Community showers?

[Sarpedon]

Do any Amtrak routes have community showers for coach passengers? I've never seen any, but they would be very welcome if they did exist. I'm planning a 5,000 mile trip in coach so I'm trying to strategically plan for personal hygiene in advance!

 

[JayPea]

Welcome to the forum! You've come to the right place for your particular question and any others you might have! To answer your question here, there are no showers for coach passengers. Only sleeping car passengers have access to showers.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Do any Amtrak routes have community showers for coach passengers? I've never seen any, but they would be very welcome if they did exist. I'm planning a 5,000 mile trip in coach so I'm trying to strategically plan for personal hygiene in advance!

In a word: No! Youll have to pay for a sleeping car room to have a shower on the LD Trains! Your best bet is to break up the trip in Large Cities that have International Hostels, good prices/breakfast/people from all over and Showers! For instance the one in Chicago is right downtown and costs less than $40 a night which is a great price! Google up Hostel Intl. and check out the ones in the US!

 

[calwatch]

for the roomettes, there is only ONE shower for the 14 roomettes and the lower level bedrooms. While that's enough for the sleeping car, imagine if coach decided to shower. Your best bet is to find a local gym or hostel to shower.

 

[VentureForth]

And, unlike the UK and other European cities, there are no showers in any station.

 

[jmbgeg]

And, unlike the UK and other European cities, there are no showers in any station.

I have been in the airline clubs in some major U.S. airline hubs where they have showers for passengers' use. If I recall correctly, there is a fee for service, but a shower between connections after a long redeye flight was a welcome refresher.

I wonder if Amtrak put out an RFP for vendors to lease space, construct and operate pay for service shower facilities in major train hubs like CUS and LAUS, it would make financial sense, and there would be interest by vendors and travelers? I am not suggesting they put the showers in the Metropolitan Lounges or Accela Clubs to emulate airline clubs, but in free standing facilities in the stations.

Not an issue for me since I travel LD in sleepers, but I am thinking of all of the people who travel coach on trains 30-35 hours only to connect to another LD train. I'd pay $10-20 for a 15 minute shower at the station if I traveled coach LD and was connecting to a second LD train.

I doubt such a facility would diminish sleeper bookings, but I would be wrong. In my mind it would be an amenity that could attract more coach passengers. Any logic here?

 

[VentureForth]

Don't thin Amtrak needs to RFP it. Should be just a matter of vendors working with the station managers.

Now, if Amtrak chose to provide the service regardless of profit or loss, that world be an entirely different matter, but I don't see that happening.

Any reasonable business model would likely be open to the public at large with partnerships/priorities offered to rail passengers.

 

[the_traveler]

Don't forget that in trains some 50 or 60 years ago, there might have been (and not all trains had them) ONE shower per train! And that shower was in the super duper master bedroom - and only for use by that room's occupants!

Even the rest of the sleeper passengers had to go without a shower for 3-4 days! (And of course, the coach passengers did not have a shower to use.)

And yet, somehow we were born!

 

[rrdude]

Do any Amtrak routes have community showers for coach passengers? I've never seen any, but they would be very welcome if they did exist. I'm planning a 5,000 mile trip in coach so I'm trying to strategically plan for personal hygiene in advance!

In a word: No! Youll have to pay for a sleeping car room to have a shower on the LD Trains! Your best bet is to break up the trip in Large Cities that have International Hostels, good prices/breakfast/people from all over and Showers! For instance the one in Chicago is right downtown and costs less than $40 a night which is a great price! Google up Hostel Intl. and check out the ones in the US!

You could always "make friends" with a single traveler in a roomette! Technically, if this did happen, and you called Amtrak Rez while on the train, you may be able to add your name to their reservation. Not 100% sure if could do once ticketed, but "in theory"..........

 

[Dan O]

And, unlike the UK and other European cities, there are no showers in any station.

I have been in the airline clubs in some major U.S. airline hubs where they have showers for passengers' use. If I recall correctly, there is a fee for service, but a shower between connections after a long redeye flight was a welcome refresher.

I wonder if Amtrak put out an RFP for vendors to lease space, construct and operate pay for service shower facilities in major train hubs like CUS and LAUS, it would make financial sense, and there would be interest by vendors and travelers? I am not suggesting they put the showers in the Metropolitan Lounges or Accela Clubs to emulate airline clubs, but in free standing facilities in the stations.

Not an issue for me since I travel LD in sleepers, but I am thinking of all of the people who travel coach on trains 30-35 hours only to connect to another LD train. I'd pay $10-20 for a 15 minute shower at the station if I traveled coach LD and was connecting to a second LD train.

I doubt such a facility would diminish sleeper bookings, but I would be wrong. In my mind it would be an amenity that could attract more coach passengers. <b> Any logic here? </b>

Yes..makes sense. So I wouldn't count on it happening.

 

[Anthony]

Am I the only one who thinks that showers in most of our bigger train stations would be used more by non-passengers than by passengers? Just like the bathrooms in NY Penn Station, etc.?

 

[the_traveler]

In my mind it would be an amenity that could attract more coach passengers. <b> Any logic here? </b>

Yes..makes sense. So I wouldn't count on it happening.

I read posts of how dirty the rest room in coach were after 2 or 3 days. Do you expect (should it happen) the 1 shower per car to be any cleaner?

Don't forget, a sleeper has a maximum occupancy of 34 passengers - and 12 of those passengers also have a shower in their room. I forget the capacity of a coach, but I don't think any of the 70+ passengers in coach has a shower at their seat!

And where would all the towels (both clean and used) be kept for the coach shower?

And don't forget that a passenger car (whether sleeper or coach) only has a limited amount of water per car. And the hot water heater is not efficient enough to provide 50-60 or more settings of hot water for 50-60 showers within 2-3 hours! (Sometimes in a sleeper, it has trouble keeping up!)

 

[the_traveler]

No you're not Anthony. I agree with you!

The difference is that the "showers" at NYP or CHI are what we call "sinks"! But I've seen them used more than once by non-passengers as "showers"!

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Am I the only one who thinks that showers in most of our bigger train stations would be used more by non-passengers than by passengers? Just like the bathrooms in NY Penn Station, etc.?

Didn't Union Station in WAS use to have showers in its lower level, and these were removed in one of the past remodels?

I can guess at the reasons why they might have been closed down. :wacko:

 

[jmbgeg]

Am I the only one who thinks that showers in most of our bigger train stations would be used more by non-passengers than by passengers? Just like the bathrooms in NY Penn Station, etc.?

The contact could provide that the shower facility verify the day of travel tickets for the shower customer at entry. That would potentially keep street people out. hboy:

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I doubt such a facility would diminish sleeper bookings, but I would be wrong. In my mind it would be an amenity that could attract more coach passengers. Any logic here?

As long as coach passengers had to pay $20 to use the shower, I don't see how it would affect sleeper bookings.

Currently, coach passengers have to pay for a meal (except for AT?), but sleeper passengers get such included. Showers could/would follow the same model.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Am I the only one who thinks that showers in most of our bigger train stations would be used more by non-passengers than by passengers? Just like the bathrooms in NY Penn Station, etc.?

The contact could provide that the shower facility verify the day of travel tickets for the shower customer at entry. That would potentially keep street people out. hboy:

I doubt if there would be enough customers to make it profitable for a concessionaire. Not that many people take marathon train trips without hotel/hostel stopovers. Maybe the participants on this site do, but not the general riding public.

 

[trainman74]

I have been in the airline clubs in some major U.S. airline hubs where they have showers for passengers' use. If I recall correctly, there is a fee for service, but a shower between connections after a long redeye flight was a welcome refresher.

The airline clubs with showers that I've been in didn't have an extra charge for the shower -- of course, there's a charge of some type to get into the club in the first place (club membership fee, international first-class ticket, or elite frequent-flyer status). Although I've heard tell of some clubs that have shower attendants that might expect a gratuity, depending on which country the club is in.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

You might also consider buying a second ticket for a sleeper for short segments. This could be exorbitantly expensive depending on the train and time of year, if you're planning a 5,000 mile trip you might find a low-bucket segment of an hour or so that could give you a shower and a free meal in the diner (if the meal time happens during that bit).

 

[Rail Freak]

The cheapest way do that would be to figure a route that takes you on the Crescent, between NOL & ATL everyday! :giggle: :lol:

 

[Guest]

While I'm sure there are some that will swear that I'm wrong, but from previously working at Amtrak and having access to booking data, I can tell you that the vast majority of coach passengers don't spend several nights on the train.

I just don't think that there would be enough passengers willing to use this type of business to make it cost effective or make a profit at price that would be attractive to customers.

Even if you think every coach passenger wants this service, how would a facility quickly and effectively service the hundreds of coach passengers arriving on every long distance train into a station? This type of business would have to have numerous showers that would end up being empty most of the day.

 

[Bob Dylan]

While I'm sure there are some that will swear that I'm wrong, but from previously working at Amtrak and having access to booking data, I can tell you that the vast majority of coach passengers don't spend several nights on the train.

I just don't think that there would be enough passengers willing to use this type of business to make it cost effective or make a profit at price that would be attractive to customers.

Even if you think every coach passenger wants this service, how would a facility quickly and effectively service the hundreds of coach passengers arriving on every long distance train into a station? This type of business would have to have numerous showers that would end up being empty most of the day.

Not in Major Stations such as CHI/LAX/NYP/WAS where so many LD Train originate/terminate/connect! Most Public Bathrooms in Stations are in poor shape even if they are cleaned occasionally! Id suggest a nomianl charge such as $5 for access to a clean/safe shower for ticketed pax would at least pay for itself in these stations!(similar to access to the CAs and MLs except it would cost to enter with a ticket/stub!)

 

[dlagrua]

Coach passengers can maintain some degree of cleanliness by washing in the bathroom. As the Traveler has said, back in the day there was usually only ONE shower on a train in the master suite. I read that a shower was available in the barber shop on some LD trains.

 

[MikefromCrete]

By the way, the master suites existed only on PRR's Broadway Limited and Southern's Crescent Limited. No other train, including all the western trains, had showers. Somehow, people survived.

 

[George B]

Don't forget, a sleeper has a maximum occupancy of 34 passengers - and 12 of those passengers also have a shower in their room.

Are you talking about a Superliner? If you are, then your numbers are wrong.