Passenger Trains > 28/8 of 9/20 VAN to WFH B minus at best

Good:
On time or close to it all the way.  
Seemed like several very well done meets, some were sliders.
Good to excellent track conditions.
I am guessing the Portland sleeper was over 80% full.
Our sleeper had a schedule taped up to a bulkhead.
Poor:
Coach ridership was very light out of Vancouver.
Still no dining car service for the coaches, the head person said they just can't do it although there were the usual several tables blocked off and at 7 AM only about four occupied tables.  The coach load was very light.  Nobody seems to remember when they fed full trains with many coaches and sleepers; apparently Washington simply does not want to do it.
The Superliner 1 car we rode in was just about used up.  A plaque told how proud the employees of Beech Grove were to have rebuilt it.....dated 1995.  That is 26 years ago!  There were broken cabinet locks, frayed carpet, 120 volt outlets so worn that plugs fell out, toilet door locks that wouldn't (lock) and it seemed like a lot of noise from other rooms.  (?)
Our attendant, "Kyle" said he was too busy to have cleaned up and started the coffee pot in the morning.  Oh well I guess Amtrak needs the $2 I paid the lounge car lady for my first cup, maybe they can swing that and some loose change into training for attendants.  We found foil-wrapped dinner remains under our seats and dirty towels in the closet.  There were was no Orange Juice set out either.
The windows were dirty on the outside.
Getting Bad Fast:
For our trip from VAN to LAX we made use of the Vancouver depot waiting room.  When we arrived for the 507 PM departure for No. 28 the door was locked.  The agent did open it up so we could at least use the bathroom.  He said that the waiting room was going to be closed from now on.  I find this hard to believe.....is he within some new policy that requires passengers to wait on platforms?

I have ridden 7 & 8 from and to Whitefish when I had the time 30 hrs from WFH to CHI and no food I wonder who they think is going to ride it. Not worth it to me until they start giving back some service. The businesses along the route have had to been hurt by the cut back in rail service. Washington keeps talking about infrastructure and jobs maybe they need to put some on AMTRAK.

Ed

I think the only way to get through to Amtrak management is to legislate their precious 457 mile NEC spine under PRIIA-209 and terminate federal funding to the NEC account like has been done to all the other corridors. Flynn, Gardner, and Coscia can then take their grovelling and tin cup to all of 8 state legislatures for that annually.  

Throwing infrastructure money at Amtrak will not clean the bathrooms, the windows, restore food service fit for humans, prepare schedules, or open station waiting rooms. Covid is not a valid excuse for any of that, especially the dirty bathrooms.

The original poster should write this up, Fedex it to Flynn, instruct him to get off his ass, and to your Congressional delegation because none of them read Trainorders. Amtrak's dog and pony show on Connect US (a hoax to subsidize the NEC)  and Gulf Coast law suits are intentional distractions. They are obviously degrading the national network into a curbside bus company, waiting for a less favorable Congress to cut it.  And don't expect Amtrak's buddy NARP ("RPA") to lift a finger or to even comprehend what's going on. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/21 03:41 by joemvcnj.

railstiesballast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good:
> On time or close to it all the way.  
> Seemed like several very well done meets, some
> were sliders.
> Good to excellent track conditions.
> I am guessing the Portland sleeper was over 80%
> full.
> Our sleeper had a schedule taped up to a
> bulkhead.
> Poor:
> Coach ridership was very light out of Vancouver.
> Still no dining car service for the coaches, the
> head person said they just can't do it although
> there were the usual several tables blocked off
> and at 7 AM only about four occupied tables.  The
> coach load was very light.  Nobody seems to
> remember when they fed full trains with many
> coaches and sleepers; apparently Washington simply
> does not want to do it.
> The Superliner 1 car we rode in was just about
> used up.  A plaque told how proud the employees
> of Beech Grove were to have rebuilt it.....dated
> 1995.  That is 26 years ago!  There were broken
> cabinet locks, frayed carpet, 120 volt outlets so
> worn that plugs fell out, toilet door locks that
> wouldn't (lock) and it seemed like a lot of noise
> from other rooms.  (?)
> Our attendant, "Kyle" said he was too busy to have
> cleaned up and started the coffee pot in the
> morning.  Oh well I guess Amtrak needs the $2 I
> paid the lounge car lady for my first cup, maybe
> they can swing that and some loose change into
> training for attendants.  We found foil-wrapped
> dinner remains under our seats and dirty towels in
> the closet.  There were was no Orange Juice set
> out either.
> The windows were dirty on the outside.
> Getting Bad Fast:
> For our trip from VAN to LAX we made use of the
> Vancouver depot waiting room.  When we arrived
> for the 507 PM departure for No. 28 the door was
> locked.  The agent did open it up so we could at
> least use the bathroom.  He said that the waiting
> room was going to be closed from now on.  I find
> this hard to believe.....is he within some new
> policy that requires passengers to wait on
> platforms?

Amtrak is running two coaches on the Portland section and one coach on the Seattle section. Presumably Amtrak knows what it is doing by optimizing more coach seats on the Portland section than the Seattle section. Both sections used to get two coaches. You can be sure that the coaches filled as the train proceeded east though beyond Whitefish. Upcoming Empire Builders in October are at an occupancy of 70 to 80% currently, with most sleeper space sold out, or nearly so. I believe Amtrak has dropped (or will be shortly) the Seattle sleeper, despite the high capacity bookings in sleeper........

I would think that there has to be some correlation with some reduced coach traffic and the current food service being offered on LD trains. The cafe food variety could be more tolerable with greater variety or different variety - that's for sure! It's horrible at present. No other way to describe it.  

I have had some GREAT Portland based Sleeper Car Attendants - and some horrible ones. I've been aboard with Kyle before, and he's awful.....The Portland SCA's largely have to do the cleaning for the turning of the rooms at Portland. Most SCA's that I have had did a great job and kept a VERY clean car. But occasionally a bad apple gets rolled in. He was one of them. Looks like you had a bad apple. This can make all the difference some time in said journey. No reason to have trash left in room and room not cleaned. The last SCA I had on the Portland section - she kept the cleanest car I think I've ever experienced and gave everyone tips about using the bathrooms etc. "We're all in this journey together, so lets keep our home clean for the next couple of days." She earned a good tip from me and letter of praise to Amtrak!

Pretty sure the sleeper you were in was a Superliner I that received a mid 1990 renovation with some money Amtrak could muster up, but not many got this renovation. Like the Superliner II sleepers, these also need to get an update!

Part of the reason the coaches are empty is the mask rule.
I won't ride in coach now.
I is not vacation wearing a mask.

Posted from Android

The NEC regionals are up to 8 and 9 cars, with masks, though those tend to be much shorter journeys.
Nuked gas station food for 3 - 5 meals in a row doesn't help either. 

I just rode #7 September 5-7 and #8 September 12-14 between Chicago and Seattle in sleeper X30 and the car 32098(yes, I had same car on both trips) was well maintained and very comfortable ride in roomette 003. SCA Rodgie was excellent in keeping our car clean and providing service on the #7 trip and SCA Robbie and trainee Steve did excellent jobs on #8.  Dining car was basically full with waiting lists for all three meals and they did serve coach passengers "to go" meals between Spokane and Seattle since the Lounge car goes to Portland. And, of course, masking was commendably enforced on both trips.

I only add this comment to say that I accept that Amtrak and its employees and mangagement are doing as well as should be expected under the current COVID situation.  Maybe the Portland SCA failed in his job but that does not brand all SCA's or Amtrak.  

I wonder if there is an airline fan website similar to TO that people share comments with on airline employee service like we do here about Amtrak's? Speaking strictly from my own experiences on Amtrak and various domestic airlines, I have encountered more lazy, rude and just about useless employees on Amtrak than I have at all of the airlines combined, including at stations and airports. That being said, there are many great employees at Amtrak that I have had the pleasure of traveling with, but it seems like you will encounter the opposite more so on the rails than in the air. Maybe it's something in the water.

It is likely much harder for Amtrak than an airline to get rid of the deplorable 5%. I have never once encountered such an employee on VIA Rail. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/21 16:07 by joemvcnj.

I think it is Props and Spinners.

irhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder if there is an airline fan website
> similar to TO that people share comments with on
> airline employee service like we do here about
> Amtrak's? Speaking strictly from my own
> experiences on Amtrak and various domestic
> airlines, I have encountered more lazy, rude and
> just about useless employees on Amtrak than I have
> at all of the airlines combined, including at
> stations and airports. That being said, there are
> many great employees at Amtrak that I have had the
> pleasure of traveling with, but it seems like you
> will encounter the opposite more so on the rails
> than in the air. Maybe it's something in the
> water.