Electricity

[Sheer Luck Holmes]

I have been fortunate to have traveled extensivly on Amtrak. (I also went quite a long way...) I haven't had to take much notice of coach facilities and am wondering now about electrical outlets in coach class?

SLH

 

[Guest_Gingee]

We found them on the Cardinal last year. I am not sure if we just lucked out or what.

 

[Trogdor]

It really depends on the equipment. A bunch of the single-level cars have outlets at the seats, though I don't think all of them do. On Superliners, I've only seen a couple of coaches that have had electrical outlets at each seat.

 

[Lennie]

Yup, it depends. I took the Meteor down to MIA from WAS in march and had 1 outlet per set of seats. Coming back, our car didn't have one outlet, so we had to use the ones in the cafe car. So, as i said, it depends.

 

[Boxcar]

I have been fortunate to have traveled extensivly on Amtrak. (I also went quite a long way...) I haven't had to take much notice of coach facilities and am wondering now about electrical outlets in coach class? SLH

Last month on the EB Capital Limited I noticed 1 outlet on the left side close to the center of the last half of the coach divided by the stairs. I would assume there would be one on the 1st half of the car as well.

This of course was a Superliner coach. I feel these were more for use in cleaning than for passengers conveniences but a lady had all kinds of DVD's

and cell phone of her own going. And yes, she was very quite about it....

 

[Trogdor]

On most Superliners, there are outlets at or near seats 19 and 55. However, I have, at times found them inaccessible to large AC adaptors, as they are positioned such that the seat gets in the way.

 

[amtrak_russ]

on most midwest trains at least one car will have outlets. They are usually located in business class and 64 seat horizon coaches.

Plus if you didn't think about it bring a surge protector.

 

[battalion51]

Well in some areas the outlets are designed for laptops and cell phones and DVD players. In the Northeast this is a big selling point for Amtrak over the airlines and their shuttles since passengers can use their laptops the entire time, make phone calls, etc. Now as far as long distance routes go they're slowly making the transition and upgrde to have outlets at every seat, but their main concern to this point was the Northeast fleet.

 

[1702]

On most Superliners, there are outlets at or near seats 19 and 55. However, I have, at times found them inaccessible to large AC adaptors, as they are positioned such that the seat gets in the way.

Right you are. They are there for the coach cleaners to use when vacuuming the cars. I did see one Superliner coach a few years ago (SupI, IIRC) that had been retrofitted with outlets in each seat......there may have been more than one redone that way, but obviously only a few.

Many times an adapter can't be plugged into the outlet because of the position of the seat, but a power strip might work. Of course, if someone else is occupying the seat, you have to get their permission. And a power cord across the aisle would be a no-no account safety hazard (tripping).

 

[AmtrakWPK]

On our coach trip WPK-NOL-WPK, there was an accessible outlet in the sightseer lounge at the top of the stairs in the (unused) small cafe serving area there. A number of folks (myself included) used that to recharge cellphones at one time or another. Of course, from what I gather, there aren't many sightseer lounge cars running now, which I think is gold-plated wrongheaded stupidity on Amtrak's part, and will reduce passenger counts considerably (which is probably the idea, come to think about it).

 

[AlanB]

Of course, from what I gather, there aren't many sightseer lounge cars running now, which I think is gold-plated wrongheaded stupidity on Amtrak's part, and will reduce passenger counts considerably (which is probably the idea, come to think about it).

At present the only train that I'm aware of that has lost its Sightseer Lounge is the Sunset Limited. All other trains that run with Superliner equipment, except the Auto Train that has special lounge cars, are still running with Sightseer Lounges.

This of course could change in the future if Amtrak impliments the Diner Lite concept.

 

[denmarks]

I noticed that many times the outlets are partially blocked by seats. Maintenence rotates the seats to use them. Has anyone ever tried a short extention cord with a flat plug? This is a plug where the cord comes out the side. Maybe the normal plug on an extention cord can be replaced. Using an extention cord would allow you to use an outlet that may be at the seat in front or behind you.