Expected state of Amtrak for the summer and fall travel season (2022)

[Eric in East County]

If I’ve learned anything from visiting this forum over the last few years, it is that many AU members, particularly those who post regularly and frequently, are very knowledgeable about AMTRAK’s current operational capabilities, and can be counted upon to submit comments that will be both insightful and reliable.

With Memorial Day and the start of the summer vacation season a little over 60 days away, will AMTRAK be able to resolve the many problems that have been plaguing it (and which have been discussed at length in other threads) and be ready to handle the increased demands placed upon it by those who want to travel by train next summer?

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Not likely.

 

[Sidney]

We have a Zephyr trip planned on July 10 from Chicago to Sacramento. That date falls on a Sunday,one of two days they are not currently running. I am not optomistic that daily service will return. When I get the e mail that my train is canceled,I really hope they can accomodate me a day earlier and the sleepers aren't sold out. Normally I travel alone and I wouldn't mind another train,but my wife is traveling with me and I want her to experience the Zephyr.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I’m much less adventurous than many on this forum.

So for now, I’m only traveling to where I have more than one choice of train and can easily get a different one home if my original one is cancelled.

For me, that means staying on the east coast between Boston and northern Virginia. Or possibly going wild and traveling all the way to Chicago, knowing there is more than one LD train back. (At worst, I’d have to stay longer in a city I love.)

But as of now, I think cross-country more than a day’s journey away from home is too iffy, at least for my comfort level.

 

[lordsigma]

I attended the RPA meeting on Monday where the Amtrak Long Distance VP Chestler spoke to the group. He implied that some of the remaining reduced services should return to daily for the summer schedule but cannot guarantee it will be all services nor has it been ascertained which services those will be. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[jis]

He said we will know the summer situation by around mid April.

 

[Steve4031]

We have a Zephyr trip planned for July 10 from Chicago to Sacramento. That date falls on a Sunday, one of two days they are not currently running. I am not optimistic that daily service will return. When I get the email that my train is canceled, I really hope they can accommodate me a day earlier and the sleepers aren't sold out. Normally I travel alone, and I wouldn't mind another train, but my wife is traveling with me, and I want her to experience the Zephyr.

I strongly advise being proactive and rebooking on one of the days it is running. Last summer, I was booked in a non-existent sleeper (car 630). I ignored rumblings on Facebook that this car line number did not exist. Two days before my trip from EMY to Chicago, I got a call from Amtrak telling me I had been rebooked for a trip two days later. My GF had enough of Amtrak and decided to fly home early. I was determined to ride the CZ, and I did. But my decision to stay caused problems between us that were entire of my own making. I wished I had flown home with her.

Until trains are operating daily and have gotten rid of flex dining, I do not consider Amtrak to have their act together.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Until trains are operating daily and have gotten rid of flex dining, I do not consider Amtrak to have their act together.

Very well put. If and when Amtrak reaches those two benchmarks, I will feel much better about taking the train a bit farther.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

At prices people can afford as well.

 

[MARC Rider]

Note the following notice from Amtrak:
Amtrak Advisory | Northeast Corridor Spring Schedule Changes
"Northeast Corridor Spring Schedule Changes
Effective March 28, 2022
Due to track and infrastructure improvements being performed along the Northeast Corridor, schedule changes will affect Acela and Northeast Regional trains beginning March 28, as outlined below. The schedules listed on Amtrak.com have been updated to reflect this change.

Washington, DC, New York and Boston

• Scheduled departure and arrival times of Acela and Northeast Regional trains may change by 3 to 10 minutes in both directions between Boston, New York and Washington, DC.
• Acela Train 2152 will replace 2150, operating approximately one hour later.
• All Acela trains will depart Washington, DC, 10 minutes before the hour."

For our summer vacation, we're planning on taking the Acela to Boston, then renting a car for the rest of the trip.

Also, it looks like the morning NEC northbound lineup might have a few more trains, despite the removal of Acela 2150:

6:20 AM (Acela)
7:06 AM (Northeast Regional)
7:24 AM (Acela)
7:48 AM (Northeast Regional)
8:40 AM (Vermonter)
9:24 AM (Acela)
9:35 AM (Northeast Regional)
10:53 AM (Northeast Regional)
11:54 AM (Northeast Regional)
12:20 PM (Acela)

 

[Sidney]

I strongly advise being proactive and rebooking on one of the days it is running. Last summer, I was booked in a non-existent sleeper (car 630). I ignored rumblings on Facebook that this car line number did not exist. Two days before my trip from EMY to Chicago, I got a call from Amtrak telling me I had been rebooked for a trip two days later. My GF had enough of Amtrak and decided to fly home early. I was determined to ride the CZ, and I did. But my decision to stay caused problems between us that were entire of my own making. I wished I had flown home with her.

Until trains are operating daily and have gotten rid of flex dining, I do not consider Amtrak to have their act together.

I called Amtrak and explained my situation. The agent assured me the Zephyr would be running daily by late May. I did ask if I could change my date. Unfortunately,prices are now double what I paid. No way I will do that. I'm relying on an AGR's agents word. If It is still running five days and I get a cancelation notice hopefully I can rebook at the same price.

 

[Steve4031]

I called Amtrak and explained my situation. The agent assured me the Zephyr would be running daily by late May. I did ask if I could change my date. Unfortunately,prices are now double what I paid. No way I will do that. I'm relying on an AGR's agents word. If It is still running five days and I get a cancelation notice hopefully I can rebook at the same price.

I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Eric in East County]

Here is a “what if” question based on a scenario which is not too far fetched given the way AMTRAK has been operating recently.

A long-distance train with two sleepers is scheduled to depart from its station of origin. The bedrooms in both sleepers are sold out as are the roomettes. As the train is ready to depart the servicing yard for the boarding platform, a problem is discovered with one of the sleepers which requires it to be removed from the consist. Assuming that no other sleeper is available for a last-minute switch, those passengers in the sleeper that was taken out of service will be without accommodations unless seats can be found for them in coach. In determining which passengers will get the bedrooms and roomettes in the remaining sleeper, does AMTRAK take into consideration the date when a sleeping car reservation was made? (Logic suggests that a person who made their reservation 6 months earlier would be given precedence over a person who made their reservation a month earlier.)

Again, this is a “what if” question and is not based on any incident that I am aware of.

 

[daybeers]

Note the following notice from Amtrak:
Amtrak Advisory | Northeast Corridor Spring Schedule Changes
"Northeast Corridor Spring Schedule Changes
Effective March 28, 2022
Due to track and infrastructure improvements being performed along the Northeast Corridor, schedule changes will affect Acela and Northeast Regional trains beginning March 28, as outlined below. The schedules listed on Amtrak.com have been updated to reflect this change.

Washington, DC, New York and Boston

• Scheduled departure and arrival times of Acela and Northeast Regional trains may change by 3 to 10 minutes in both directions between Boston, New York and Washington, DC.
• Acela Train 2152 will replace 2150, operating approximately one hour later.
• All Acela trains will depart Washington, DC, 10 minutes before the hour."

For our summer vacation, we're planning on taking the Acela to Boston, then renting a car for the rest of the trip.

Also, it looks like the morning NEC northbound lineup might have a few more trains, despite the removal of Acela 2150:

6:20 AM (Acela)
7:06 AM (Northeast Regional)
7:24 AM (Acela)
7:48 AM (Northeast Regional)
8:40 AM (Vermonter)
9:24 AM (Acela)
9:35 AM (Northeast Regional)
10:53 AM (Northeast Regional)
11:54 AM (Northeast Regional)
12:20 PM (Acela)

The NEC North schedule is still reduced; sometimes there are two hour gaps.

 

[west point]

The cynic I am believe if one sleeper cancelled that the lowest paying passenger fares will get bumped to coach? "IF" Amtrak had a spare coach, would it set aside that coach for just the displaced passenger as a faux sleeper? Highly doubt it.

 

[Eric in East County]

Last July, we were returning on the westbound SWC #4 from Chicago to LA. In Las Vegas, the Sightseer/Café car had to be removed from the consist due to problems with a stabilizer bar. It could just as easily have been our sleeping car. The coaches were already full. Had it been our sleeper that was cut out, what would AMTRAK have done with those of us who were in that sleeper? (We’d like to think that we would have been put up for the night in the Castaneda Hotel and that an extra sleeper would have been added to the next day’s #4 just for us.)

 

[Pal2Pluto]

Good morning....... I am hesitantly entering the fray here...and a bit concerned now about our summer trip. Other than a few accidents that changed consists for a bit (EB) and some seemingly frequently late trains, I wasn't too concerned until now. I had not heard of them selling tickets on trains that didn't run on particular days before......

that being said: We have a trip booked from HAR>DEN (24hrs in DEN) DEN>SEA (2 days in Seattle) SEA>CHI (via EB)>HAR. Was I crazy to think this trip is possible?

 

[MARC Rider]

The cynic I am believe if one sleeper cancelled that the lowest paying passenger fares will get bumped to coach? "IF" Amtrak had a spare coach, would it set aside that coach for just the displaced passenger as a faux sleeper? Highly doubt it.

This was maybe 10 years ago; I was booked on a sleeper on the Meteor from Orlando north. While we were waiting at the station, we were informed that one of the sleepers was bad-ordered, and that the passengers who had been booked in that sleeper were downgraded to coach. Fortunately, it wasn't my sleeper, but I talked at dinner with one of the people who had been downgraded. Apparently they got refunds (don't remember whether it was the whole fare or just the accommodation charge), plus they got all their meals for free. In relation to this discussion, it seems that they chose the people to be downgraded strictly on the basis of whether they were booked into the bad-ordered sleeping car.

 

[Joe from PA]

Although we will be using Amtrak for NEC travel, they have lost us to the airlines for overnight travel. Last week we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale almost 2 hours late. 5 totally full sleepers with one dinning car was a madhouse. Because train #97 was no longer running, we had to spend 4 extra hours going round-trip to Tampa and a different route in SC. Prior to our trip we booked another trip on #97 and #98 Ft. Lauderdale-Orlando for this weekend. We got a email saying oops, we decided not to run 97 and 98, so you are on 91 and 92 (Tampa again), turning your 4-hour trip into 6+ hours. I canceled the tickets, and we will make the 3-hour drive. We have had it!

 

[jiml]

I'm holding tickets for late summer travel in California, but since they're all regional services I'm fairly optimistic about both the availability and service levels barring a sixth wave of you-know-what.

 

[Bob Dylan]

This was maybe 10 years ago; I was booked on a sleeper on the Meteor from Orlando north. While we were waiting at the station, we were informed that one of the sleepers was bad-ordered, and that the passengers who had been booked in that sleeper were downgraded to coach. Fortunately, it wasn't my sleeper, but I talked at dinner with one of the people who had been downgraded. Apparently they got refunds (don't remember whether it was the whole fare or just the accommodation charge), plus they got all their meals for free. In relation to this discussion, it seems that they chose the people to be downgraded strictly on the basis of whether they were booked into the bad-ordered sleeping car.

I have experienced the same thing several times through my 50+ years of riding Amtrak.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Not likely.

I'd say the return of daily operation is at least plausible, but to say Amtrak will "have its act together" implies a bit more than that.

My GF had enough of Amtrak and decided to fly home early. I was determined to ride the CZ, and I did. But my decision to stay caused problems between us that were entire of my own making. I wished I had flown home with her.

It sounds like your Amtrak riding days are mostly behind you.

The cynic I am believe if one sleeper cancelled that the lowest paying passenger fares will get bumped to coach? "IF" Amtrak had a spare coach, would it set aside that coach for just the displaced passenger as a faux sleeper? Highly doubt it.

To be fair to Amtrak I have never heard of them using fare buckets to determine who is denied a compartment when a sleeper is bad ordered.

 

[Steve4031]

I will continue to ride Amtrak. But not with my GF. I think after last summer they have permanently lost her business. When we travel together it will be driving or flying. Not Amtrak. I will ride Amtrak for my own enjoyment.

From personal experience, Amtrak does not take AGR status or bucket paid status into account when service disruptions occur. Last winter, when Donner pass was closed, I was out of luck. There were no sleepers available for several days. And some of this was because people had booked sleepers from EMY to Reno. IMHO these people could have been bumped to coach and passengers traveling longer distances could have been accommodated. I don't think Amtrak has the technology or enough employees to do this.

 

[TC_NYC]

Prior to our trip we booked another trip on #97 and #98 Ft. Lauderdale-Orlando for this weekend. We got a email saying oops, we decided not to run 97 and 98, so you are on 91 and 92 (Tampa again), turning your 4-hour trip into 6+ hours. I canceled the tickets, and we will make the 3-hour drive. We have had it!

I understand your frustration, what I would do to avoid the bootleg to/from Tampa is simply book a ticket to Lakeland or Winter Haven, depending on where in the Orlando area you're going to. Fort Lauderdale to Winter Haven would only be a 3' 18" ride on the train.

 

[joelkfla]

To be fair to Amtrak I have never heard of them using fare buckets to determine who is denied a compartment when a sleeper is bad ordered.

In normal times, does Amtrak keep a road-ready sleeper in reserve at LD terminals? I would include MIA, NYP, WAS, CHI, NOL, LAX, EMY, & either PDX or SEA.