I'll just note that there are a number of posts in this thread http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/65826-chicago-union-station-canal-st-entrance-closed/page-2 that also deal with the new Metropolitan Lounge.
I'm in the lounge, waiting to board the SWC and overheard the lounge attendant tell someone that the target date for the opening of the new lounge is June 1. Of course, everyone knows it's likely not going to happen then, but that's the information they are giving out fwiw.Wow, I guess if they're putting signs up in the station, they must be serious about Summer 2016. I wonder if that means June, August, or a year from next December...
That isn't what that CZ sign is saying. Look at it as two columns, one column showing the points served, the other is showing the consist. On the CZ, you would have had an actual reseved seat. The consist is there so people would have an idea of where their assigned car was in the train. The buffet-lounge was not the car to board it you were getting off at Denver.Look at the photo of that old sign, telling you which car numbers to board for each destination. Think maybe Amtrak could do that instead of making everyone ask the conductor? *Sigh*
I'm going to be travelling in May. Unfortunately "Summer" sounds like they won't have the new Metro Lounge open by then. :-(
Anyway, good news. For personal reasons -- I regularly travel on the Lake Shore Limited with a mobility-impaired girlfriend -- I hope that the relocation of the Metro Lounge will be followed immediately by the preliminary work for the repurposing of the steam tunnel and mail platforms. The entrance for that is planned to go right in the middle of the desk and bathrooms of the current Metropolitan Lounge. So it would make sense to build that entrance before opening up the former Metro Lounge space to coach passengers, just to avoid refinishing the area twice, even if it then has to be mothballed until additional work is completed.
Could have phrased that better, in my opinion - I'd speculate that "we" are probably more attentive and less likely to make messes than the average passenger.Now if you would like to talk about how some of you treat the lounge, onboard toilets and showers - many of you leave things very dumpy.
Unless there are more reports of this, I have to assume this was a one-time mix up of sorts.As I posted recently, when I passed through CUS in July, I went into the Legacy Club and was asked to show my ticket. When I did, I was politely turned away and referred to the Metropolitan Lounge. I was told that as an Amtrak sleeper passenger, I would have to use the ML and not Legacy.
I'm going to be a bit snide about the timeline -- Amtrak did initially say the Metro Lounge would move in 2013 -- but I always say "Better late than never!"My reply to snide remarks = much work has been done recently to Union Station in a timely fashion. Master Plan was shown publicly in 2011 - some of that work is being completed now. I do not have any way to confirm what I'm about to say - but if a conversation I overheard was what I think it was about - work on new Metropolitan Lounge started awhile back. Overheard a conversation with head of lounge with I assume a higher up about how woodwork was progressing.
I understand your point.For all it is worth, I use the lounge in Chicago once or twice a year. Not a great place, not a terrible place. If the weather is nice and the arriving train was not too late, I try to drop my bags and get outside. Some days and times it can get pretty crowded. But no business is going to build a facility too much larger than it needs to be just so it seems uncrowded. As a passenger I would welcome that, as a manager I would cringe. Airline load factor used to average in the 50-60 % range, now 80-85 % is common. There are lightly flown flights, but they are rare, and usually involve positioning a plane, maintaining presence in a market, connections to higher profit routes, or political purposes. We will get a larger somewhat more comfortable lounge, but it is doubtful that it will be too empty at peak periods.
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