Should more small town & rural stations be built for Amtrak?

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Northwestern

Lead Service Attendant
AU Supporting Member
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Jan 3, 2022
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I was thinking about one big advantage of Amtrak or the passenger train, over commercial airline flights, is that you can board and detrain in small or rural cities and towns. With all the hassle and inconvenience of big city airports, the TSA quagmire, parking, and growing safety concerns regarding travelling to a big city, small town Amtrak depots, I think, have a growing attraction. Also with the airline "hub" system, to fly from A to B you often have to fly A-C-B which is timely and undesired in many cases.

I would like to see more small Amtrak stations enhance and expand their parking facilities and have secured parking, if possible. Try to replace platforms with an overhead building, with some amenities inside. Have car rental desks inside the station if possible (well, maybe not in Chemult, OR).

Population trends are anti-urban. More people are moving from a city or suburb to smaller towns, or leaving large populated states for more rural states. I think boarding trains in small stations and depots may become much more prevalent.
 
Northwestern said:
Population trends are anti-urban. More people are moving from a city or suburb to smaller towns, or leaving large populated states for more rural states. I think boarding trains in small stations and depots may become much more prevalent.
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As example is if I lived in NE section outside of Atlanta's city I would rather board a northbound Crescent at Gainesville GA.
 
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west point said:
As example is if I leved in NE section outside of Atlanta's city I would rather board a northbound Crescent at Gainesville GA.
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This is an idea worth exploring, but obstacles include specific traffic features and customer knowledge.

It helps if there is some sort of barrier to easy travel into the central city's train station. Vancouver, Washington has always been a strong point due to the traffic on the Interstate Bridge. Oregon City has never been as well-patronized. That was true of Greyhound through the early 70's, too.

Some years ago I was on a research trip in Germany and found that I could get by train almost within walking distance of a small town near Braunschweig. My contact insisted on picking me up at the Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof. She didn't know about the nearby station.
 
Willbridge said:
This is an idea worth exploring, but obstacles include specific traffic features and customer knowledge.

It helps if there is some sort of barrier to easy travel into the central city's train station. Vancouver, Washington has always been a strong point due to the traffic on the Interstate Bridge. Oregon City has never been as well-patronized. That was true of Greyhound through the early 70's, too.

Some years ago I was on a research trip in Germany and found that I could get by train almost within walking distance of a small town near Braunschweig. My contact insisted on picking me up at the Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof. She didn't know about the nearby station.
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I would like to see, on the Amtrak website, one-click station information with regard to location, how to get there, nearby streets, a photo of the station, etc. Also, whether or not it is a manned station and if it has baggage service. Maybe nearby cafes and restaurants in walking distance. Something like the Goggle map insets you see at many hotel and motel websites.
 
Northwestern said:
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I would like to see, on the Amtrak website, one-click station information with regard to location, how to get there, nearby streets, a photo of the station, etc. Also, whether or not it is a manned station and if it has baggage service. Maybe nearby cafes and restaurants in walking distance. Something like the Goggle map insets you see at many hotel and motel websites.
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Most of that is already there:
1703007033596.png
Gives this:

1703007889746.png

All they need to add is a link to view the map in Google Maps, where hotels & directions could be easily accessed. On other websites, I've seen it labeled "View larger map".
 
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joelkfla said:
I suppose not. But I don't know of any more reliable source, and they don't publish station phone numbers.
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Since the stations do not move all that often, once the URL to Google Map for a station is set up, there is not much maintenance to be done, until the station moves that is, so this linkage to a larger map with more information may be quite feasible. many hotels do this quite regularly on their web sites.

As usual, you always fight the battle with the Army that you have, not with the Army you wish you had.
 
On the train itself---On my wish list is 2 or 3 illuminated depot signs in script large enough to be read from, say, 50' at night. Many stops include signs that are unreadable from the train night or day. It is frustrating to be looking out the window and to have zero sense of where the train has stopped or slowed. And why not have a vestibule map of progress--like on airplanes. Or even a map of the train route with scheduled stops marked on the map?
 
Jdub said:
On the train itself---On my wish list is 2 or 3 illuminated depot signs in script large enough to be read from, say, 50' at night. Many stops include signs that are unreadable from the train night or day. It is frustrating to be looking out the window and to have zero sense of where the train has stopped or slowed. And why not have a vestibule map of progress--like on airplanes. Or even a map of the train route with scheduled stops marked on the map?
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At one time, the the Cascades trains had a TV monitor in a some of their cars. It displayed the route the train was on and it showed exactly where the train was, with depots and station stops displayed, and an estimated time of arrival for the next stop.
 
Jdub said:
On the train itself---On my wish list is 2 or 3 illuminated depot signs in script large enough to be read from, say, 50' at night. Many stops include signs that are unreadable from the train night or day. It is frustrating to be looking out the window and to have zero sense of where the train has stopped or slowed. And why not have a vestibule map of progress--like on airplanes. Or even a map of the train route with scheduled stops marked on the map?
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I'd guess there is about a 90% chance the new Aero trains, the Acela 2's and the new LD's will all have such displays, and they may even be correct for a while. Just need to be patient for a few years.
 
When the hubby and I were going to ride the Lincoln Service/Missouri River Runner to its endpoint at Kansas City a couple months ago, I found a PDF of the schedule which included a route map of the Missouri River Runner portion. Very "Department of Tourism", with a brief paragraph on the major attractions at each stop, and a link to the local Visitors Bureau/Chamber of Commerce for each town. We found that route map especially useful on the westbound Missouri River Runner, as much of the Missouri portion of the trip was after sunset, which made the station signs difficult to see.
 
Northwestern said:
At one time, the the Cascades trains had a TV monitor in a some of their cars. It displayed the route the train was on and it showed exactly where the train was, with depots and station stops displayed, and an estimated time of arrival for the next stop.
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It is nice to know what towns are along the route you are taking and where you are at at any specific time. In the past I’ve taken a small travel GPS for automobiles that not only tells you where you’re at, also what town are near by along with what is available at those location. I like pulling into a station and seeing the name of a town I’ve only heard of and will probably never get to visit, but feel satisfied I’ve been there. Living on the west coast, Poughkeepsie comes to mind.
 
I use an old Garmin automotive GPS, stuck to the window and plugged in to power, for real-time speed and location, plus it records a detailed trip log that I can upload to my laptop at home. I try to keep it plugged in and near the window all night to capture the entire trip. A plus is that it highlights previously traveled routes, so the Silver Star & Silver Meteor tracks stand out. For satisfying my curiosity of what's in the area, I like Google Maps.
 
Dublin wants an Amtrak stops. Why giving one to it and other suburbs, town would be bad.

I think one of the great benefits of Amtrak is the ability to board and detrain in small towns and cities. What if Amtrak long distance trains prevented stops in small towns? Could there be a compromise? Have normal stops one day, then a 2nd Amtrak train with express or limited stops the next day. How about a limited stop Amtrak train resembling one of the overnight European trains such as the OBB Nightjet or the Caledonian Sleeper?
 
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The small town 'station stops are a real problem now. ADA makes it another ball game way too costly. Somehow ADA for small stations might need some kind of dispensation as the alternative is no station stop.

An alternate would be one or 2 cars that have a full wheel chair lift. But still the station would need proper ADA access from a parking lot/ Not cheap 200k -300k best case wore case $??? The problem of no structure that would interfere with freight cars especially high Wides.
 
With onboard equipment, flag stops could be considered an ADA improvement. Maybe even a source of grants. One of the views, by the way, out of the train window between WAS and the Long Bridge to Virginia is the nine story DC Department on Disability Services building.
 

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