Rail congestion gives Houston headaches

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

Ok, I think I see your point. You are saying that customer service for the traveling public, the passengers that paid for the tickets on your train, consists of a cattle prod in the rear because they are all stupid jerks. Being stuck on a train stopped for hours in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with no staff that can be found except a sleeping cook is irrelevant.
I'm having difficulty with how the account of an almost unbelievable gaffe on the part of the staff on that train apparently lends itself to a long paragraph ranting about the general stupidity of passengers. If that basic attitude is shared by a majority of employees it is no wonder that a large percentage of travelogues include instances of unforgiveably lousy service by on board personnel. All of which tend to push Amtrak toward extinction. Unless that sort of attitude and behavior by employees is put on the skids there is NOTHING that the rest of us Amtrak railfans could possibly do to save the company.

Damn!!!! Wow railfans are soooo serious sometimes! Yo bro, lighten up. Don't take this "that" seriously. I was only throwing in a little workplace humor in here, but now since we are on a serious note, there is a little bit of truth to all this. This "attitude thing" IS THE CASE IN ANY CUSTOMER SERVICE ORGANIZATION, not just Amtrak! Put yourself in our shoes (those who are in the customer service industry) in order to try to understand!Now any good employee is not going to treat a customer this way (and yeah unfortunately there are bad employees out there)! I wouldn't ever treat my passengers in a manner that may jeapordize Amtrak future revenue, my job, etc. I was merely pointing out that sometimes when most of us OBS and T&E personnel are out here on these rails "working the front lines," we sometimes get inundated with the same questions over and over and over! And passengers just majority of the time will not live and let live some of the little things! And little may you believe my friend a lot of customers have these bad attitudes, too. I can provide good customer service without kissin' butt! But treat me with a little respect, too. That is a rampant problem in the customer service industry as a whole. It is a two way street!

Now regards to that specific problem, write the management, damn it. If there had been the proper amount of employees on that train (instead of the usual skeleton crew), and as well as a manager the passengers to have access to, then I feel the case would have been different as far as the customer service is concerned! If there had been management present, I have a feeling everyone would not have been on their down time. Write the management and demand some answers to that situation! And keep writing till you get something satisfactory! We get frustrated, too as well as the passengers, but they have to be the ones to write and make things known, since it seems it is hard to find a manager when you need one! This is the last I will comment on this and please accept my apologies if I offended you! Be well.....

 

[battalion51]

I'm with OBS on this one. You will hear the same question over and over and over again, especially when passengers come in volumes. The Orlando Station, you will hear "Where do I get my bags" at least a dozen times, even when you tell them over the PA. It is impossible for the trains (as understaffed as they are) to make an announcement every time there is a minor delay. In situations where the delay is anticipated to be longer than 10 minutes an announcement is usually made. When the delay is short the passengers can usually see the answer to their question, whether it's a train passing, a Conductor walking the train, etc. they do get it. Granted I almost always know exactly what's happening, but sometimes the passengers ask the wrong people the wrong question. "Why are we stopped" to any TA, is a waste of oxygen, most of the time they have as much of a clue of what's happening as the person asking does. The T&E usually don't communicate the reason for stopping to OBS because, usually OBS doesn't care. OBS is on the clock, and they know complaining about being stopped doesn't do anything but make the situation worse. Unless a TA happens to be sitting next to the Conductor usually they won't bother to find out why they're stopping, because there's no use in finding out for them. I think that every TA and Conductor should have a radio communicate amongst themselves in case of Emergency, but few in management see the benefit. Until Amtrak creates a system where dedicated Rail Buffs are on board to provide information on delays, the route, equipment, etc. nationwide, don't hold your breath on seeing improvments. The Downeaster got it right in so many ways.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Dealing with the public can be a pain in the butt. Sure. I worked in retail sales for several years. The customer (passenger, in this case) may indeed be doing an excellent imitation of the south end of a northbound horse. But that fact is truly off topic here. The issue was leaving pax not just with nobody in charge, but with nobody, period, on a dead train in the middle of the night, for an extended period of time. That's the issue that I see to be addressed, not the stupidity of the traveling public. If a pax had a medical emergency, Amtrak would be looking at a big lawsuit. If a pax with a cellphone had gotten hold of a TV station at the time, Amtrak would have a huge bloody nose, publicity-wise. Even if those pax had paid attention to every word said to them, to everything in their ticket and ticket jacket, and had memorized every single word on every single placard and sign in the station and on the train, and every one of them was a former Eagle Scout, that would NOT have fixed this.

You are understaffed. OK. Granted. And that's bad. It makes your job a LOT more difficult. -- But you play the cards you've been dealt, or you walk away from the game. -- Blaming the passengers for being morons and hard to deal with may make you feel better from the catharsis involved in doing that, but it isn't going to address the problem on that train.

You guys are the ones that know the system. Come up with a suggestion to fix it. If anybody can, you're it. And yes the TAs generally don't know what's happening. When we're doing a train trip, I usually end up being the car's source of info since I am always listening on Road and Dispatch channels. The TAs frequently end up asking me what's happening. And I'm glad to do that. But there needed to be somebody available to those pax, on that train, and there wasn't, that night. Presumably you folks that work for Amtrak know who in the company might be best positioned to raise the alarm that this sort of thing is happening. Why don't one (or more) of you put some specific suggestions on the end of this thread, and then just print out this and some of the other threads and horror-filled travelogues, cut off the top or bottom header and footer to make sure it doesn't say who printed it, and then mail them anonymously to those people? Wear your rubber gloves if you want, to keep your prints off the paper. Include the web address so they would know how to find it, and perhaps they might even start reading this stuff and get a clue.

I like train travel. I like riding on Amtrak. I don't want it to fail. Most of the Amtrak people I've met and talked with have been just great. I put in a positive plug for Amtrak anytime I have a chance, and quite a few people have taken an Amtrak trip as a result. Am I serious about that? yes. Did I see any indication that the rant against pax was at all tongue-in-cheek? No, I didn't. And while there is certainly a good supply of pax from the lower end of the gene pool, and who deserve every last word that you said about them, many of those pax that you see as stupid are simply bewildered travelers. To them, the whole train experience is a noisy, confusing jumble. They don't know quite what to expect, what to do or when to do it, and yes, you have to do a lot of hand-holding sometimes. Did they miss reading something, or miss hearing something? Sure. Was it deliberate? No. Remember that a lot of what is announced on the PA in the cars is simply not intelligible. On a good day, many of those PA announcements (ALL of them, in some cars) come under the heading of 'I know they just said something on the PA but I'm darned if I could make out what it was'. If the pax' serious, honest questions are answered with sarcastic overbearing, are they going to buy another Amtrak ticket? Probably not. And as I see it, while the administration is looking just at the bottom line of how many $$$ Amtrak requires to keep running, it is probably the number of pax carried in each congressman or senator's district and state that will be a strong deciding factor for that person on whether they vote Amtrak to continue. If enough of their constituents ride Amtrak and have a positive experience from that ride, their elected representatives will be more likely to vote for continuing funding for it. So even the south end of a northbound horse is useful. He's one more paying pax.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

Here it is bottom line i will turn in a rude Amtrak employee to the top of the chain of command.If you can't deal with the public then you don't belong working for Amtrak.

 

[smoker]

OK. Since we have some Amtrak employees here, I have a stupid question. Why does the train pull into a station, stay for 10 minutes, yell "all aboard", rush everyone back in the train to pull 500 feet away and stop for 2 hours? Why didn't they just stay at the station where people could stretch their legs, smoke, buy stuff from the station, take pictures, etc.? :huh:

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

OK. Since we have some Amtrak employees here, I have a stupid question. Why does the train pull into a station, stay for 10 minutes, yell "all aboard", rush everyone back in the train to pull 500 feet away and stop for 2 hours? Why didn't they just stay at the station where people could stretch their legs, smoke, buy stuff from the station, take pictures, etc.? :huh:

A lot of times it's not Amtrak doing that the Freight RR,s want to get them out of the station sometimes to bring a train in behind them or let a yard job out.Thats what can happen in Lafayette LA sometimes 1 of our yard jobs needs to get to MP 144 where the station is to double over a tarin in the yard.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

OK. Since we have some Amtrak employees here, I have a stupid question. Why does the train pull into a station, stay for 10 minutes, yell "all aboard", rush everyone back in the train to pull 500 feet away and stop for 2 hours? Why didn't they just stay at the station where people could stretch their legs, smoke, buy stuff from the station, take pictures, etc.? :huh:

As stupid as it really is, they are actually pulling into the station, completing their station work, and then departing within the allowed amount of time the train has at a particular station. And then something happens (usually beyond Amtrak's control) such as a meet with a freight train, or congested trackage ahead, poor dispatching decision, etc. Yeah I truely understand your point of view as it would make more sense to dwell in the station, but I am sure some the time the operating crew is not aware of the potential situation which is about to arise. Yeah seems very silly for that occur, and then we stop, we as employees look as if we're idiots because now the train is stopped for two more hours. I feel your pain, bro!

In regard to your trip, I read your trip report. If you haven't already done so, I would raise a little hell about that. That is "absolutely unacceptable" behavior on the part of the OBS and T&E crew! One thing I realize being we are understaffed, is even though that is the case at least "somebody" could have made themselves available to the passengers during that situation. It seems to me as if the whole crew was on their downtime "at the same time!" Train attendants are supposed to stagger their downtime if there is more than one, or conductor will cover if only one train attendant on duty. In my previous postings, with my jobsite humor aside, I am merely pointing out management has the power to do what they need to. but managers need to be where they will be more resourceful. Sadly with a lot of my fellow OBS and T&E coworkers nationwide, a lot of them are just not able to work as well as they would if they had on board supervision present. And I am not talking just creating a job and appointing someone as manager just to make a new job! It is is similar to the old cliche " when the cat is out, the mice will play!" With proper supervision those employees who chose to break the service standards rules (yeah we really have one of those and it is THICK) would be less likely to do so.

I just have a feeling that whole situation would have been different had there been a manager present (a good manager that is) to delegate any needed task, make necessary decisions in regard to passenger situations. That is the main point I am trying to illustrate here, as well as throw in a little bit of workplace humor, though I guess I could have left that out. So we get frustrated with some of the situation which arise out here on the rails as well as you do. Some employees just forget who the butter on the bread is! I hope Mr. Gunn will be able to make those changes in due time. He has to undo a lot of red tape and correct many a bad decision made by his predecessors.

In closing my advice to you (if you already haven't done so) would be to write a letter to David Gunn, and explain this situation to him in full, be sure to point out any pleasurable points in your trip, but make sure you list the "main beef, " and see what where it goes. I understand Mr Gunn is pretty good about responding to his mail (may take him a little while)! I am not sure of the address he is at in WAS, though I can get it next time I make a trip and post it upon my return. Hmmmm maybe "railman" if you're reading this you might be able to post Mr Gunn's address. Good luck and hopefully you get some positive results, and you will allow Amtrak the opportunity again with future travel. Be well and stay safe........ OBS...

 

[smoker]

The only real beef I have is the long delays. Sometimes I would want the train to move so bad that I would look out of the window and hallucinate. "Are we moving?" Other people would say No, you're just imagining it! If the 2 hour stops can't be helped, then there is no other "real beef". The only reason we were looking for Amtrak staff in the first place was to find out why we weren't moving? when will we move again? etc.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

re parking the train at the station for an hour or two instead of off in the boonies, another thing you have to consider is that if you park it at the station, you usually are blocking one (or several) grade crossings, blocking vehicular traffic, for the entire time you are sitting there, and NO municipality is going to look kindly on that. In a lot of locations, that's not just a nuisance, it is literally a life-and-death safety issue in that it prevents police, fire, rescue, and ambulances from responding to an emergency, and prevents an ambulance from delivering an injured person to a hospital. It also creates huge ill will directed at Amtrak from all those drivers. And from the person whose Papa John's pizza might get cold waiting for the crossing to clear so they can deliver it. The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again.

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

re parking the train at the station for an hour or two instead of off in the boonies, another thing you have to consider is that if you park it at the station, you usually are blocking one (or several) grade crossings, blocking vehicular traffic, for the entire time you are sitting there, and NO municipality is going to look kindly on that. In a lot of locations, that's not just a nuisance, it is literally a life-and-death safety issue in that it prevents police, fire, rescue, and ambulances from responding to an emergency, and prevents an ambulance from delivering an injured person to a hospital. It also creates huge ill will directed at Amtrak from all those drivers. And from the person whose Papa John's pizza might get cold waiting for the crossing to clear so they can deliver it. The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again.

Good point! I was lucky to be present (if you wanna say lucky) when a long mixed freight got stopped at the North end of WPK double track and the engines shut down. The train was soooo long it extended all the way across Fairbanks Ave to the South of the station. Boy what a big headache that caused as well as ill will toward CSX! They even made the news that day!! People were livid, but who can blame them?

 

[Amtrak OBS Employee]

The only real beef I have is the long delays.
The only reason we were looking for Amtrak staff in the first place was to find out why we weren't moving? when will we move again? etc.

That is just about everyone's problem with train travel to some extent. It should be more reliable!

But "somebody" should have been available to y'all. If a manager had been present on the crew, only those who were supposed to be on their down time would have been gone. At least one OBS person would be available. A conductor should be available, too. I just feel this situation may not have played out this way had some management supervision been involved. I left management in my old job, but I believe fully in supervision on "all" shifts, hence why I worked both day and night shifts as a manager.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

The only real beef I have is the long delays.
The only reason we were looking for Amtrak staff in the first place was to find out why we weren't moving? when will we move again? etc.  

That is just about everyone's problem with train travel to some extent. It should be more reliable!

But "somebody" should have been available to y'all. If a manager had been present on the crew, only those who were supposed to be on their down time would have been gone. At least one OBS person would be available. A conductor should be available, too. I just feel this situation may not have played out this way had some management supervision been involved. I left management in my old job, but I believe fully in supervision on "all" shifts, hence why I worked both day and night shifts as a manager.

The MGT out of NOL only cares about the trains getting over the RD and the 2nd is the passengers which is a bunch of crap it needs to be the other way around.