Joe, do those sleepers have some type of HEP power? Connected to a loco or plugged into something? A sleeper with no electricity or water access might not be such a great alternative??
CZ late into Chicago--stay in sleeper
- Thread starter Dan O
- Start date
Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:
If they didn't have power, they wouldn't have heat and lights (yes I am aware of the limited emergency lighting that would run on battery for a while) no heat in Chicago in the winter is not happening, no lighting would be an extreme safety hazard and liability.......
Ryan
Court Jester
Ground power.
Thirdrail7
Engineer
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 4,542
Agreed. If you have to transfer to another set of equipment, your rest is already broken and you've had to pack up your stuff and move. Then, you'd have to wind down again. If that's the case, I'm sure I'd rather keep moving to a hotel with a hotter shower, T.V., a single toilet occupied by no one other than me and the ability to sleep past 6am. The allure of the old Executive Sleeper was remaining in your sleeper....undisturbed.
Additionally, none of this helps if you are in coach. Do they house you in a horizon?
Naturally, this still beats the airline's solution of putting you in a cot and handing you a food voucher, but how restful is Union station? Is it quiet?
I think we need more details. Do you remain in the same sleeper, transfer or does it depend on the equipment, timing and circumstances as mentioned by Tennessee Traveler?
Last edited by a moderator:
the_traveler
Engineer
The T&C state "overnight hotel accommodations at Amtrak's discretion", but it does not state "at the ____ Hotel 2 blocks from the station".
Yes, a sleeping car is not a hotel, but Amtrak has to find an available room for that specific night then has to arrange for transportation to and from that hotel. Say they found an available hotel 1 1/2 hours away (because of a few large conventions in town) and could not arrange for a bus to come until 2 am. So you will not get to your room until 4 am - and then have to be back for your 10 am connection.
Would you still prefer that hotel - or a sleeper at the platform? :huh:
Yes, a sleeping car is not a hotel, but Amtrak has to find an available room for that specific night then has to arrange for transportation to and from that hotel. Say they found an available hotel 1 1/2 hours away (because of a few large conventions in town) and could not arrange for a bus to come until 2 am. So you will not get to your room until 4 am - and then have to be back for your 10 am connection.
Would you still prefer that hotel - or a sleeper at the platform? :huh:
Thirdrail7
Engineer
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 4,542
That's the point. It depends on the circumstances. If you're waiting for a quick connection or something in a few hours, the sleeper is a nice bonus. So, obviously I may prefer the sleeper.
However, OP's connection was on the Lake Shore. I don't know what city they were traveling to but the first train heading in that general direction is not before 5:45pm and that assumes the Cardinal is operating on this particular day. Using you example, arriving in the hotel at 4am means that even after an hour wind down, I can still get a solid 5 hour block of sleep, which you'd need since once you're booted from the hotel, you still have at least 7 hours to kill before you depart. What are you going to do for almost 12 hours when you get kicked out of your sleeper? If your connection is a sleeper, you can probably kill your time showering and relaxing in the lounge for sleeping class passengers. But as I keep mentioning, what happens if you're in coach?
Additionally, I find it hard to believe that CHI didn't have a block of hotel rooms on standby at some point. They may have gotten rid of them but I can't imagine that there wasn't some sort of block with a corporate rate in the same hotel they lodge the crews.
Last edited by a moderator:
What we don't know was the destination- if it was something in upstate NY, it's pretty much LSL or nothing from Chicago.....
Tennessee Traveler
Conductor
As for hotels, others on this forum have reported being sent as a group to the O'Hare area for a hotel. And the return trip to Union Station was at 7AM so I am inclined to consider most of this forum just speculation. "Stay in your sleeper" can only be interpreted by me as "stay in the sleeper I arrived in." I still don't know of any parked sleepers at Union Station between all the Metra and Amtrak trains--just never seen any evidence of such.
While not Amtrak, when I was in a late Via Rail Canadian held almost 8 hours in Hornpayne waiting for a freight derailment to be cleared, we were permitted and told before we went to sleep that we could stay in the sleeper until 7 AM. We arrived Toronto about 2 AM. They just parked the train on the boarding track and never disturbed us until a wake up call in the morning.
I prefer to think this is what they were doing last week with the late Zephyr arrivals. I just rode CZ 5 departing Wednesday from Chicago and arrived on time in Emeryville Friday but we met a 14 hour late CZ 6 in Omaha that should have already arrived in Chicago at 2:50 PM that afternoon. Surely they did not just dumped the passengers in Chicago at 3 in the morning. It is my understanding that Union Station actually closes at some point each night and reopens around 6 am the next morning.
While not Amtrak, when I was in a late Via Rail Canadian held almost 8 hours in Hornpayne waiting for a freight derailment to be cleared, we were permitted and told before we went to sleep that we could stay in the sleeper until 7 AM. We arrived Toronto about 2 AM. They just parked the train on the boarding track and never disturbed us until a wake up call in the morning.
I prefer to think this is what they were doing last week with the late Zephyr arrivals. I just rode CZ 5 departing Wednesday from Chicago and arrived on time in Emeryville Friday but we met a 14 hour late CZ 6 in Omaha that should have already arrived in Chicago at 2:50 PM that afternoon. Surely they did not just dumped the passengers in Chicago at 3 in the morning. It is my understanding that Union Station actually closes at some point each night and reopens around 6 am the next morning.
Last edited by a moderator:
- Joined
- May 17, 2015
- Messages
- 2,807
When decisions are made, there are so any what ifs. Hotel room availability, Chicago weather, how late arriving, when the consist has to be turned to leave again, how many passengers are involved, etc. Each of these can change the equation of using hotel rooms verses sleeper rooms verses sitting up to wait in the station.
Yes, they have ground power.
I experienced how the procedure works returning from the Gathering last year. When we arrived at CUS we were directed to the old Metropolitan lounge. Once there we were all provided with a pretty nice box lunch and soda from a local deli. While we were eating, customer service folks were going through checking names against what I presume was the manifest, once they were done they started to process folks. We had more folks than the sleepers would hold, so it appeared to me that they put the coach passengers in the sleepers and sleeper passengers got taxi and hotel vouchers. Those staying in the sleepers were escorted out to the platform with their sleeper attendant.
The process was fairly smooth with only the few of us receiving vouchers having to go to the customer relations desk. For once it appears Chicago got something right!
The process was fairly smooth with only the few of us receiving vouchers having to go to the customer relations desk. For once it appears Chicago got something right!
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2010
- Messages
- 4,888
I would say that is a fair arrangement. Hopefully, they gave arriving sleeper passengers the choice of staying in a sleeper or going to hotel especially if they would be bused back early morning with a late connection. What of course would be better would be that arrangements were made the evening before if possible to save time in the middle of the night and that the sleeper provided would be the ones that arrived. Thus sleeper passengers would have a full night's sleep and coach families could let the kids sleep through in their seats until the rooms were ready or, if the rooms were empty in the evening, move them into the sleeper at that time.
Sorry it took a bit to get back with more information. Since he was going on to NYP on LSL, the wait in Chicago was going to be a long one no matter what train he was going to be put on the following day. So no need to rush back to Union Station in Chicago early in the morning.
He was put in a different sleeper in Chicago, so any idea of sleeping through until 6 AM was not possible. He was not informed that switching to another sleeper until he arrived in Chicago.
He was promised a continental breakfast too but Amtrak did not deliver. No other food vouchers either.
He was put in a different sleeper in Chicago, so any idea of sleeping through until 6 AM was not possible. He was not informed that switching to another sleeper until he arrived in Chicago.
He was promised a continental breakfast too but Amtrak did not deliver. No other food vouchers either.
