Bad Trip, But Handled Well

[kal-tex]

Our planned trip included leaving Houston, Texas on Sunday, April 22, arriving Kalamazoo, Michigan on Monday, April 23. Everything started off well - our 4 1/2 hour bus trip from Houston to Longview was smooth and uneventful (but being a bus, not as good as a train). Train 22 pulled into Longview about 15 minutes late, and soon after boarding, we were off to the Diner for dinner. We relaxed in our roomette for the rest of the evening and went to bed at about midnight. Everything was still going well, but that was about to end! At about 2:30 AM the train rolled to a stop. Soon after, I heard a conversation in the hall outside our room, "I'll have to make an announcement to tell them about the problem, and that we're going to get busses." Sure enough, minutes later the announcement came over the PA: The engine had fuel pump problems that could not be repaired. We had no power - thus no lights (except the emergency hallway lights), no heat or air-conditioning, and, worst of all, no functioning toilets! Soon everybody was awake, up, and moving around chatting to the other folks in the sleeper. Periodic announcements kept us informed of what was going on, followed by apologies for the inconvenience we were experiencing. Soon we were told that a freight engine would arrive to tow us back to Walnut Ridge where we would board busses to take us to St. Louis, where we would board another train to take us to Chicago. Long story made short: No power (accompanied by rapidly-filling toilets) until the busses arrived at about 10:30. Boarded the bus at 11:00 for the 9-hour ride to Chicago. Throughout the long wait, there were frequent announcements about our status, and all crew members were pleasant and apologetic. The sleeper passengers remained cheerful, cooperative and as optimistic as possible. Before reached Chicago, we were told that if we had missed our connecting train, we were to report to Amtrak Customer Service when we reached Union Station. There we were given a voucher for a room at the Inn of Chicago and a requisition for cash for food and cabfare. We went to the ticket counter where we were given $70 for food, $22 for cabfare, and our tickets for the 7:30 AM train to Kalamazoo on Tuesday morning. Every person that assisted us was pleasant, professional and efficient. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at a small Armenian restaurant, and had a great night's sleep at the hotel. Bright and early the next morning we boarded our train for an uneventful trip home.

On other occasions, when we have experienced problems (missed connections, extremely late arrivals, an even a derailment), I have called Amtrak Customer Service, and have received vouchers as compensation for our inconvenience. This time I was debating with myself about whether or not to call. True, the trip was not the most pleasant experience, but we had been carried to our destination as promised. Some very nice perks had been provided, and we certainly had been treated well. Plus, our trip had cost us nothing since we were travelling on AGR points. Then a very surprising thing happened! Amtrak called us! They apologized, confirmed our address, and told us that they were mailing us a voucher for a free trip! We were surprised and delighted! I knew there was a reason I love Amtrak!

 

[Linda T]

Our planned trip included leaving Houston, Texas on Sunday, April 22, arriving Kalamazoo, Michigan on Monday, April 23. Everything started off well - our 4 1/2 hour bus trip from Houston to Longview was smooth and uneventful (but being a bus, not as good as a train). Train 22 pulled into Longview about 15 minutes late, and soon after boarding, we were off to the Diner for dinner. We relaxed in our roomette for the rest of the evening and went to bed at about midnight. Everything was still going well, but that was about to end! At about 2:30 AM the train rolled to a stop. Soon after, I heard a conversation in the hall outside our room, "I'll have to make an announcement to tell them about the problem, and that we're going to get busses." Sure enough, minutes later the announcement came over the PA: The engine had fuel pump problems that could not be repaired. We had no power - thus no lights (except the emergency hallway lights), no heat or air-conditioning, and, worst of all, no functioning toilets! Soon everybody was awake, up, and moving around chatting to the other folks in the sleeper. Periodic announcements kept us informed of what was going on, followed by apologies for the inconvenience we were experiencing. Soon we were told that a freight engine would arrive to tow us back to Walnut Ridge where we would board busses to take us to St. Louis, where we would board another train to take us to Chicago. Long story made short: No power (accompanied by rapidly-filling toilets) until the busses arrived at about 10:30. Boarded the bus at 11:00 for the 9-hour ride to Chicago. Throughout the long wait, there were frequent announcements about our status, and all crew members were pleasant and apologetic. The sleeper passengers remained cheerful, cooperative and as optimistic as possible. Before reached Chicago, we were told that if we had missed our connecting train, we were to report to Amtrak Customer Service when we reached Union Station. There we were given a voucher for a room at the Inn of Chicago and a requisition for cash for food and cabfare. We went to the ticket counter where we were given $70 for food, $22 for cabfare, and our tickets for the 7:30 AM train to Kalamazoo on Tuesday morning. Every person that assisted us was pleasant, professional and efficient. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at a small Armenian restaurant, and had a great night's sleep at the hotel. Bright and early the next morning we boarded our train for an uneventful trip home.

On other occasions, when we have experienced problems (missed connections, extremely late arrivals, an even a derailment), I have called Amtrak Customer Service, and have received vouchers as compensation for our inconvenience. This time I was debating with myself about whether or not to call. True, the trip was not the most pleasant experience, but we had been carried to our destination as promised. Some very nice perks had been provided, and we certainly had been treated well. Plus, our trip had cost us nothing since we were travelling on AGR points. Then a very surprising thing happened! Amtrak called us! They apologized, confirmed our address, and told us that they were mailing us a voucher for a free trip! We were surprised and delighted! I knew there was a reason I love Amtrak!

Thank you for the update! We heard about this at Union Station as they were announcing our Eagle's departure for SAS on Monday afternoon. They told us you'd be bussed to St. Louis, later I heard (on the train it was Chicago), so I was wondering what had happened. I'm so glad that you were treated well. But 8 hours without working toilets? Yikes!

 

[Railroad Bill]

Thanks for the interesting trip report. Sorry that things did not go well.

Only having one locomotive on the train can be a real problem if something goes wrong.

Glad that personnel and Amtrak Customer Service rose to the occasion and tried to turn a negative into a positive

Unfortunately, those of us in AU are very tolerant of these disruptions, but I know some people would be on their last train ride if it happened to them.

Amtrak--Always An Experience

 

[jb64]

We always hear when Amtrak does stuff wrong, it is nice to read about when they do it right. Thanks for sharing.

 

[TexasJo]

I've always wondered why Amtrak only runs with one locomotive. Seems to me they should be running with two, in case one has an issue. If they want to keep customers.... I'm set to go from Dallas to Chicago-Milwaukee on May 4th, and I'm hoping we don't run into any problems. I've ridden Amtrak a couple of times in the past. The firs trip (1979) wasn't bad. The second trip (2001) was ok, but 6 hours late getting into Fort Worth. If this trip has any long delays (and heaven forbid, bustitution), it'll be my LAST trip on Amtrak.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

The texas eagle always runs with 1 engine. I don't know what the reason behind that is. all other LD trains run with 2 engines.

 

[montgomerySutton]

Small world! I was also on this train. I was relatively happy with how the situation was handled, but unfortunately I was logging the trip on Facebook for all to see, and I'm afraid that my attempted promotion of Amtrak has actually turned many potential riders away (despite my best efforts). I've gotta say despite the crew's kindness, it was a huge mess. I can't blame Amtrak necessarily for the busses, but they were supposed to arrive at 7am, then 7:30, then 8-8:30, then "soon, because of traffic." And we ended up finally departing close to noon on the busses? Again - not entirely Amtrak's fault, the busses were chartered, but there did seem to be a lot of wasted time by the crew once the busses arrived. Probably no more than 15-20 minutes total (right after we finally left, all the busses had to pull off the road and check on something in the back of one of them... I couldn't believe it, and was fully ready for yet another engine failure!

I luckily didn't end up missing my connection, but did miss a meeting in Chicago which was the main reason that I opted for the train to NYC (connected through Chicago, obviously) instead of flying. I had to call for a voucher, but they gave it happily and apologized profusely. So that, and the wonderful LSL ride Chicago-NYC has made me forgive the incident. Though I am afraid that not everyone else feels that way.

Interesting that the TE is the only one that runs with 1 engine. Does anyone have an explanation for this?

 

[john6185]

There are a few who would scream and insult the Amtrak personnel for this problem even though it is completely out of their control. But your report reflects that the passengers handled it well and most likely made some new friends along the way even though things didn't go exactly as planned. Congratulations!

 

[SouthernServesTheSouth]

Cardinal only has one engine also.

 

[Shortline]

There are a few who would scream and insult the Amtrak personnel for this problem even though it is completely out of their control.

See, I don't think it WAS out of there control. Putting a single locomotive on a LD train is, in my humble opinion, a very bad idea. Run a light tonnage freight with one? No problem. Run a train with 100-200 people on board who rely on that power to move them on time, provide power, heat/AC and lights, and sanitary facilities with one engine? Bad idea, and this is why. So, I wouldn't say it was out of Amtraks control. The busses were, but, there shouldn't have been any busses needed in the first place.