Prince, WV to be Unstaffed Effective April 18, 2016
- Thread starter AmtrakLKL
- Start date
Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:
- Status
greatcats
Engineer
I visited the now long retired agent there in 1996. Interesting station. The last C&O built in the 1940s.
greatcats
Engineer
Mr. Dylan just advised us of progress in Newton, Kansas. I am not surprised about Prince, although certainly don't like to see this happen. I am wondering, as are a few other people around here, what is going to happen in Flagstaff. The office is open seven days a week from early morning until late in the evening and there are four positions in the office. The idea is that each person works four ten hour days. The fourth person, who had transferred from Williston, ND, a few months back, transferred to Tucson. This left three people, who have been working five ten hour shifts, plus overtime if the train in the evening is late. My good friend, Carol, who works afternoons, is retiring at the end of this month and I am happy for her that she has made this decision. This leaves two people to run that office. A while back the extra agent for the Arizona stations who was based in Maricopa was abolished. In the past when Flagstaff was shorthanded, I have seen them temporarily assign someone from El Paso. Time will tell what they do in Flagstaff - I foresee a temporary cut in hours.
fairviewroad
Engineer
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2011
- Messages
- 3,387
With just 2,900 passengers in FY15, Prince must surely have been among the least-used staffed stations in the Amtrak system. So perhaps not a huge loss, considering the station building itself will apparently still be open.
But it's an inconvenience to anyone who used the checked baggage service there, which will disappear. There will now be no staffed stations between Charlottesville, VA and Charleston, WV on the Cardinal route, a distance of 279 miles by rail that will include 8 consecutive unstaffed stations.
A quick glance at the timetable suggests that 8 consecutive unstaffed stations will set a new record on Amtrak's LD services. It's a mark that appears to be broken by day-time trains only by the north end of the Vermonter, where nothing north of Springfield is staffed, for a total of 13 consecutive stations. Of course, that train doesn't offer checked baggage at all, so the lack of staffing is a bit less critical there.
But it's an inconvenience to anyone who used the checked baggage service there, which will disappear. There will now be no staffed stations between Charlottesville, VA and Charleston, WV on the Cardinal route, a distance of 279 miles by rail that will include 8 consecutive unstaffed stations.
A quick glance at the timetable suggests that 8 consecutive unstaffed stations will set a new record on Amtrak's LD services. It's a mark that appears to be broken by day-time trains only by the north end of the Vermonter, where nothing north of Springfield is staffed, for a total of 13 consecutive stations. Of course, that train doesn't offer checked baggage at all, so the lack of staffing is a bit less critical there.
Last edited by a moderator:
Thirdrail7
Engineer
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 4,542
The trend continues.
Acela150
Super Buff
I think that one thing to keep in mind is that this is a pretty bad FY for Amtrak.. So bad that many job postings were at an extreme low.. I would check every day, the lowest the number was around 55.. This also included T&E jobs. I went to test for an AC job out of DC back in early February. They told us that the class was to start April 7th.. I honestly don't know if they hired anyone and if the class took place. I was told by the Recruiter and Trainmaster that they wanted 7 guys and galls. Which a gander says that 7 is a lot for Amtrak. Especially being hired for the DC-NYC zone. Someone may know more then me on that.
Anyway I digress.. The station agents that are losing there jobs at Prince and Glenview can use their Seniority to move elsewhere if I had to take an educated guess.
Anyway I digress.. The station agents that are losing there jobs at Prince and Glenview can use their Seniority to move elsewhere if I had to take an educated guess.
Thirdrail7
Engineer
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 4,542
There is more to it than a bad year. With e-ticketing, there is less use for station agents. Trains crews are handling more of the duties on board the train. it cuts costs. Some jobs are not filled when there are retirements while others are being actively abolished.
Displaced employees would be able to exercise their seniority within their district (since not all crafts have nationwide seniority)...assuming there is a position available to exercise it on to. :blink:
Displaced employees would be able to exercise their seniority within their district (since not all crafts have nationwide seniority)...assuming there is a position available to exercise it on to. :blink:
Acela150
Super Buff
That's also a valid point. One that I commonly forget about.
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2010
- Messages
- 4,888
Include me in the inconvenienced. Prince is great. Free parking. Baggage service. 4 easy daylight hours driving from home. Place to hang out in nearby Beckley (Tamerack) which is open until 7PM even on Sunday. Overnight to Chicago or back with 6PM departure and 10AM arrival in both directions.
Now, no baggage. Sniff!
Triley
Real Lead Service Attendant
Not sure if I heard correctly, but I believe I just heard a zone 5 conductor out of WAS say that they were soliciting zone 5 conductors to qualify on zone 2 and transfer, but they'd be locked in to the extra board for six months. Sounds like they're desperate, which I don't understand why, because from what I heard, NY extra board is slooow right now.
Agree that with e-ticketing, the need for station agents is reduced. However, if this trend continues they really need to start exploring trainside baggage checking. Actually, they should have started exploring it a long time ago.
mlhughes0522
Train Attendant
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2014
- Messages
- 73
I agree make company and turn most amtrak station over to that company contracted by Amtrak. Have Amtrak train and make sure very one does their job right. Not only e-ticketing ,put in ticket machines that takes cash or card.
Train the worker to do baggage in some stations.
Instead of calling them caretaker call them train station attendant.
fairviewroad
Engineer
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2011
- Messages
- 3,387
They do have those types of machines...they're called Quik-Trak (though they only take credit cards, not cash). Generally you do not find them in stations with once-a-day (or less) service. With e-ticketing, though, the Quik-Trak machines are also less needed than before, since there is no need to pick up a physical ticket anymore.
I agree that you could have the caretaker do some of that work, but I suspect that the Amtrak union would have something to say about that.
greatcats
Engineer
Fair view- What you wrote I think is pretty much correct, but Flagstaff has a Quik Trak machine. One train a day each way. ( and dozens more freighted )My favorite agent here, Carol, will retire next week. I am happy for her decision, but will miss dropping in on her.
fairviewroad
Engineer
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2011
- Messages
- 3,387
Hmm, well it's possible there are more Quik Traks out there than I realized. The SWC timetable, as well as the Flagstaff station page on Amtrak.com, both indicate no Quik-Trak for Flagstaff. If you go by the timetable, there is only one station on the SWC chief route that has a Quik Trak (Fort Madison, IA) and is not also served by other Amtrak trains.
At any rate, with e-ticketing, it's hard for me to think of the last time I used a Quik-Trak machine. What do people still use them for? Even someone without a smart phone or a printer can still buy a ticket over the phone and have the conductor look up their reservation using their ID.
Last edited by a moderator:
Thirdrail7
Engineer
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 4,542
Actually, it has been implemented at some stations already. I believe it is referred to as Limited Service Stop aka Baggage Lite.
Last edited by a moderator:
I thought I had heard about this here on AU, but it's been quite a while so I didn't want to say anything.
PaulM
Engineer
It will be three years ago this Summer that it was the instigated at Mt. Pleasant, Ft. Madison, Topeka, Newton, and Rte 128 .
http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/56417-new-checked-baggage/
Has it ever been extended beyond these 5?
greatcats
Engineer
Good points. The station info for Flg in the app mentions the Quik Trak. I have only used them a few times. These days I too use E tickets.
Thirdrail7
Engineer
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2014
- Messages
- 4,542
Yes indeed and I expect more in the future.
greatcats
Engineer
To update the remarks yesterday about Quik Trak machines in stations with one train per day or less: The one in Flagstaff has been removed. I was just visiting agent Carol before she retires next week and she hugged me more than once! It is fairly apparent that Etickets have made the machines redundant. Flagstaff, however, is a substantial stop and now they need to fill not one, but two of the four positions here.
Yes, the QuikTrak machines are quite redundant nowadays...the most used ones are probably the ones in WAS and BAL that sell MARC tickets!
So are COTS, which most conductors only need to carry one pad of now.
That said, developing some sort of auto-baggage kiosk is probably a good idea for smaller stations.
jis
Permanent Way Inspector
Staff member
Administator
Moderator
AU Supporting Member
Gathering Team Member
Considering how aggressively airlines are pushing self-tagging and drop off of checked baggage, perhaps Amtrak can adopt some of those techniques, and just be ready to receive such pre-self-tagged bags track side by the baggage car. It would require installation of enhanced QuickTrak machines capable of printing out a baggage destination tag for checked bags. And I am sure, at least initially there will be lot of hiccups and the Conductor accepting bags will have to have hand written tags handy to recover from screwups.Coming to think of it, they could start with just those and evolve to self tagging.
neroden
Engineer
In the case of this station, I think the question is why it was staffed before. It never met Amtrak's standards for being busy enough to require staffing.
Last edited by a moderator:
- Status
