how often does Amtrak call the cops to remove people?

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Austrian

Guest
.

how often does Amtrak call the cops to remove people?

(in this case, the cops removed a woman for talking on her phone... allegedly too loudly?)

 
It's pretty rare.

In this case the woman was alleged to have been talking almost nonstop for 18 hours. Not only was she loud but she was in a coach car where other passengers were trying to sleep.

Now I'm not sure who she's talking to for almost 18 hours, but maybe they could have cut off the power to the outlets in that car. She might have run out at about 2 hours.
 
The train was not stopped by the police, apparently the conductor called them. I am sure it was more than just talking on her phone. She was probably not cooperatiing when asked to move to the lounge car to talk. The conductor puts up with lots of things, but they all have a point where the safety and calm of the train comes first. I have been on several trains this year, and has seen the cops called twice and both times for people doing drugs either on the train or at the stops.

The last train I was on, there was someone smoking in the restrooms, but they could not catch them. I have seen people put off at the next stop for smoking several times this year. the police are usually only called if agression or illegal issues are involved.
 
As often as necessary. The above woman was in a "quiet car" and supposedly had been talking non-stop since Oakland, CA. She was taken off the train in Salem, OR 16 hours later. I'm sure she had more than fair warning from the Conductor. Most of the people I've seen taken off the train were intoxicated, disorderly, and some I've seen taken off by Border Patrol agents on the EB route just south of the Canadian border.
 
talking for 16 to 18 hours? I sure hope she had enough cellphone plan minutes or an unlimited plan. :)

as for smoking in the restroom, that is obviously a serious offense... but what about "two people" in the restroom? do they get kicked off as well?

By the way, I don't think I'll ever register for this forum. The captcha puzzle is really fun.... :D
 
talking for 16 to 18 hours? I sure hope she had enough cellphone plan minutes or an unlimited plan. :)
AT&T Mobile has unlimited mobile to mobile calling if it's to another AT&T Mobile customer. I see our bills, and these calls are all accounted for but not added to the number of minutes debited from our plan minutes. They also have unlimted calling to other mobile phones with certain plans with unlimited text messaging.

I tend to think she wasn't on the phone nonstop. There are areas on the Coast Starlight that transmitters don't reach. However, that she might have been talking for most of that 16 hours is possible.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It's pretty rare.
Says who?

Ive seen people kicked off the Coast Starlight myself.

Even the nicest conductor is only going to put up with so much.

Plus theres the inherent guilt by disassociation factor whereby the conductor is subconsciously inclined to side with their fellow staff members and against the passenger.

Now I'm not sure who she's talking to for almost 18 hours, but maybe they could have cut off the power to the outlets in that car. She might have run out at about 2 hours.
Either way shes seriously inconveniencing the rest of the passengers around her. That sort of passive aggressive nonsense never actually solves nothing. Better to address the person who is causing all the trouble directly and instruct them to either behave in a reasonable manner or get the hell off the train. I have zero tolerance for loud and obnoxious people.

The train was not stopped by the police...
Police dont exactly have a great track record when it comes to stopping trains.


There was a time not too many years ago when unlimited nationwide mobile plans were rather uncommon. Back then my mobile phone bills could reach $300 a month or more.
 
Seems to vary by route. Never seen it happen on the Empire Builder, but it seems about every third trip I take on the Starlight they put someone off into the hands of the cops. Frequently not at station stops, like at a grade crossing in Richmond, at the toolshed at Oakridge, OR, etc.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Unfortunately no such car exists on the train in question.

I thought all trains have dead man's switch that automatically stopped the trains in such incidents?
No, in case of disruptive passenger, they radio the dispatcher and arrange for the cops to meet the train somewhere and take the person into custody.

There are emergency brake handles, but they aren't used for that. And woe unto any passenger who pulls that. That pretty much guarantees whoever pulled it will be put into the hands of the police.
 
As the EB rolled through Wisconsin one snowy night, a college kid had knocked back too many beers and was warned by the conductor to watch her behavior. Lots of college-agers were in the Sightseer, many of them her "friends" who kept buying beers on her behalf. Finally she did one "magic deed" too many and I heard a conductor radio the head end to say that "an unruly passenger would like to meet the Tomah Police. Three officers came aboard at the station. When the passenger refused to cooperate, within seconds (it seemed) they had her restrained, cuffed, and off the train in quick order. The attendant says it happens quite often. Anyway, we'll remember that trip for a long time. So will she, but for quite different reasons.
 
During my first Amtrak trip in the 1970's, I was on the Southwest Chief in coach and a passenger was threatening the people in the seat ahead of him. The police met took him off at the next station.

When I met my cousin here at Bloomington/Normal, the police escorted a man off the TE. The next day when my cousin and I left for our trip, the Amtrak agent made sure he got on the train. She said he'd had too much to drink the day before, but he was ok now.

The people who said it doesn't happen often are right. I've seen it only twice in over 35 years.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
1) As previous posters have said, there is no quiet car on the Coast Starlight. If it was 4:00 PM when she was arrested, and she had been talking for 16 hours straight since Oakland, then talking was not really the issue. If she was allowed to talk from, say, midnight until 8:00 am, then they're not going to arrest her at 4:00 pm for talking - clearly, other behavior caused her arrest. In the articles released since then, it looks like she finally got in a "verbal altercation" with other passengers: see this story for details. http://www.komonews.com/news/local/122063929.html?tab=video&c=y

2) Asking "how often" people get arrested isn't something that can be answered directly. Amtrak passengers are not detrained on a percentage basis. The only thing you could really ask is "Under what circumstances can someone be arrested?" It sounds like this passenger became unruly at some point. Unruliness / not cooperating with onboard staff is certainly a legitimate reason for being kicked off a train. For a more recent example of similar behavior, check out the story of the woman who was just kicked off a plane for singing Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" nonstop!

3) If this woman did talk all through the night, and was only arrested after an altercation, why did it take so long to do something? If she talked nonstop through the entire night, she undoubtedly interrupted the sleep of everyone around her. I don't understand why the conductor or car attendant didn't take action earlier.
 
During my first Amtrak trip in the 1970's, I was on the Southwest Chief in coach and a passenger was threatening the people in the seat ahead of him. The police met took him off at the next station.
When I met my cousin here at Bloomington/Normal, the police escorted a man off the TE. The next day when my cousin and I left for our trip, the Amtrak agent made sure he got on the train. She said he'd had too much to drink the day before, but he was ok now.

The people who said it doesn't happen often are right. I've seen it only twice in over 35 years.
Depends, in riding the Starlight regularly over the last 22 years, I've seen it happen more times than I can count. Like I said, seems like about every third trip on average. Note that train that this woman was taken off of was...wait for it...the Starlight.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I thought all trains have dead man's switch that automatically stopped the trains in such incidents?
Are you referring to the Crazy 8's incident?

If so then it's a matter of multiple variables.

In older locomotives the auto-stop system doesn't activate, and would serve no additional purpose, when the air breaks are already applied. However, if the engine is set to maximum traction it can easily overpower its own air breaks. A single engine cannot easily overpower a whole train's worth of air breaks. However, hoses are typically left disconnected for simple yard jobs and thus the only air breaks in use are on the locomotive(s). So basically you have a bit of a loophole in the auto-stop process in some situations. If the train had all the hoses connected or if the locomotive was not set for maximum traction then there would be less to worry about. More recently designed locomotives are supposedly able to power down the traction motors and better respond to confusing or counterproductive inputs, but I'd imagine you could still come up with a situation where the original design limits are tested to the point of unintended consequences.
 
In my travels, I've only seen it happen once. While on the Portland section of the EB, someone snuck on the train at Vancouver and locked himself in one of the bathrooms. His reward was to be booted off the train at Bingen-White Salmon, into the waiting arms of Klickitat County sheriff's deputies. Not worth it, I'd say. ;)
 
I'm thinking it's more likely that a passenger is put off the train without law enforcement intervention. Of course orders from people with guns would seem to be taken more seriously. I'm wondering how often this situation arises when there is Amtrak Police riding along. Wouldn't they be more amenable to this compared to some city copy or county sherriff's deputy who may be asking "Do I really need to do this?"

And maybe everyone is tiptoeing around this because of the delicate nature of race relations in this country, so I'll just come out and say it without painting a broad brush. There is a certain ghetto subculture where normal societal norms don't apply. I take public transportation often, and I come across people (of various races frankly) who have no issues talking loudly in four-letter words, speaking so loudly as to have dozens of people hear them clearly, talking about subject matter that is frankly inappropriate, and not responding well when other people ask them to tone it down. I'm pretty sure that there were plenty of complaints while she was talking on the phone and that the conductor probably told her to take it elsewhere but she refused. They could have been afraid to do anything more severe because of the possibility of a backlash, where they might be accused of discriminating against her on the basis of race. There was an incident where an African-American passenger filed a complaint believing that he was discriminated against because he was asked to move to another seat (where he no longer had two seats to himself) such that two passengers could be seated together. Of course we understand that this is a policy, but he was probably asking why he was singled out when there were other single passengers who weren't asked to give up their cushy setup. It must have gotten to a pretty bad point (the altercation with other passengers was mentioned as the tipping point) before they decided that they would have her removed from the train.
 
Seems to vary by route. Never seen it happen on the Empire Builder, but it seems about every third trip I take on the Starlight they put someone off into the hands of the cops. Frequently not at station stops, like at a grade crossing in Richmond, at the toolshed at Oakridge, OR, etc.
I ride the Empire Builder frequently and I have seen perhaps 5-6 drunken cowboys, oil field workers and Border Patrol "interventions" over the past several years. I was in a roomette very close to a drug apprehension last year where several DEA agents came on board (I believe it was Havre) and literally tackled the person (a young woman) who tried to escape with an entire suitcase full of "stuff". Made for an eventful stop for sure!
 
Well - I try to be open-minded, but this morning I took public transportation. Instead of moving to another seat because of the conversation behind me, I got an education on (I think) black transgender culture. I could be mistaken since I only got a brief glimpse but heard all the stuff going on behind me. If my child were with me I would have ask these two ladies(?) to at least watch their language.
 
My first day working for Amtrak as the agent at Malta MT a guy was taken off the train for being drunk,spent the night in jail, he then missed the train the next day,caused trouble at one of the bars, spent the night in jail and the next day he was escouted to the train by the law enforcment and they made sure he left town on the train. I do not remeber if he got to his to where he was going.
 
Seems to vary by route. Never seen it happen on the Empire Builder, but it seems about every third trip I take on the Starlight they put someone off into the hands of the cops. Frequently not at station stops, like at a grade crossing in Richmond, at the toolshed at Oakridge, OR, etc.
I ride the Empire Builder frequently and I have seen perhaps 5-6 drunken cowboys, oil field workers and Border Patrol "interventions" over the past several years. I was in a roomette very close to a drug apprehension last year where several DEA agents came on board (I believe it was Havre) and literally tackled the person (a young woman) who tried to escape with an entire suitcase full of "stuff". Made for an eventful stop for sure!
The border patrol most of the time goes through the train during the service stop at Havre.
 
I watched a guy get put off in Helper Utah once. He was plenty drunk and was going car to car and being an all drunked up drunk. Conductor took more stuff from him than most people would and finally put him off. I remember it being late at night and pretty lonely station stop in helper. No cops were around, but that's not to say, they weren't on their way
 
There was one Empire Builder conductor that if you gave him much trouble he would put the person off at Browning Mt and they got to spend the night in the reservaion jail.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top