How far does Amtrak's responsibility go?

[GoldenSpike]

My memory was recently jarred about an incident this past winter where Amtrak got a black eye in Portland, OR.

Local TV stations had a field day with it.

I don't know if anybody recalls the bad snow storm and freezing weather that shut down the city for days. This

is not a common event in the Pac NW.

Due to the weather, Amtrak ceased operation 100%: No Cascades, CS or EB. Station operations were shut down

but left the station open for about 30 stranded passengers to fend for themselves in the depot for two or more days

without food. Area restaurants 4-5 blocks away were closed. From the looks of the pax many were not flushed with cash.

Word got out to the local TV stations of their plight and did live coverage. In one case, during the live spot outside

the station, they called and spoke with an Amtrak spokesman on what they were going to do. Caught off guard

all he could do is stammer. I never heard the outcome, but is seems they did nothing.

But locals seeing the coverage took action and bought a load of groceries and went to the station to make

sandwiches in the depot, providing milk, etc. since children were involved. TV coverage to boot.

Amtrak's PR was lacking and came off as uncaring about their plight other than to provide shelter.

Did they have an obligation to do more?

 

[PetalumaLoco]

Well, yes they do, at least as much as the airlines do for pax stranded in airplanes stuck on the ground for hours... oops.

 

[GoldenSpike]

Well, yes they do, at least as much as the airlines do for pax stranded in airplanes stuck on the ground for hours... oops.

On airlines that seems to be the norm. But in rare events such as a storm in PDX....?

 

[EB_OBS]

First let me say, that if you didn't already know from my other posts, I'm an AMTRAK employee.

Second, let me say that I don't officially represent AMTRAK in any way here or in any other capacity as a PR or customer service rep. I read this forum and I post here because I one enjoy it and two my intent is to help out with my own personal knowledge when I can.

I work in Seattle and myself and my coworkers were, in my opinion, working our tails off during this past winter's storms. It wasn't uncommon for about a two week period for people to be working 24 hour shifts, sleeping at work or staying in a motel then getting right back to work.

This winter hit the northwest harder than it may have ever been hit. I've lived here going on 25 years and I've never seen anything like it up here. I grew up in the mid-west and while the severity of the winter we had here is more common in the mid-west, there are still times when winter storms shut down virtually all transportation and commerce.

At some point people need to be responsible for themselves. AMTRAK is in the business of moving people from point A to point B. Portland is a major origination and destination point. It is a major city with the usual commercial and civic infrastructure that any major city has. This particular storm shut down the entire northwest's transportation system and everything else. Everyone was unable to go about their regular business. Planes, trains and automobiles weren't going anywhere for a couple days during the worst part of the storm. People were unable to get to work, to school, to anywhere. Business' were unable to open including grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations. City offices were closed. Federal offices were closed. Everything ground to a halt.

There are many occasions were circumstances create situations for passengers that aren't what they had planned for and I believe that most of the time AMTRAK does what is necessary to get people to where they were going. Arrival at the final destination may not be as originally scheduled but when necessary passengers are put up in hotels, given vouchers for meals and reimbursed with travel vouchers. If travel by train isn't feasible then passengers are put on buses and even airplanes.

The days before this storm as well as the following days there were travel advisories all over the news. You couldn't pick up a newspaper or turn on the radio or television without hearing about how bad the weather was all over the country and that traveling could be risky.

I'm pretty sure that AMTRAK does ten times more for passengers that are inconvenienced or delayed than the airlines do. I don't believe though that AMTRAK is wholly, or solely responsible every time mother nature decides to kick up her heals and let us have it. There are some things that are quite beyond everyone's and anyone's control. This past winter was for sure.

 

[Longford]

Did they have an obligation to do more?

Lots of gossip and suppositions in your comments. One might ask if people posting such things don't themselves have an obligation . . . to stop stiring the pot when there's nothing to stir.

 

[Chatter163]

Did they have an obligation to do more?

Lots of gossip and suppositions in your comments. One might ask if people posting such things don't themselves have an obligation . . . to stop stiring the pot when there's nothing to stir.

Amen. There were so many subjective opinions, assumptions and questionable inferences involved in the OP--all of which, it seems, were based solely on local TV's coverage of the event--that I was aghast at the OP's judgment.

 

[jis]

Did they have an obligation to do more?

So tell us what answer were you looking for.

I could spin a story justifying both a "yes" answer and a "no" answer. :lol:

More seriously, in terms of basic contract with their customers they are not obligated to do anything more. As a matter of general human decency, they ought to do their best to help people in distress under such circumstances, and I am not convinced that they failed to fulfill that. It is not clear what sort of assets they had available under such trying weather conditions to exactly do something more. When disasters strike everyone pulls together and handles the situation, and this is what happened here. Do we know for sure that local Amtrak staff were not involved in getting the local effort together? Since you have given no references for the information provided in the OP we have no way to check that.

 

[Guest]

At least it was an actual weather delay. I had a flight that was canceled because of low passenger load but there was the slightest storm so they called it weather so they could say screw you and do nothing.