains have a traveling cleaner for at least part of the distance. I rode 4 SNCF TGVs last year, and they post Post-It Note-type stickers on the restroom doors saying how many times they've been cleaned en route by the "SNCF Property" cleaner. It's a nice touch.

And I also have to agree that it's inconsistent that Amtrak offers an attendant in Business Class on the Carolinian but not on NEC Regional trains or other trains. So if you board the Carolinian at Richmond to go north, you have an attendant in Business Class but if you board one of the Regional trains, which look exactly the same except that they don't have a baggage car, there isn't an attendant. It's inconsistent, when the service is labeled with the same name, and passengers don't understand it.

Actually, The Carolinian's attendant isn't supposed to hang out the entire trip in the Business Class car, but that's generally what happens. He or she works the Business Class car and the train crew works the coaches. The Business Class attendant is actually a Train Attendant who's supposed to keep the entire train clean, offer assistance, answer questions, be an ambassador, all those things. But in my experience, the Carolinian's Train Attendant usually stays in the Business Class car and tends to those passengers. That choice is made easier for the Carolinian's attendant because there's a food car between the Business Class car and the rest of the coaches, so it makes it difficult to work 2 cars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/12 15:31 by knotch8.

Just to finish the story, we arrived Williamsburg down about 55 minutes. Still better than driving- just somewhat disappointing that things are the way they are.

And this on Amtrak's "pride and Joy" NEC, where they charge top dollar. All I can say is that is Amtrak. Never gets better. Just sometimes it is less "bad". I've been riding Amtrak since I was knee-high. Not so much now after countless horror stories. Yes, there have been good trips also. But even as a railfan I cannot stand Amtrak for more than a few short haul trips from time to time. If you only received decent service at your local Mc D's 50% or 60% of the time, would you continue to reward them with your hard earned money?

Shame. I can understand the delays out of DC on CSX, but would would Southwest Airlines, Hilton Hotels, or Carnival Cruise Lines allow overflowing trash cans or filthy equipment? Or keep paying passengers uninformed about delays? Oh I forgot, these companies must make a profit to stay in business. So they need customers to be happy and return again. Again Amtrak is its own worst enemy.


Daveb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just to finish the story, we arrived Williamsburg
> down about 55 minutes. Still better than driving-
> just somewhat disappointing that things are the
> way they are.

cashfare Wrote:

> If you only received decent service at your
> local Mc D's 50% or 60% of the time, would you
> continue to reward them with your hard earned
> money?

When someone says essentially half of their trips go wrong, I get suspicious of the objectivity of their standards. But maybe that is the case.

Even assuming that - at McD's, no, you wouldn't, across the street is some other place. To some people. But to others, McD's is as bad as Burger King or Wendy's, because it is all junk fast food.

There are definitely people who see all transport options as problematic and probably have lower all around standards. Unless you have money, who can say any method of traveling medium to long distance in the US is reliably comfortable, timely, and pleasant? I have a mixed/flight train itinerary over the holidays. I was surprised to find today that my coach amtrak ticket CHI-DEN is a step lower in price now, even though I bought a month ago. In two minutes, at my computer, I cancelled my reservation, got a full refund, and rebooked, saving myself $20.

I looked at my Frontier flight back, and was surprised to see it was $30 cheaper than when I bought it a month ago. At that time, a checked bag was $20 and stepping up to their next category of travel was $25 with free bag and the ability to change a reservation, so I signed up. It claims "move reservation, plus fare difference." I called today, asked about switching to a flight on the same day that was cheaper, and asked if "fare difference" is both a positive and negative term. To no ones surprise, the answer is NO. Apparently me saving $25 must be defined by some other mysterious phrase.

hazegray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm surprised that the company doesn't take the
> > station stop / engine change interval to send a
> > maintenance person in to service the facilities.
>
> > That's pretty standard in Europe on higher end
> > trains.
>
> 1) Train 95 is not a "higher end train", it's a
> Regional.
> 2) AS noted elsewhere, there is not attendant in
> business class -- just a newspaper, and
> complementary soft drink beverage service in the
> cafe car.
> 3) Train 95 originates in Boston, so on a high
> travel Friday the rest rooms are probably pretty
> well used by Wilmington. I could make the same
> comment about a crowded United Airlines cross
> country flight.

To your point 3, the train comes to a complete stop at WAS for the motor change. So, having a maintenance person board the train and service the business class car wouldn't be a completely impractical suggestion. Maybe even board at Philly and work to Wilmington and return on another premium fare business car.

Comparing desired service levels to United Airlines etc is setting a pretty low bar. Comparing to DB or SNCF is a higher hurdle.

Amtrak was supposed to be cleaning trains enroute at these various "layover points" - particularly in New York. I can recall at one time seeing cleaning people for the Acela Express trains, but perhaps that gets "extra special treatment."

Nonetheless, they were supposed to extend it to NEC Regionals.

If Amtrak is too stupid and lazy to service their longer Regional runs enroute, then you should write Mr Boardman and challenge him to segment all NEC Regional train runs at New York and Washington, with NO run-thrus, so the morons can empty the trash and clean the bathrooms.

Another example of Amtrak victim-mentality and inattentiveness to detail, and it is as much on the NEC as it is off.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/12 04:47 by joemvcnj.