Overly detailed explanation by Conductor?

[Steve4031]

One of the more entertaining explanations for a delay occurred for me on the Capitol limited. At the time I was eating dinner in the diner and we were running slower than usual around Elkhart. The conductor got on the PA and explained that the slow running and delay was being caused by a freight train ahead of us. He even gave the identifying information of the freight. Iirc it was the Q22.

 

[neroden]

A police officer that searches without probable cause or a warrant or permission and finds something won't be able to use said evidence against the person. Since it was illegally searched.

Yeah but they have in the past pocketed the stuff (anything of cash value) anyway under the guise of civil forfeiture, to enhance the coffers of the police department. Some states have recently clamped down on that abuse. Apparently the Albuquerque Police Department is now running a significant deficit as a result and scrambling to find alternate sources of funding to stay afloat. Thewre was an article the other day about this in a New Mexico newspaper which I read while passing through there on the SWC, and for the life of me can;t find it now.

For what it's worth, Albuquerque PD is under federal investigation for a huge list of violent felonies. I'm not at all surprised they were stealing money from people.

 

[jis]

A police officer that searches without probable cause or a warrant or permission and finds something won't be able to use said evidence against the person. Since it was illegally searched.

Yeah but they have in the past pocketed the stuff (anything of cash value) anyway under the guise of civil forfeiture, to enhance the coffers of the police department. Some states have recently clamped down on that abuse. Apparently the Albuquerque Police Department is now running a significant deficit as a result and scrambling to find alternate sources of funding to stay afloat. Thewre was an article the other day about this in a New Mexico newspaper which I read while passing through there on the SWC, and for the life of me can;t find it now.

For what it's worth, Albuquerque PD is under federal investigation for a huge list of violent felonies. I'm not at all surprised they were stealing money from people.

Basically it appears that New Mexico has changed their law making it illegal to do civil forfeiture from anyone that has not been charged with any crime. At least that is what I understood from reading that aforementioned article.

 

[Bob Dylan]

That's good news! We need a Federal Law to stop corrupt cartels like the DEA from stealing also but getting such a law through the current Congress is as likely as Amtrak being given a few Billion dollars by these do nothing hacks!

 

[railiner]

.

I thought it was really good information for those who didn't know about it, and if people were bored or didn't care, they could just keep listening to their headphones.

Exactly.

"Hearing is in the ears of the beholder"....

Some are entertained by PA spiels, and other's are annoyed...Like SarahZ says, all you have to do is "tune out" if you are annoyed....

Where I work, there are constant automated PA announcements, as well as "canned music"....some passenger's ask me if I am annoyed hearing that all day, to which I grin and reply: "Hear what?"

 

[Thirdrail7]

I have to say in general, the announcements have gotten long. Too long in my opinion. It makes you tune them out to the point that when it is actually time to listen, no one does!

I was on a regional and the conductor started making an opening announcement just outside of the Maryland/DC state line and by the time he was finished, we were almost at BWI! :help:

 

[jis]

It also helps if the PA system actually works in the car that one is in

 

[Seaboard92]

I'm on the silvers all the time and we never get those announcements. We're lucky to get an announcement about delays.

 

[KmH]

A police officer that searches without probable cause or a warrant or permission and finds something won't be able to use said evidence against the person. Since it was illegally searched.

We wish.

LEO's have lied in the past, and will lie in the future regarding the circumstances that resulted in evidence discovery.

I has gotten significantly worse since 9/11.

 

[Anderson]

I believe that the explanation was (probably) appropriate. That being said, I really wish there was an ability to cut announcements while in one's room...I'm reminded of an overly-enthusiastic cafe attendant on the Starlight...and let's be frank, those can cut in on anything from a conversation with another passenger to a nap to an important phone call.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I believe that the explanation was (probably) appropriate. That being said, I really wish there was an ability to cut announcements while in one's room...I'm reminded of an overly-enthusiastic cafe attendant on the Starlight...and let's be frank, those can cut in on anything from a conversation with another passenger to a nap to an important phone call.

Strongly agree on this, especially announcements that are repeated after a major station stop where several new pax have come on board. Of course there is the safety element of needing to be "in range" of the 1MC, especially for those who are not train savy.

 

[Anderson]

I believe that the explanation was (probably) appropriate. That being said, I really wish there was an ability to cut announcements while in one's room...I'm reminded of an overly-enthusiastic cafe attendant on the Starlight...and let's be frank, those can cut in on anything from a conversation with another passenger to a nap to an important phone call.

Strongly agree on this, especially announcements that are repeated after a major station stop where several new pax have come on board. Of course there is the safety element of needing to be "in range" of the 1MC, especially for those who are not train savy.

Well, the solution would be to have some sort of override built in for emergency use only. This would probably involve controls that are more complex than a physical switch (e.g. having two or more channels, one of which is an override channel that broadcasts regardless of whether your channel is on or off). This is probably my biggest gripe with the newer rebuilds: At least with the old ones, you could switch channels and nothing came through.

 

[VentureForth]

My initial response to the op is that I think it was an appropriate and appreciated statement. However, repeating it may have been overkill. If someone missed the announcement or couldn't hear it, they can always ask another passenger.

Was it APD that was performing all the civil forfeiture raids at ABQ? I thought they were federal agents like Border Patrol, et. al.

I had friends that worked for the Bernalillo Sheriff's dept., and a couple friends on APD. They were all top notch individuals. Come to think of it, it's been 8 years since I've been there, and I can't get the image of Hank from Breaking Bad out of my head...

But I've also seen their bad side. I witnessed a bad collision and when APD was coming on the scene, no siren, just lights, and drove into the intersection without looking and the cop got hit by a car (couldn't see the lights because of cars in the way). I was called by the APD to make a statement that the cop was in the right. I refused.

jis: Is this the article? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/04/14/albuquerques-long-history-of-police-abuse-cover-up-and-scandal

 

[tommylicious]

Entirely approrpiate. Very few of the general public are aware of Amtrak's situation. Amtrak should publicize this heavily in the hope that people would be sympathetic and eventually Congress stops repeatedly kicking Amtrak in the groin.

 

[jis]

Venture, the specific article I was referring to was in the local Albuquerque newspaper and was specifically about civil forfeitures being disallowed by new New Mexico law in cases where the victim of the Police action was not charged with any crime.

The Washington Post article clearly shows how Albuquerque PD is basically a law unto itself trying to compete with the famous Moscow Police Department in exercise of power that is not backed by any legal authority. It is a good article. Thanks for finding it.

 

[railiner]

I believe that the explanation was (probably) appropriate. That being said, I really wish there was an ability to cut announcements while in one's room...I'm reminded of an overly-enthusiastic cafe attendant on the Starlight...and let's be frank, those can cut in on anything from a conversation with another passenger to a nap to an important phone call.

Strongly agree on this, especially announcements that are repeated after a major station stop where several new pax have come on board. Of course there is the safety element of needing to be "in range" of the 1MC, especially for those who are not train savy.

Well, the solution would be to have some sort of override built in for emergency use only. This would probably involve controls that are more complex than a physical switch (e.g. having two or more channels, one of which is an override channel that broadcasts regardless of whether your channel is on or off). This is probably my biggest gripe with the newer rebuilds: At least with the old ones, you could switch channels and nothing came through.

That solution already exists on most modern cruise ships....you can turn down, or off, PA announcements in your cabin. But if there's an emergency, they can still broadcast into your cabin at full volume for things like a call to muster (lifeboat) stations, or for medical "code alpha's" or fires, etc......

 

[TheTuck]

For the train savvy passengers, a thorough announcement is usually welcomed. However, most passengers only want to know why were stopped and for how long.. ie "how late will I be?" There's a very fine line between a good announcement and a ramble (or even a lecture). The average passenger will listen if the message is delivered quickly and respectfully. Some conductors and OBS tend to repeat themselves when they're answering the same questions again and again (or they just like to hear themselves talk). Most people will tune out the PA when they've heard the same thing more then once, or if they're being scolded for not following the rules.