Passenger Trains > They’re at it again.

Lots of talk on the Zephyr Facebook group about the 32 sleeper being removed from the consist. Sleeper reservations as far out as August being affected.

thought it was 1 day

If so, Gardner's Passive Aggression at it again, bitter he has to run them all more than 3 days a week.
Senator Durbin pressures him to restore the Quincy trains, so he gives him a one car train.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/23 14:41 by joemvcnj.

I have a reservation on Train 6, Califorina Zephyr from Sacramento to Chicago, Feb 6.  In the 632 car.  I have not heard from Amtrak about any change, so far.  



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/23 14:47 by ATKCentralCoast.

Redacted.



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/23 15:14 by lordsigma.

I don't use the Zephyr Facebook page but I was booked on #5 in Mid-May and just today received notice that "the Sleeper Car has been removed from train #0005, the California Zephyr, from Chicago, Illinois", and that  "We've changed your reservation to standard Coach seating and will refund you for the price difference".

Of course I am not going to tolerate coach seating from Chicago to California so it looks like I will be cancelling not only that but a return eastbound trip on #6 in June though I have not as yet received notice of being booted out of that bedroom. I then did some availability checking using a number of days earlier and also later, but to no avail. 

That is just what they want you to do, then can claim to House T&I we can't run the whole system anymore, at least not daily.

Disgusting they are still doing this.

This, along with a litany of other things is just making Amtrak more of an unreliable transportation option. If passengers book a sleeper, they are not going to take the coach option. Amtrak can say they are removing equipment cause they don't have the mechanical forces to maintain such aged equipment. Until new equipment is ordered for the LD trains, current management seems content on shuffling what existing equipment there is. But consists are just getting smaller and smaller - Texas Eagle and Capitol Limited are prime examples. Yet brand new Viewliner II equipment sits in Hialeah mothballed. Till just recently, the CA Zephyr maintained the same consist from 2019 till mid-2022. Booking/taking sleeper reservations, and then removing the equipment after having it in the system with available inventory.........what's the rational explanation??? I can hear it now - we are not restoring or repairing the Superliner/Viewliner I fleet etc. as there's new equipment in the pipeline.........15 years away from hitting the rails at best though. The Viewliner II order from CAF took how long? And that was using the Viewliner I shell design that Amtrak at least had experience with. Worst yet, Amtrak will not consider converting the Capitol Limited to single level equipment to try and have some additional Superliner passenger cars that could be re-assigned. Single level low density coaches could be found (especially as Venture cars come online in the Midwest) or even modified from Amfleet I cars (as they once were for Metroliner consists).  

Flyer92122 Wrote:
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> Disgusting they are still doing this.

Bad business at its finest.........

Ever since Airline Boy was CEO this is pretty much how today's Amtrak is, it sucks, and until Gardner and Co. are removed, it's gonna keep getting worse with excuses and whatever other crap they dish out!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/23 17:29 by ProAmtrak.

ATKCentralCoast Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a reservation on Train 6, Califorina Zephyr
> from Sacramento to Chicago, Feb 6.  In the 632
> car.  I have not heard from Amtrak about any
> change, so far.  

And I'm on the 532 car soon, too, Chicago to Salt Lake City. I have not heard from Amtrak so far, and I sure hope that I don't. It would be very difficult if not impossible at this point to change my travel plans.

If the -32 car is removed from the consist, and it happens for the day of my upcoming trip, that will mark the second time in five months that Amtrak will have done that to me. I was booked on the Southwest Chief for a trip from Chicago to Albuquerque with two other adults back in September 2022, a trip which had been booked since that previous May. The car we were in with a bedroom and a roomette was dropped from the consist, and we could not be rebooked for the bedroom. Other plans could not be worked out, and we were forced to cancel. It was a huge disappointment for all of us.

If "history repeats itself" and my car is dropped again, I will be super-super ticked off. 

It is said that Amtrak reads this forum. If so, I hope they see this post. I am telling them in the strongest possible terms, "don't you dare!"  For me, or for anyone else. I am known to my US Senator, with whom I have a fair previous correspondence at more than a form-letter level. Don't you dare, Amtrak - don't. You will not want the negative attention that I will bring upon you through my senator's office and the rest of my state's congressional delegation. And I will not relent.

Yes, that is a threat. Don't even think about it. The train needs that car -- now and in the future. The business is solid and justifies it.  Stop screwing around and leave it in the consist. Period.

MC

ironmtn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ATKCentralCoast Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I have a reservation on Train 6, Califorina
> Zephyr
> > from Sacramento to Chicago, Feb 6.  In the 632
> > car.  I have not heard from Amtrak about any
> > change, so far.  
>
> And I'm on the 532 car soon, too, Chicago to Salt
> Lake City. I have not heard from Amtrak so far,
> and I sure hope that I don't. It would be very
> difficult if not impossible at this point to
> change my travel plans.
>
> If the -32 car is removed from the consist, and it
> happens for the day of my upcoming trip, that will
> mark the second time in five months that Amtrak
> will have done that to me. I was booked on the
> Southwest Chief for a trip from Chicago to
> Albuquerque with two other adults back in
> September 2022, a trip which had been booked since
> that previous May. The car we were in with a
> bedroom and a roomette was dropped from the
> consist, and we could not be rebooked for the
> bedroom. Other plans could not be worked out, and
> we were forced to cancel. It was a huge
> disappointment for all of us.
>
> If "history repeats itself" and my car is dropped
> again, I will be super-super ticked off. 
>
> It is said that Amtrak reads this forum. If so, I
> hope they see this post. I am telling them in the
> strongest possible terms, "don't you dare!"  For
> me, or for anyone else. I am known to my US
> Senator, with whom I have a fair previous
> correspondence at more than a form-letter level.
> Don't you dare, Amtrak - don't. You will not want
> the negative attention that I will bring upon you
> through my senator's office and the rest of my
> state's congressional delegation. And I will not
> relent.
>
> Yes, that is a threat. Don't even think about it.
> The train needs that car -- now and in the future.
> The business is solid and justifies it.  Stop
> screwing around and leave it in the consist.
> Period.
>
> MC

They don't care.

Posted from Android

Ironmtn, both your position and energy are heavily appreciated as there desperately needs to be accountability in all of this. Amtrak seems to be very insulated from both transparency and accountability. In fact they are  professionals at keeping it that way. SPbird is right, they just don't care. Many of us live in states not part of the national network and so we are not heard very well. NARP doesn't seem to be making this a front-and-center issue and localized "ARP's" have their own legitimate fish to fry.

What you are fearing and others actually experiencing is disappointing, discouraging, disheartening, and downright maddening especially when it is part of a devious agenda.  This is where the new "Aurora Group" seems to fit right in as being ears, but they need to be actively hearing from passengers like us.. Amtrak's funders need to know what they are paying for and Beech Grove also goes a long way to prove it. Taxpayers as well if action is not immediate. It is time for the truth to be heard. Amtrak's CEO and board need to appear in the same picture as Beech Grove. 

Why do you people even bother with these clowns at Amtrak?  Please spend your money with those who want and appreciate your business.

-John

SPbird Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They don't care.

Well, they can be made to care. I and other Michiganders, and folks in four other states, have an ace up our sleeve in that regard. For me, my junior senator, Democrat Gary Peters, has just been appointed to the Senate Appropriations Committee. And he will retain his assignment on the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where he is chairman of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Maritime, Freight and Ports. Which for the Senate has direct oversight of Amtrak.

The congressional website has not yet caught up to all of the new committee assignments for the new 118th Congress. But if past assignments in the just-concluded 117th Congress are retained in the new 118th Congress, this pairing of potential influence through membership in those two committees is also true for those of you in Wisconsin (with Democrat Tammy Baldwin, a member of both committees / subcommittees), and in West Virginia (via Republican Shelley Moore Capito), in Montana (with Democrat Jon Tester), and yes, even Hawaii (with Democrat Brian Schatz).

Four of those five states are states with Amtrak service, with three of them (Wisconsin, West Virginia and Montana) hosting long-distance routes. One, Wisconsin, hosts both a long-distance route (the Empire Builder), and pretty extensive regional service to its largest city, Milwaukee (the Chicago - Milwaukee Hiawathas).  And one (Michigan) hosts one of the most extensive state-supported regional networks - including track owned and operated by Amtrak between Porter, Ind. and Kalamazoo, Mich., and track owned by the State of Michigan and maintained and operated by Amtrak between Kalamazoo and Dearborn, Michigan. And Michigan is close enough to long distance routes through Indiana (the Capitol and Lake Shore), and close enough to Chicago (the western terminus of its state-supported trains) that Michiganders can and do readily connect to and use long-distance trains. 

That's a fairly robust combination of factors to give these senators standing and political reason to be concerned with - and to be listened to by Senate colleagues and Amtrak management - regarding Amtrak services. Both regional and long-distance. And it's a potential coalition of five members in the Senate that can exercise a one-two punch with regard to Amtrak at both the general oversight and policy level, and - where it really counts - in the purse-strings.

That's about as a powerful a one-two punch as we can get. But Gary Peters has even just a little more influence, in that he is also the chairman of the subcommittee that has has direct oversight of Amtrak, the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, Maritime, Freight and Ports.

And his influence will further grow as a result of the fact that Michigan's senior senator, Democrat Debbie Stabenow, recently announced that she will retire and not seek re-election in the next cycle. That means that Sen. Peters will in about two years become the senior senator to the nation's 11'th largest state (we just dropped from longtime no. 10 in the most recent census, with North Carolina edging us out for the no. 10 spot). And still one of the most important states for economic output and influence.

And lest anyone think that he is a narrow partisan like so many other people in politics today, he has consistently been rated as one of the most bipartisan senators. I am a dyed-in-the-wool independent, and I have always found him to be responsive to my concerns, at least in terms of responding to communications and giving an articulate and competent answer stating his position. And often more than that. Including on communications with his office on some very narrow matters that many congresspeople would just ignore.

Yes, all of this is indirect influence. And Congress' wheels can move slowly, and in highly political ways. But Amtrak is a creature which must live in relation to Congress. They may try to ignore it, but ultimately they can't. Congressional influence is the one real lever of power that all of us have over Amtrak. And I and other Michiganders, along with those of you from Wisconsin, West Virginia, Montana and yes, even Hawaii,  have a high card to play in that influence where it counts - in direct oversight, and in appropriations.

And I for one intend to play it. I hope those of you in those other states with this potentially powerful-as-we-can-get influence over Amtrak in the Senate will do so as well. It's the hand we've got, and is probably as good as we're gonna get.  But a pretty good hand at any card table. Play it, folks. Play it. For all its worth.

Amtrak's current management may not care as much as they should about we, its customers. But they can be made to care. Not an easy process, and one that takes time, effort, consistency and commitment again and again and again....and again. It's up to us to use the levers of influence that we have, such as they are. Sure, we'd like better, but we have to use what we are able to have.

If we don't, all we can do is whine and complain and sing with the choir of boo-birds, trolls and Why Care? Club members here on this Trainorders Passenger Trains forum. I hope that at least some of us are better than that. 

MC



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/23 10:47 by ironmtn.

These pro Amtrak Senators off the NEC need to gang up on Schumer, and tell him to go after his buddy Gardner, either whip his rear end, get him fired, or your NEC Business unit subsidy as of October 1 will be a big fat ZERO, courtesy of PRIIA 209 that you wrote for everybody else.

Posted from Android

And yes, that too.

Plus there's the fact that four of those NEC senators, Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Democrat (and Biden Buddy) Chris Coons of Delaware, Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland are also on the Appropriations Committee. That can be make for a pretty influential little coalition if those four and the five I previously mentioned above can get together and all get in tune on addressing Amtrak issues. Whether NEC, regional or long-distance.

And in such a group there is a fair prospect for some coalescing around certain issues affecting Amtrak - and horse-trading of favors to get some business done. It's how things get done under that big dome in DC.

MC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/23 12:07 by ironmtn.

What a sad country we are where the provision of reasonable nationwide rail service comes down to threats and dealings as described in this thread.

B& O Bill

bandob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What a sad country we are where the provision of
> reasonable nationwide rail service comes down to
> threats and dealings as described in this thread.
>
> B& O Bill

Well since Airline Boy Amtrak's been on the downside of things, they sure where a lot better not too long agom, not anymore until something actually changes in Amamangment!