Passenger Trains > Glenview, IL happenings - Filthy Trains

Borealis 1333 with ALC42 359 in charge, 514 trails. Engine 48 was dropped and 359 added. Must be short on working P42s.

Builder 8 arrives 45 mins late with a P42 and ALC42 in charge. Chicago wash and Seattle wash both inoperative at the moment.

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Just vile.  It so clearly tells customers what Amtrak thinks of them.
There are, of course, people on this board that say what we need is a vigorous letter writing campaign, meeeting with 'stakeholders', making clear to Amtrak this is bad, and for all I know, prayer circles and lighting incense but to me, it just shows a crappy management that should have been replaced long ago.

amtrak mechanical leadership is like the a-hole brother-in-law that is always asking for a ride because his car is broke.
Doesn't look at his tires until one blows out,  never buys a new battery until 8 year old one goes dead, oil never changed
until Check Engine light goes on, interior never vacuumed, McD bags piled seat high on the passenger side floor, windshield
cracked, exterior never washed, etc.

I think to get a job at amtrak mechanical you must show up for the interview with an auto in that condition for the boss to see.

Did the Empire Builder detour through Burning Man?

ssarcadia Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just vile.  It so clearly tells customers what
> Amtrak thinks of them.
> There are, of course, people on this board that
> say what we need is a vigorous letter writing
> campaign, meeeting with 'stakeholders', making
> clear to Amtrak this is bad, and for all I know,
> prayer circles and lighting incense but to me, it
> just shows a crappy management that should have
> been replaced long ago.

I got vouchers for dirty windows on the Empire builder in 2022. Here we are three years later and the windows are still filthy. And I’m sure they’re still handing out vouchers. Their management is absolutely clueless, and doesn’t give a damn about anything but their salary. The whole bunch of them need to be shown the door.

Posted from iPhone

It seems so simple

Contractor in MSP with hoses and brushes could wash the Builder and the Boralis for $2,000 a day

Amtrak management doesn’t seem to care

Posted from iPhone

This is but one reason that I no longer patronize Amtrak.  Just not worth it.  The company is garbage.  Truly.

Pathetic.  Just pathetic.  Fire them all.  Privatize, I don't care.  I have run out of words to use to describe how BAD Amtrak has become.  Zero leadership, even less accountability or concern.

The airlines are getting my money.  Not Amtrak.  I am just about to "never again" status, and to think that I have Executive Select status for next year.  That will be wasted.  But I will stay sane and get where I need to be.  And let's face it, first class on a fight is about the same price as a sleeper.  I am out.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/25 18:44 by Chessie1963.

Board of Directors meeting September 10 , 2025 , register to watch , no "in person" or questions I'm told .

Couldn't "someone" with a spray bottle of Sparkle, some paper towels and a ladder at least clean the engineers front windows on the BoringAllis?  Check the wipers at the same time.  You wouldn't drive a car like this.

Of course not.  There is no accountability at Amtrak.  None.  They will talk about how great the new Acela trains are, and there will be a bunch of happy talk that has no meaning.  Harris is a zero.  Truly.  

Pull the plug.  Kill the company.  Start over.  That is the only answer at this point.  Fire everyone, rehire the good ones, and move on.

mvrr10 Wrote:
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> Board of Directors meeting September 10 , 2025 ,
> register to watch , no "in person" or questions
> I'm told .

Englewood for the win. I truly laughed out loud, and those of us in the industry can appreciate the analogy.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Englewood Wrote:
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> I think to get a job at amtrak mechanical you must
> show up for the interview with an auto in that
> condition for the boss to see.

So you're telling me that Amtrak mechanical has standards!!!!
It's not easy to uphold these...but you're telling me there's a chance....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCFB2akLh4s

The Empire Builder appears like it went through a wash that did work well. Was it the ineffective detergent?

So this is train No.8 which means it's eastbound and nearing the end of it's run after going through some weather. What's your point?
Now if this was No.7 and it had just started it's westbound run it would be another story.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So this is train No.8 which means it's eastbound
> and nearing the end of it's run after going
> through some weather. What's your point?
> Now if this was No.7 and it had just started it's
> westbound run it would be another story.

Guess it's another story. 7 and 8 are equally filthy. 

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alan2955 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ssarcadia Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Just vile.  It so clearly tells customers what
> > Amtrak thinks of them.
> > There are, of course, people on this board that
> > say what we need is a vigorous letter writing
> > campaign, meeeting with 'stakeholders', making
> > clear to Amtrak this is bad, and for all I
> know,
> > prayer circles and lighting incense but to me,
> it
> > just shows a crappy management that should have
> > been replaced long ago.
>
> I got vouchers for dirty windows on the Empire
> builder in 2022. Here we are three years later and
> the windows are still filthy. And I’m sure
> they’re still handing out vouchers. Their
> management is absolutely clueless, and doesn’t
> give a damn about anything but their salary. The
> whole bunch of them need to be shown the door.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Why wash trains when management's long term goal is to discontinue long distance trains and filthy trains plus contnual delays discourage passenger travel. Less passengers mean less revenue keeping Amtrak's publicly stated position of becoming profitable unachievable. Bye bye LD trains. See how all this fits together?

1. Algoma Central Train #1, at Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, in November, 1999, my photo.

Perhaps Amtrak could hire this lady.  If the Algoma Central could do this for Train #1, their lowly stop-anywhere local to Hearst, Ontario, seems like it's not a real intricate operation.  Trouble is, she's likely long gone by now, along with this train and the Algoma Central itself.  Amtrak could hire high-school kids with long-handled squeegees.  It wouldn't take long with Amtrak's short trains.
Ken Nagel
Grand Rapids, MI

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PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So this is train No.8 which means it's eastbound
> and nearing the end of it's run after going
> through some weather. What's your point?
> Now if this was No.7 and it had just started it's
> westbound run it would be another story.

Yeah, some of that soiling sure looks like weather en route. But not all of it, and if there was en route weather that dirtied things up, it probably was addition to a "base" of fairly heavy soiling that wasn't previously cleaned off. It's really pretty awful however it happened, and the need for a thorough wash is evident.

The Chicago washer has got to get into regular and reliable service - soon. Wintertime grunge isn't far off, and it can really accumulate quickly, whether the car is clean or already dirty. And it's tougher to wash off, just as it is on your automobile. An intermediate washing for windows at least - at least water and brushes and squeegees - somewhere on the Builder's route as is done for the CZ at Denver and the Southwest Chief at Albuquerque should probably be done. Maybe at Minneapolis - St. Paul, although that's well shy of a halfway point westbound, and way past halfway eastbound. MSP could also serve the Borealis. But it would be better than no attention en route at all. If a close-to-halfway point with enough time (a fueling and watering stop, maybe) that would be better. I don't know the Builder's route and timecard well enough to know where that would be.

We know the Chicago washer has been built and started up. There are apparently problems, unfortunately. Those must get solved - quickly. So, to those of you who once again see a flaw - which has in fact been addressed by management, albeit at a glacial pace and with problems (probably not all their fault) - as a total failure of the whole enterprise requiring a wholesale brooming-out of management, you are wrong again. As usual. And no, concerning this I don't ask for letters to legislators or prayer novenas (a remark I made tongue-in-cheek on another issue). The fix is in progress, and has been for some time. It just needs to get completed, and the washer needs to get into regular, reliable service.

MC

 

The place to wash the Empire Builder enroute would be Minot, ND - a 45 minute inspection stop in both directions. Also, a 1-hour schedule pad coming in eastbound from Stanley, ND.

If the EPAs will let you. The Transportation Environmental Resource Center page on vehicle washing (https://www.tercenter.org/wwvehicle.php) has an excellent summary of the rules. Basically, wastewater generated by any type of vehicle cleaning operation carried out by any business is considered to be industrial wastewater. It cannot be discharged or disposed of without a permit.

The tercenter summary talks about the 3 usual types of vehicle wash operations (onsite mobile, onsite fixed and offsite), and the seven primary options for disposing of the wastewater. Dumping it into the storm drain is not one of them.  A non-water-based cleaning of the windows (only) might skirt the wastewater rules.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/25 23:12 by illini73.