Departure/Arrival Information

[GG-1]

Aloha

Does anyone on this forum know who (include group) that wrote the page for checking on train status? Do any of you have any ideas as what is planed for the sites update. Lastly does anyone know if we, the users have any input as to what we would like.

For example I would Like to check the status of multiple trains at once. Or the ability to check the performance of a train compared to its schedule in a format like the time table.

Am I being silly or naive and impractical.

Mahalo

 

[GG-1]

Am I being silly or naive and impractical.

Aloha

I know most of you that read this rhetorical question realized I was expressing frustration about the lack of Amtrak's reliability.

I feel Rail Passenger service is important to American survival. Not because there are no alternative ways to travel, but because when an opportunity to travel by rail let's me see this great country of ours. It also gives me the greatest pleasure on earth to meet a small percentage of the of the people that make this country great. I have read elsewhere on this board about some that despise the seating with strangers at meals, but at least in my opinion at the end we are not strangers as a little understanding of someone else’s culture begins. The more we understand of each other the more we grow. And sadly once we stop growing and learning we die.

To get back to the original question does anyone know what we can do as the user’s of the Amtrak system can do to get the service the American public deserve and as I believe have paid for already.

Mahalo for allowing my rant.

Eric

 

[AlanB]

Eric,

I think that you are being neither impratical nor silly. Most regular users of the Amtrak site are well aware of its problems and its pitfalls.

I'm not real sure just how much any of us can do to influence changes to the site. Especially if it is indeed true, that the new pages will be out this fall. That would be cutting things very close at this point for them to be accepting suggestions for changes and to implement them.

I'm also not sure just how receptive they might be anyhow, as I know that many people have complained about one of the biggest issues with the current site, the fact that the date resets itself when you hit the back button on your browser. This particular bug has been around for a long time, and despite many complaints has never been addresses by Amtrak.

I'm not sure why this problem, which should be rather simple to fix has never been addressed, but it hasn't. Hopefully it will be fixed with a new release of software.

Now turning to the new site, I've heard very little about the changes that in theory are due out some time this fall. Supposedly things are supposed to be easier to use. I've heard that we may be able to actually select which bedroom we want in a sleeper, but I don't think that coach seats will be selectable.

I rather doubt that one will be able to check the status of multiple trains though for three reasons. One, most people don't need to check the status of more than one train. Two, it would confuse those who aren't computer savvy. Three, it would probably be considered a security risk.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

How does the arrival and departure data actually arrive at Amtrak's site? From what the web site shows, they certainly don't use GPS and satellite reports, unlike some of the trucking companies do. Seems like if trucking companies can afford to install that kind of thing in a few thousand trucks, Amtrak ought to be able to do it at least in long-distance trains. It would sure improve the acuracy of their status reports, and help them in daily support, from station staff, to relief crews, to scheduling fueling trucks, and so forth.

At manned stations the staff can enter arrival/departure data thru the computer. But there are a lot of unstaffed stations, and also a lot of staffed stations with limited staffed hours, and if the trains get to those stations after those hours, there's nobody to make the report. The train crew could report by cellphone, or the dispatcher and Amtrak operations could communicate. Actually the UP dispatchers could get some added satisfaction from telling Amtrak Ops how much later the Sunset was. <_< Anybody in the know on this one??