Weekend v. Weekday Travel

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Cali

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I'm looking to book a trip and I am trying to decide whether to travel over the weekend (departing Saturday) or during the weekday (departing Tuesday). I'll be traveling cross-country on two long distance trains: the Capitol Limited and SW Chief.

I understand that by traveling such a long distance, even if I depart on a weekend, I will reach my destination on a weekday, but I'm looking to see if folks have ever noticed a difference in the quality of service or on-time arrival when traveling on a weekend vs. a weekday.
 
Railroads are 24/7 operations and freight traffic doesn't drop on weekends, so there is not much difference in delays. Coming into large cities such as Chicago, there can be a difference because the commuter train schedules are a lot lighter, so an out-of-slot long distance train doesn't have to fight the commuter trains, which are given priority.

There is no difference in quality of service.
 
Cali said:
I'm looking to book a trip and I am trying to decide whether to travel over the weekend (departing Saturday) or during the weekday (departing Tuesday). I'll be traveling cross-country on two long distance trains: the Capitol Limited and SW Chief. I understand that by traveling such a long distance, even if I depart on a weekend, I will reach my destination on a weekday, but I'm looking to see if folks have ever noticed a difference in the quality of service or on-time arrival when traveling on a weekend vs. a weekday.
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In my experience the specific day of the week rarely has any direct influence on service or performance. Most large railroads operate 24/7 and most freight loads take more than a day to reach their final destination. This results in nearly every day and night having roughly equal importance to any other. Your experience is more likely to be impacted by seasonal factors such as passenger loads, freight loads, and track maintenance which are generally measured in months rather than days. There are also sudden events like mudslides, fires, blizzards, washouts, etc. which are hard to anticipate in the context of a weekday or weekend.

Generally the summer months are busier so you're likely to be competing with more passengers for the staff's attention. The winter months are more likely to have timekeeping issues. This goes double for the weeks which surround major holidays and risk incurring both fates. If you're departing from a major city then reaching a downtown train station may be easier on a Sunday than a Monday by car but easier on a Monday by bus or commuter rail. In general over all the years I've traveled Amtrak there's never been enough of a distinction between weekdays and weekends for me to go out of my way to request one or avoid the other based on factors such as service levels or timekeeping.
 
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Seems to me that the low bucket fares last longer in Tuesday through Thursday departures. At least that's the way it's seemed to me surfing Amsnag.

Zephyr17 is absolutely right about late weekend trains avoiding slotting problems among commuter trains. It's exhilarating to ride No. 6 from Naperville in to Chicago Union Station without slowing down for a Metra.
 
As others have said, railroads operate 24/7 so there is not a major difference between weekday vs weekend. A difference I've noticed is that there's somewhat less delays over holiday periods, like July 4.
 
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True, but when things slow down for the hosts even a little bit, the first thing they do is reduce as much Sat/Sun work as possible to reduce overtime and weekend shift pay. SO, in theory, weekend trips on Amtrak should perform better.
 
Whenever I need to travel, but can do so flexibly, I check Wednesdays first. It tends to be a lower-traffic day for the airlines, and results in lower-bucket fares. I've noticed the same trend on Amtrak. Mid-week travel is usually a good bet for snagging lower-bucket fares.
 
On long-distance routes, there is no difference, but if you're traveling in places like the Northeast Corridor, you'll see a big difference in the type of traveler on weekdays and weekends....business or commuter, versus leisure, if that matters at all to you....
 
VentureForth said:
True, but when things slow down for the hosts even a little bit, the first thing they do is reduce as much Sat/Sun work as possible to reduce overtime and weekend shift pay. SO, in theory, weekend trips on Amtrak should perform better.
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Overtime is based on time over eight hours a day. Or sixth start starts overtime pay. Working on Saturday or Sunday does not get overtime because it is Saturday or Sunday.
 
But! Weekends can be immune to certain large scale track work projects. The curfew for the CL wasn't a thing over the weekends when they were daylighting that tunnel.
 
In the office environment, OT is anything over 40 hours in one week. I can work 7 hours one day (in order to go to a dr.'s appt) and then 9 hours another day and I won't get OT for the 9 hour day if my total hours for the week <=40.
 
AmtrakBlue said:
In the office environment, OT is anything over 40 hours in one week. I can work 7 hours one day (in order to go to a dr.'s appt) and then 9 hours another day and I won't get OT for the 9 hour day if my total hours for the week <=40.
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This is different in different states of the U.S. -- in California, that 9th hour would be considered overtime, regardless of your weekly total.
 
Many companies have what is called Seven Day Coverage, in which the company pays those employees

an additional premium, usually 10%, for the employees who work on cycle shifts that includes Saturday

and Sunday. They work 40 hours for which they are paid a 10% bonus on all the hours worked.
 
The Lake Shore Limited usually faces a smaller delay on weekends than on weekdays. This I believe is also true for the LD and MD trains on the Atlantic Coast Line.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum
 
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Our store pays overtime beyond 8 hours per day. We also get a premium for each hour worked on Sunday and an additional premium if you work evening hours. I do both so get both premiums. It doesn't amount to much, pocket change basically but it's better than a gouge in the eye or a kick in the butt, both of which I've experienced. :lol:
 
While the railroads may be 24/7, many of their customers are not.

I've noticed distinct drop-offs in freight traffic in some locations on weekends. This is particularly easy to see on holiday weekends, where limited numbers of cars need to be delivered somewhere on Monday.
 
trainman74 said:
AmtrakBlue said:
In the office environment, OT is anything over 40 hours in one week. I can work 7 hours one day (in order to go to a dr.'s appt) and then 9 hours another day and I won't get OT for the 9 hour day if my total hours for the week <=40.
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This is different in different states of the U.S. -- in California, that 9th hour would be considered overtime, regardless of your weekly total.
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Really? That's the first I heard of that. And I had worked the 5-4-9 plan for years.
 
Yeah, California has some good worker friendly laws. I think that anything over 12 also has to be paid out at double time (or at least it used to be that way, I interned for a company in college that had a CA office, so they paid everyone by that rule set, it was great).
 
I don't disagree that employees that are scheduled to work on Saturdays and Sundays as part of their 5-day week don't get overtime. My point (which was told to me by an Amtrak employee on a weekend trip that was going exceptionally smooth) was that MOST of the railroad employees work M-F and when they are busy, they are ADDED (with OT) to the weekend shifts.

When things are slow, only the baseline weekend-scheduled employees are working. Thus, when things slow down, the first thing the company wants to do is reduce the 6th day OT.
 
DesertRat said:
trainman74 said:
AmtrakBlue said:
In the office environment, OT is anything over 40 hours in one week. I can work 7 hours one day (in order to go to a dr.'s appt) and then 9 hours another day and I won't get OT for the 9 hour day if my total hours for the week <=40.
Click to expand...
This is different in different states of the U.S. -- in California, that 9th hour would be considered overtime, regardless of your weekly total.
Click to expand...
Really? That's the first I heard of that. And I had worked the 5-4-9 plan for years.
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Nope, this is true in California provided the employee is private sector non-exempt and not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. OT begins on the 9th hour or if 9 hours aren't worked in a day the 41st hour for a week.
 
VentureForth said:
I don't disagree that employees that are scheduled to work on Saturdays and Sundays as part of their 5-day week don't get overtime. My point (which was told to me by an Amtrak employee on a weekend trip that was going exceptionally smooth) was that MOST of the railroad employees work M-F and when they are busy, they are ADDED (with OT) to the weekend shifts.

When things are slow, only the baseline weekend-scheduled employees are working. Thus, when things slow down, the first thing the company wants to do is reduce the 6th day OT.
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Amtrak employees who work on trains don't have any baselines. Most don't work M-F jobs.
 
HAL said:
VentureForth said:
I don't disagree that employees that are scheduled to work on Saturdays and Sundays as part of their 5-day week don't get overtime. My point (which was told to me by an Amtrak employee on a weekend trip that was going exceptionally smooth) was that MOST of the railroad employees work M-F and when they are busy, they are ADDED (with OT) to the weekend shifts.

When things are slow, only the baseline weekend-scheduled employees are working. Thus, when things slow down, the first thing the company wants to do is reduce the 6th day OT.
Click to expand...
Amtrak employees who work on trains don't have any baselines. Most don't work M-F jobs.
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I wasn't talking about Amtrak employees. I was talking about how railroad employees not working on weekends when freight traffic is slowest allows Amtrak to run closer to schedule.
 
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