Of the ones where I wish they had one or should have one in the future that comes to mind are:
I was going to mention the new building might be a good spot for the lounge.
I believe some space was set aside for a Metropolitan lounge in SEA during the initial planning of the renovation.
There is room and a place for it. Neither Amtrak nor Washington DOT seem interested at this time, and the City of Seattle (the station's owner and landlord) reportedly wanted quite high rent for lounge space.
Possibly because it is the primary transfer point between long distance trains so has many people connecting between overnight trips.
Every time I have begun a journey there... in the afternoon for the EB or the morning for the CS... there are always a large crowd who are there well before departure... there is a separate seating area for SC pax... a lounge in SEA would be greatly utilized; and appreciated by many.
Consistency does not seem to be one of Amtrak's strong points.
And leadership is definitely a factor when it comes consistency and maximizing utilization of funds and resources.
Yes, and that was the origin of the Portland lounge. It was set up by station staff in what had been a storage area, originally due to the wait from Train 27 to Train 11. It developed from that. In early lists of Metropolitan lounges Amtrak forgot to include it.
Sometimes when there is a problem with light rail blockage the cart goes down and around through the station... very time consuming and cumbersome; and necessitates the use of the elevators to get upstairs to the lounge. When the station was originally built there was no light rail... then when it came along there was little consideration for blockage... I'm sure there is. fix for this... C'mon Amtrak... get on it!
Memory is foggy but it may be gates went down just before we got to the light rail crossing. Now I remember that the gates went down before the LR train got to the station and then stayed there forever. Why in the world such a long island circuit? Metro should pay to fix.
Or they should just dig another tunnel under the Metro track and be done with it. Metro service will only get more frequent on that line and the gate situatin will only get even worse even with all the fixes in the world.
Someone may know of such a thing but growing up on the West Coast I never have come across a mention of one.
There are now firm plans to replace the tunnel with a wide concourse with shops. It will be done as part of the reconstruction related to putting in the run through tracks, which is now a "go".
I think the solution is to simply stop using the grade crossing, and use the elevator instead to get to an electric cart at the tunnel level and simply use the new wide concourse to use the ramps to platforms (assuming they are retained. There is something goofy about using a grade crossing across a frequently used trolley line while driving through the elements (albeit it does not rain much in LA) to get to ones train that irks me at least.
Well, the station was designed with all passenger access via the tunnel. Where the Metropolitan Lounge is was originally where baggage handling facilities were. Later on, an office building was built there and Amtrak had offices in it. Finally, they put the Metropolitan Lounge in there. When they first put it in, the Gold Line light rail did not go south of the station. It ended pretty much over the tunnel.
I totally agree. Hence the solution that I proposed. The preferred path to platforms should not involve a grade crossing across a busy line at a busy terminal for passengers.
