I certainly agree this is the case a good deal of the time. I was very pleased overall with my cross country trip from Arizona to the East Coast several months ago. But there is huge room for improvement of service, but given bureaucratic inefficiency and lack of funding, which I gather may be looking better, we should be glad that we have the service we do.I hate to admit it but for all it's problems I guess amtrak does a good job all things considered.
As bad as my trip from LA in October was (especially the #50 debacle ), I feel that Amtrak does a good job overall! In fact, it is not enough to stop me from taking Amtrak! I'll be on the train again Tuesday night!
I travel Amtrak by preference - your transcontinental airlines are the pits (I get more service and comfort on our 1 hour Dash8 flights to Sydney). It is the best way to take in the scenery and extremely comfortable (I take bedrooms).If you can overlook some of the tardiness and lack of professional service in some cases I feel we have a system in place that will carry us in comfort and feed us properly. I think my major suggestion would be that Amtrak management be more open minded with their decisions and listen to those, many of whom are on this list, that ride the rails for mega-miles. It's not a perfect system but I'd rather wait two hours for a late train than sit on a plane for two hours waiting to take off after arriving two hours earlier than that to be frisked down and x-rayed.
Ummmm, "IF" I fly, it's Southwest. I'm NOT eating peanuts all the way cross country B)I travel Amtrak by preference - your transcontinental airlines are the pits (I get more service and comfort on our 1 hour Dash8 flights to Sydney). It is the best way to take in the scenery and extremely comfortable (I take bedrooms).If you can overlook some of the tardiness and lack of professional service in some cases I feel we have a system in place that will carry us in comfort and feed us properly. I think my major suggestion would be that Amtrak management be more open minded with their decisions and listen to those, many of whom are on this list, that ride the rails for mega-miles. It's not a perfect system but I'd rather wait two hours for a late train than sit on a plane for two hours waiting to take off after arriving two hours earlier than that to be frisked down and x-rayed.
However, the food leaves a LOT to be desired (particularly on a three day trip) and OTP is abysmal.
Here's a weird suggestion - use airline catering to stock the dining cars! Qantas supplies the Indian-Pacific and the food is a highlight of the trip (it ain't what they serve at my end of the aircraft - but even economy class meals are better than Amtrak catering).
Agreed. I would do a whole lot of things differently if I were President of Amtrak AND had a blank check from Congress ... but given the near-impossible constraints they're forced to work under, I think most of the time they do a pretty amazing job.I hate to admit it but for all it's problems I guess amtrak does a good job all things considered.
I've got somewhere between 20k and 25k of miles from about 1990 to present (but probably half of that in the last three years), and the two times of all that riding I can remember being delayed more than about an hour on a single-seat trip of 500-2000 miles wereSo far I have ridden almost 18,000 miles on Amtrak in 2008 involving some 34 segments, consisting of a reasonable mix of LD and regional. I have been on time or ahead of schedule about 65% and been delayed more than 2 hours only once. Not too shabby.
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