Passenger Trains > Amtrak NYC to Niagara Falls - Truly Unbelievable

Amtrak NYC to Niagara Falls - Truly Unbelievable
TripAdvisor
Jun 11, 2016, 10:55 AM
by HenryLINY

> I had planned my June trip from NYC to Niagara Falls 7 months in
> advance. I worked out the Canadian hotel reservations. Amtrak would
> get me within a few miles of the hotel, then take a taxi the rest of
> the way. I checked from time to time that the reservations were in
> place. I was leaving on Sunday. My friend was leaving on Tuesday.
> Then, we would return together on Friday back to NYC.
>
> Six (6) days before our scheduled trip I received an "Important
> Amtrak Alert" that the Sunday schedule had been cancelled due to a
> service disruption. No alternate service is available, apologies for
> the inconvenience.
>
> Then, Tuesday's schedule was cancelled. Then, Friday's schedule was
> cancelled. Then, my friend's Friday schedule was cancelled. I flipped
> on the news expecting to hear about the service disruption. Nothing.
> All was quiet. I figure, this must be a computer glitch with their
> reservation system. Nobody just shuts down the rail service for a
> over a week on six days notice for no reason.
>
> I got them on the phone. Even the agent couldn't figure out what was
> going on. By this time, my friend was frantically texting me, asking
> what happened to our vacation plans. I told her, Relax - I've got
> them on the phone now. I was put briefly on hold then told, yes,
> indeed, all Amtrak service to Niagara Falls cancelled for June 12,
> June 14, and June 17 - right thru the 20th I believe.
>
> Vacation *obliterated* without warning. Hotel already paid for. Time
> from work already scheduled. All gone... gone.
>
> I had moments to think how to salvage this. I scrambled for flights
> from NYC to Buffalo but did not know how to cross the border by
> public transportation. I found an (expensive) shuttle from the
> airport to the hotel and booked everything immediately, knowing that
> flights could evaporate any second. Amtrak did NOT automatically
> refund my tickets. I had to *request* a refund, which I received. Put
> against the airfare, luggage fees, and ground transportation, it cost
> me an additional $700+ due in part to last minute bookings.
>
> Amtrak must have known that a 1+ week service outage was scheduled. I
> had tickets for 7 months in advance and they did nothing to warn me.
> I had to re-pack, re-plan, and have to deal with the TSA and all that
> noise rather than a leisurely train ride there and back, plus the
> additional unexpected expense.
>
> Amtrak - you are miserable. You have still not responded to my
> complaint. You destroyed my vacation. You are a poor excuse for
> public transportation. If it had been the airlines cancelling flights
> they would have worked to get me alternate transportation. You did
> nothing. You didn't even offer me bus tickets.
>
> Next time you are planning your vacation, take this as your warning
> that Amtrak is unreliable.

-TripAdvisor LLC link:

Amtrak NYC to Niagara Falls - Truly Unbelievable



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/16 22:46 by GenePoon.

Looking at the service alert posted by Amtrak, it did not look like all trains to Niagra Falls were canceled at that time.

There might be a valid reason why the Maple Leaf, which is the only train to
Niagara Falls ON, and which in Amtrak.com DOES appear to be operating, would not
be going to Niagara Falls, ON (which is the passenger's destination,
not Niagara Falls, NY): a possible VIA Rail Canada strike.  That isn't supposed to
begin until Monday June 13 but even if the TripAdvisor correspondent were to make
it to Niagara Falls, ON on Sunday June 12, if a strike occurred and lasted a week
he'd have no train home, and his friend would not have a train to ride to Niagara Falls.

Moreover, Amtrak may be planning to terminate Train 63(12) at Niagara Falls NY, so
it would not be trapped in Canada on June 13 if a strike were to occur.

VIA Rail Canada statement:

> On June 9, 2016, UNIFOR, the union representing more than 1,800 of
> the 2,500 employees who work in stations, telephone sales offices,
> maintenance centres and administrative offices, informed VIA Rail of
> its intent to exercise its strike mandate at 12:01 a.m. (ET) on June
> 13, 2016 should no agreement be reached by that time. In the event of
> a trains strike, all services across the VIA Rail network will be
> interrupted.
>
> With the assistance of government’s conciliators, VIA Rail and the
> union are currently negotiating as part of the normal process of
> renewal of collective agreements which expired on December 31, 2015.
> We are doing our utmost to reach a settlement without service
> disruption before the strike deadline.
>
> If you absolutely need to travel, we suggest that you modify your
> plans and find alternative transportation before the departure date
> indicated on your ticket. You can exchange your ticket for travel at
> a later date or get a full refund without any service fees, if at
> least one segment for travel between June 13 and June 19, 2016 .
>
>
> EXCEPTIONAL SITUATIONS FOR LONG-HAUL TRAINS
>
> In the event of a strike on 12:01 a.m. (ET) on June 13, 2016 ,
> (long distance trains already departed from origin and underway)
> WILL BE OPERATING and bringing passengers to their destination.


An interruption of Maple Leaf service within Canada due to a strike would be an
interruption of VIA train service, not Amtrak; presumably Amtrak is not authorized to
charter buses as alternate transportation for such interruption of VIA Rail Canada service.

If indeed the possible VIA Rail Canada strike is the cause for the service disruption
notice to this passenger, the least Amtrak could have done was to so advise him
when he called.




 



Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/16 00:05 by GenePoon.

So couldn't he have taken the train to Niagara Falls, NY. And then taxi over?  Or how about just driving either with personal or rental car.  That said, clearly Amtrak handled  of the situation poorly.  While it appears the issue was  with VIA, Amtrak should have been pro active in re arranging transportation for their passengers suggesting the train to Niagara Falls NY and providing a bus connection to Ontario. 

While we're on the subject, NY-NFLS #283 showed a service disruption at Croton yesterday.  When similar events have happened in the past, the train has broken down, with passengers being transferred to a following NY-ALB train whose equipment continues on to the Falls.  Not sure if that is what happened yesterday.
Andy

Any TripAdvisor complaint should be resolved or supplemented with additional info as soon as possible.

I'm surprised Amtrak's own social media people haven't jumped on this with alternatives

Posted from Android

Interesting. Amtrak makes a new " never againer" without him even riding !! Way to go.

    Ross Rowland

This morning's Amtrak #63, the Maple Leaf, is on time out of Poughkeepsie.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

From the description of things here, it sounds also to me like the Maple Leaf might simply terminate at Falls NY. If that's the case, Amtrak's handling of this situation was pathetic. Actually, it's pathetic no matter how you slice it.
 

I am not sure we are dealing with all of the details here.  A number of AMTRAK trains between Albany and Niagara Falls, NY were suspended for a period of trackwork.  As the end of the CSX work approached, it became evident that the work period would need to be lengthened.  This may have been the reason for the late notice.  

I also wonder about where this person was planning to de-train.  If one gets off at Niagara Falls, NY, gets a cab over to Niagara Falls, ON, one will save at least an hour or more by not going through the whole-train custom process at the border.  

A quick check of archives shows that #63, the Maple Leaf, traveled the whole route NYP-Toronto, including a stop at Niagara Falls, NY and a stop at Niagara Falls, ON, every day in June.  So, I must assume that the passenger was using a different train, one of the suspended Empire Service trains to Niagara Falls, NY. 

Without more specific details, it is hard to judge the case.  Indeed, AMTRAK probably has some portion of the blame for not handling this better but as tenant on a railroad they do not have control of the whole situation. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/16 08:42 by RevRandy.

Agreed Amtrak to Buffalo.

​Then, inexpenisve car rental, quicker to Canada as there would be little border issue although frequently wait for your turn can be an hour or more.  Then by rental car so many places to explore.  US buck or US credit card gets lots of advantage against CDN.

To some degree TO members have a slight advantage, in that many are familiar with routes, cities, etc.  If not,members ask questions ahead of time, here on TO.  This individual, a "civilian" is uninformed, and innocently assumed his travel was taken care of when he booked those trains.  So the individual bears no responsibility here, really.  He takes them at there word, unfortunately. Additionally, how many more are there out there like this incident, which we never hear of?



 

norm1153 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To some degree TO members have a slight advantage,
> in that many are familiar with routes, cities,
> etc.  If not,members ask questions ahead of time,
> here on TO.  This individual, a "civilian" is
> uninformed, and innocently assumed his travel was
> taken care of when he booked those trains.  So
> the individual bears no responsibility here,
> really.  He takes them at there word,
> unfortunately. Additionally, how many more are
> there out there like this incident, which we never
> hear of?
>
>
>
> 
When you look at Amtrak today and even more Metra etc they seem to "hide" the schedule.  The site is geared like an airline.  Put in a departure city and an arrival.
You have to dig out the schedule and be somewhat versed in the routes.
I am not that up on these schedules there could have been timing problem, ie taking a different train to Buffalo and then getting across border etc might not have lined with their reservations, when they want to leave etc.  Maybe they don't drive, can't, don't like to, are milleniums etc but for that distance my plan B would be to drive before I fork all that out to an airline, even with a rental.  There is a lot talk about the car culture but esp for trips of this length, but  leave when you want to leave, go where you want to go.

Bob

norm1153 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To some degree TO members have a slight advantage,
> in that many are familiar with routes, cities,
> etc.  If not,members ask questions ahead of time,
> here on TO.  This individual, a "civilian" is
> uninformed, and innocently assumed his travel was
> taken care of when he booked those trains.  So
> the individual bears no responsibility here,
> really.  He takes them at there word,
> unfortunately. Additionally, how many more are
> there out there like this incident, which we never
> hear of?
>
>
>
>  

This is not just an Amtrak "problem", if the comsumer does not think to lead a customer service agent odds are they will give you what you say and not what you want.  Part of this is target fixation which is a common cognative bias, the other is that when you have a national call center the staff might not know the ins and outs of local routes (which, again, causes them to fixate on the reservation at hand).  The consumer needs to remember to ask something like "can you get me close" or, ideally, know enough to request a specific re-route. 

mbrotzman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is not just an Amtrak "problem", if the
> comsumer does not think to lead a customer service
> agent odds are they will give you what you say and
> not what you want.  Part of this is target
> fixation which is a common cognative bias, the
> other is that when you have a national call center
> the staff might not know the ins and outs of local
> routes (which, again, causes them to fixate on the
> reservation at hand).  The consumer needs to
> remember to ask something like "can you get me
> close" or, ideally, know enough to request a
> specific re-route. 

Airlines are the same way. They'll declare a weather cancel but won't endorse your ticket over to their competitor who's still flying to that destination. Make you wait three days on their own convenience. Weather and safety delays don't usually trigger penalty payents.

That same strategy is also very common with cable TV etc. I had a problem with Comcast, I was 99% sure the signal coming in from the street was compromised. But their telephone rep had to walk me through an hour of testing this and that before she agreed the problem was a failure to get a clear signal into the house.

They'll do anything to avoid sending out a rep.

But, the fundamental problem is Amtrak needs to respond quickly on social media when misleading or damaging information is posted. They need to get alternatives in place.

Getting rid of the printed National Timetable is another step in "hiding." Amtrak is not an airline.

The customer service rep at the call center, many not know that there is both a Niagara Fall in NEW YORK and one in ONTARIO - especially as geomentry is no longer taught in schools

Wurli1938 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The customer service rep at the call center, many
> not know that there is both a Niagara Fall in NEW
> YORK and one in ONTARIO - especially as geomentry
> is no longer taught in schools

I'm not sure about the "geometry piece".  Might you mean "geography"?  Maybe it's a straight line between the two?

Buffalo might have been a reasonable alternative.  Frequent  NFTA bus service Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY.

OP should have asked for advice either on TO or FT before acting abruptly.  Amtrak of course should have been more consumer-friendly, but then as someone pointed out, they're not an airline.