Empire Builder discharges passengers in the middle of nowhere

[Ryan]

,,, the SCA bears NO responsibility in this fiasco. That is their rest time, so he/she is absolved from all blame in this.

So Alan, what about the Manual citation noted earlier, i.e.

Train Attendants [TASC-Train Attendant Sleeping Car] to:

• Notify passengers individually from 10p.m. to

7a.m. Use a flashlight to locate passengers during

the night.

and

• Make certain the passenger is detraining at

their ticketed destination.

This ^ reference is from the Sleeping Car pages. I'm still thinking Op crew and SCA share culpability on Amtrak's side.

The car attendant was off duty:

Also, just FYI,

At SCD, none of the SCAs are required to be up at that stop. That's 100% all on the conductors. If the SCA chooses to be up then so be it but they are not required to be nor are they paid to be unless the conductor specifically authorizes it and punches their timesheet.

 

[frj1983]

And I'll add a question that someone asked earlier:

Why is something that happened on March 28th first being seen in the news now?

I don't remember hearing/reading about this in late March, early April. Why suddenly now?

Something about the story is also striking to me:

Paragraph 4 : Only then did Rhode and Larson realize that the Amtrak crew didn't tell them when they had reached their destination and compounded the trouble by leaving them in the middle of nowhere.

-"didn't tell them when they had reached their destination"

Paragraph 10: They were sleeping in the train car when a crew member knocked on their door to wake them, telling them that their stop was approaching. No one returned to tell the pair to retrieve their luggage and exit the train, Rhode said. "We were just sitting there waiting," she said.

-"a crew member knocked on their door to wake them, telling them that their stop was approaching."

So what was it? They were told or not told? And if told, wouldn't you be in the least bit curious if told your destination was approaching and the train had stopped for some 5 minutes, that this might not be your stop? Someone (Amtrak) did screw up and not check on the women, but I can't get this out of my head: Why are we first hearing about this now? and I would imagine some people have been disciplined since then.

P.S. Last Friday night, Engineer on a UP West Metra run out to Elburn, overshot a station by a huge margin, the Conductor had to call the Dispatcher for permission to back-up (I was standing right next to him when he did it). Dispatcher said "NO" and we went on to the next station which was luckily a short distance away. Lot's of unhappy campers though.

 

[George Harris]

Why is something that happened on March 28th first being seen in the news now?I don't remember hearing/reading about this in late March, early April. Why suddenly now?

My suspicious mind says becuase it makes it much more difficult to confirm the story.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Why is something that happened on March 28th first being seen in the news now?I don't remember hearing/reading about this in late March, early April. Why suddenly now?

My suspicious mind says becuase it makes it much more difficult to confirm the story.

Maybe that's how long it took for Amtrak to conduct their investigation and reply to their mail?

 

[Donctor]

Here is an alternate possibility:

The conductor begged and pleaded with them

But they packed his suitcase and sent him on his way

(Sorry, temptation was too great.)