Keystone Breakdown in Trenton- should I have done anything differently

[kbmiflyer]

Hi folks,

I had an unusual situation on my trip from Penn 30th Street to NYP last week. I wonder if other folks have any suggestions

My family of 4 (me, wifey, 11 year old, 8 year old) and associated luggage, were traveling from Philly to New York as part of our spring break trip on train 670 on Sunday March 24. At the Trenton stop, the train went dead (no electricity). After a few minutes, we heard a muffled message from the car behind us that this train was now out of service, and that everyone needed to get off and the next train (156) would be at the station in 5 minutes.

Well, we quickly grabbed our luggage and hit the platform, along with 250 other passengers. Train 156 pulls in and we were one of the first to board. It was quickly obvious that they were virtually no seats (it was 5:00pm on a Sunday evening after all), and we heard the conductor say that there were 40 seats available for the 250 passengers boarding, and that some would be standing. Our other option was to purchase a ticket for a NJT local that was leaving in 10 minutes.

Not wanting my family and luggage to stand for almost an hour, we jumped back off. Knowing that Amtrak NEC service is farily frequent, I knew there had to be a train in the next hour or so. We walked over to the amtrak ticket office (great facility in Trenton), and the agent was very simpathetic and helpful, and issued us a paper ticket for the next train. I was somewhat surprised we were the only folks there, I guess the other 246 had jammed on the train.

So, we waited about 45 minutes for the next train (132). Being a Sunday night is was also crowded, but the staff eventually found us a table in the cafe car to get us to NYP. The rest of the trip was uneventful.

So, my questions:

1. Did we do the right thing? Anybody would have done something differently?

2. Is it ok for Amtrak to carry almost double the capacity of a train for that long? Seems like people wouldn't even be able to get to the restrooms with 200 people standing in the aisles. It seems like a better solution would have been to hook up some of the cars from the Keystone to the back of the NEC 156. We were getting pushed, so that would not have even been too difficult. I am not sure what the consist capacity of an NEC train is? To be fair, the folks at Amtrak had about 5 minutes to decide what to do with us.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

To me, it seems that you made the correct and wise choices for you and your family, and it sounds like you and Amtrak made the best of an unfortunate mechanical situation.

Back in the days of unreserved seating on the NEC, I've been on trains that were SRO around holidays, with folks sitting on luggage in the aisles, or standing any place there was the slightest amount of room, and you are right, it gets to be claustrophobic, even if one has a seat.

As far as trying to couple some of the Keystone cars to one of the Regionals, I think it would have taken a while to do, and would have caused delays at Trenton with a rippling effect on the NEC.

If you were inconvenienced by the late arrival, you could call customer relations (at 800-USA-RAIL), explaing the hardship it caused, and ask for some restitution for the delay.

That's my 2 pennies...

 

[VentureForth]

1. It sounds like you were much more comfortable than 206 other people, so I don't think there's any problem with that. So long as you didn't have to be anywhere 45 minutes earlier, it sounds like you made the best of a bad situation. Wish more people knew how to think.

2. Doesn't seem like there was much that could have been done there.

 

[amamba]

1. Sure, you did the right thing. The only other thing I might have done differently is just suck it up for the short ride to NYP if I was by myself. I don't think I would have done that with children, though.

I can't really speak to #2, but I will relay my own experience. I was once ticketed for the second to last southbound acela on a Friday evening. I was leaving from PVD and going to PHL. I had a ticket for the FC car. When I get to the station, they let me know that the train was having engine difficulties at BBY and was still up there.

I knew that engine trouble didn't bode well, so I marched up to the ticket window and had them issue me a ticket for the next acela (one hour after mine) in the FC car.

Well I guess there weren't able to fix the locomotive so apparently they took all the folks off the acela in BBY and loaded them onto a regional. Back in PVD, they told people that we wouldn't have to get new tickets and would just be accepted onto the later train with our existing tickets. There weren't enough seats in the FC car for everyone (of course, since they had two trains worth of people on one train). Some of the folks on the regional got off in PVD and were told that they were welcome to take the later acela with us PVD folks. PVD folks were also given the option of taking the regional. By the time we got to NHV the train was definitely packed and with people standing.

 

[BCL]

Having taking NJ Transit Trenton to NYP, it really wasn't that bad. Not too many people have luggage so there's plenty of space in the overhead racks. It feels somewhat old, but it was hardly cramped or uncomfortable. It is slow though, but not bad considering how much it cost. Still - I later came to the conclusion that we should have taken the train to Newark Airport and rented a car there. It would have been way less and would have given us some flexibility. Still - my kid enjoyed taking all these different trains (Keystone, SEPTA) although only I took NJ Transit.

And due to an emergency, my wife had to head back to the burbs of Philly and then took the next Keystone to NYC. I've got an unused Trenton-NYC ticket left. I asked the conductor what I could do with it. He said no refunds, but the ticket won't expire. Maybe I save it for the next time we're in NYC? Heck - I've even got half of the center city Phil ticket left, although it's already punched for a Monday. Is there still any residual value left on it, or is it only valid for that day?

 

[jis]

On 2, soncisering that most Shinkansen's in Japan, esxcept the Nozomi's have several unreserved cars and those are usually packed to the gills SRO, toilets occupied by travelers so forget about using them situation on heavy rush days, there is at least precedent at some of the best run railroad systems in the world for such crowd clearing techniques used on a regular basis.

There was one ride I remember where 12 of us were traveling at the spur of the moment on a very early monring departure from Shin Yokohama on a Hikari to Osaka and then change to another there on to Hiroshima to spend the day there. Upto Osaka we got seats since they were the very long Series 700s. But from Osaka onward it was a shorter consist with half the cars reserved and the other half non-reserved. We were being cheap, so non-reserved. It was like getting on a New York Subway train, only way more crowded. I found me a corner by the door, so at least had the door window to look out of. but there was literally not a single spot left in the car to plant an extra foot anywhere.

 

[Barciur]

Back in the days of unreserved seating on the NEC, I've been on trains that were SRO around holidays, with folks sitting on luggage in the aisles, or standing any place there was the slightest amount of room, and you are right, it gets to be claustrophobic, even if one has a seat.

Sounds like my home country Poland and other Eastern European places. That's part of the magic of riding trains over there But the tickets are much cheaper, you can do a 700 mile trip for $30, that's the most expensive 2nd class ticket in Poland. I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[kbmiflyer]

Thanks for the replies. My initial thought was NJT, but with next train was about 15-25 minutes, and I had been warned it was a 90 minute ride. That train we took an hour later actually arrived in NYP before the NJT. It also would have been over $60 total for my family, and I wasn't sure I could get that back from Amtrak.

 

[SubwayNut]

I vividly remember at age 5, the 90s taking a northbound unreserved trian (dont know what its name would have been) back from Washington the day after Christmas and it being jammed and wodering why all these people were sitting in the asiles. We got seats only because we got 'priority' boarding, maybe red cap help. After that on my next family trip to Washington I think for easter a few years later. I still remember taking a 'reserved' train with Richmond as the final destination and my Mom getting annoyed that there were still people without seats. Back home was an empty Metroliner on Easter.

Growing up most of my trips were to Syracuse on trains that were all reserved west of Albany. The crew would lock a door while in Penn Station between the west of Albany reserved section and unreserved east of Albany section. Once I was taking the Friday 5:30 Ethan Allen Express to Rutland (also reserved north of Albany, unreserved south) and apperently the train had been given three coaches instead of four. The door was luckily locked between the reserved (where i was sitting with evey seat taken and maybe two poeple in the asiles) and unreserved sections but apperently the cops had to be called to avoid a run on the unreserved car and we left with over 100 angry people on the platform.

I will say I do wish some NEC trains were unreserved so I could pull off points runs with attached segments on tickets from New York on any day I choose, not just the day before and after my trips.