Compliments to Amtrak

[lepearso]

Some relatives of mine went to New Orleans for a three day vacation after Christmas.

When they were scheduled to depart, they went to the terminal only to find that their train was delayed. Evidently, the southbound Crescent from the day before was chronically late due to the winter storms, which meant that their northbound train was delayed for lack of time getting it cleaned and serviced.

My aunt told me that the station master made periodic announcements giving everyone updates on their train. The station staff was very courteous. They also provided a free breakfast in the train station for everybody who was delayed.

The train finally departed about four hours late, but the fact that Amtrak was honest and accommodating made the trip worthwhile. This was their third trip to New Orleans on Amtrak, and this was certainly a good experience in spite of the delay.

How many airlines would treat their delayed passengers to breakfast?

 

[The Davy Crockett]

How many airlines would treat their delayed passengers to breakfast?

Now that seems like a rhetorical question.... :blink:

Nice to hear Amtrak did the best they could under the circumstances.

 

[had8ley]

The NOL station mamager has taken on a new perspective of how to run trains.(Don't fire~ just properly train the first time around) Might have something to do with the recent shake up in the Southern division along with the upper management magnifying glass set to look over the Sunset.

 

[Hanno]

This is an excellent example of what customer service should look like. It makes me hopeful when I hear of such examples. The challenge is to get a good level of performance across all of Amtrak in regard to a positive attitude toward the customer.

 

[NETrainfan]

Good to read compliments.

We have had several instances of excellent customer service during problem times. Once, when we were 5 hours late back to Boston from Florida, Amtrak provided a taxi to Portland, ME for 4 of us. Another time, we had a delay in Washington D.C. and were bused to Baltimore and upgraded to the Acela for a speedy ride home. More compliments to Amtrak service.

 

[PennCentralFan]

This is why I like amtrak, but the bigger picture here is that we need to minimize delays and not make this part of the culture of train riding. I mean there will come a point where Amtrak will have to deliver people on time most of the time.

Talk to people who have been on the empire builder the past few months and this act does wear thin. Sure amtrak people are great and we are understanding, but you can't run amtrak in the long run this way.

 

[hello]

I agree ... everyone wants to be kept up-to-date regarding delays/etc. We were on the EB in October, that ended up being hours late into PDX, but -- for the most part -- we were given periodic info, which really did relieve some of the anxiety.

 

[Edgefan]

This is why I like amtrak, but the bigger picture here is that we need to minimize delays and not make this part of the culture of train riding. I mean there will come a point where Amtrak will have to deliver people on time most of the time.

Talk to people who have been on the empire builder the past few months and this act does wear thin. Sure amtrak people are great and we are understanding, but you can't run amtrak in the long run this way.

Amtrak cannot control the weather nor host railroad issues. A few years back I was stuck on I-40 in the mountains of New Mexico for, I'm not making this up, seventeen hours! The problem was a jack-knifed double bottom UPS truck many miles up the way. We had warm clothing, food, water, and a full tank of gas. That experience actually gave me a renewed hopefulness of people in general, though I would be hardpressed to wanting to re-do it. I ran the engine of our vehicle for 5 min every 30 min for heat. Who am I really to be angry at? You just deal and BE PREPARED!

 

[PennCentralFan]

This is why I like amtrak, but the bigger picture here is that we need to minimize delays and not make this part of the culture of train riding. I mean there will come a point where Amtrak will have to deliver people on time most of the time.

Talk to people who have been on the empire builder the past few months and this act does wear thin. Sure amtrak people are great and we are understanding, but you can't run amtrak in the long run this way.

Amtrak cannot control the weather nor host railroad issues. A few years back I was stuck on I-40 in the mountains of New Mexico for, I'm not making this up, seventeen hours! The problem was a jack-knifed double bottom UPS truck many miles up the way. We had warm clothing, food, water, and a full tank of gas. That experience actually gave me a renewed hopefulness of people in general, though I would be hardpressed to wanting to re-do it. I ran the engine of our vehicle for 5 min every 30 min for heat. Who am I really to be angry at? You just deal and BE PREPARED!

I agree, but host railroads are supposed to give amtrak priority and I seriously doubt Canadian Pacific is doing that based on what's happening on the EB in WI and MN.

Plus, the enemies of amtrak are rising. They've got control of more branches of government. The wolverine is dependent on state of Michigan subsidies and the new congress and the new governor of Michigan are Republicans. Sen. John McCain has a personal vendetta against amtrak for some reason.

Eventually amtrak will have to get people to their destinations on time if they're getting federal and state funds outside of the NEC. I really doubt the new republicans elected are truly friends of amtrak. And they are not going to blame host railroads or look at weather reports. We do need national train service, but just wishing things to get better and being prepared isn't going to do that.

If Obama wasn't in the WH amtrak would be in serious trouble. Now let's hope the rising gas prices gets more people to truly realize how we need a national train service that gets people to places on time with appropriate federal and state funds. The new governors of Wisconsin and Ohio killed high speed rail in their states. That was a direct shot at amtrak.

 

[AlanB]

Plus, the enemies of amtrak are rising. They've got control of more branches of government. The wolverine is dependent on state of Michigan subsidies and the new congress and the new governor of Michigan are Republicans. Sen. John McCain has a personal vendetta against amtrak for some reason.
Eventually amtrak will have to get people to their destinations on time if they're getting federal and state funds outside of the NEC. I really doubt the new republicans elected are truly friends of amtrak. And they are not going to blame host railroads or look at weather reports. We do need national train service, but just wishing things to get better and being prepared isn't going to do that.

If Obama wasn't in the WH amtrak would be in serious trouble. Now let's hope the rising gas prices gets more people to truly realize how we need a national train service that gets people to places on time with appropriate federal and state funds. The new governors of Wisconsin and Ohio killed high speed rail in their states. That was a direct shot at amtrak.

While I'm not suggesting that we let our guard down, I'm not quite as pessimistic about things as you are.

We just had the most Amtrak unfriendly White House under President George Bush. He allowed his staff two years running to propose Zero dollars in funding for Amtrak in the budget. This was back in 2005 & 2006, when both houses of Congress were firmly controlled by the Republicans. And Congress said "Sorry, Mr. President, but we're not accepting that decision and we are going to continue to fund Amtrak". Amtrak didn't get any huge, dramatic funding increases in those years, but they still did see small increases over the prior years. And most importantly, the proposal for zero funding was out and out rejected by the Republican controlled Congress.

 

[Sbaitso]

The NOL station mamager has taken on a new perspective of how to run trains.(Don't fire~ just properly train the first time around) Might have something to do with the recent shake up in the Southern division along with the upper management magnifying glass set to look over the Sunset.

Which trains fall under the Southern Division? Any details about the shakeup? I haven't noticed any information about it.