We carry a can of Lysol and a roll of paper towels as part of our standard packup for LD trips. I have a collapsible wand for washing my windows. I've sent date/timestamped pix of filthy conditions I have encountered to AMTRAK HQ. Micturition into the prevailing breeze, I know, but maybe - just maybe - one day someone will take notice and act. Hope springs eternal and all that.
For some reason travel vloggers always seem to leave this part out, but if I was one of them I'd get a bright light and point it where the service don't shine.
Except, as you mentioned, all modes of transport have this problem, including rental cars, and certainly most people's personal cars.
. So one should stay home, except that I've read that most home kitchens (certainly mine! ) wouldn't pass a health department inspection.
My Grandmother would have said they were raised by wolves. That is of course totally unfair ... to wolves.
The worst airplanes and rental cars I've seen were cleaner than the average Amtrak sleeper compartment. I have seen hotels worse than Amtrak, but those were two locations out of hundreds and we left as soon as we saw the state they were in. In Glengarry Glen Ross Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) starts a sales monologue with the phrase "All train compartments smell vaguely of [excrement]. It gets so you don't mind it. That's the worst thing that I can confess."Except, as you mentioned, all modes of transport have this problem, including rental cars, and certainly most people's personal cars.
I think we are exaggerating juuuust a little. For the last three years, in the sleepers, conditions have gotten better, and frakly, I;ve had no real issues. The heads downstairs on the Superliners are generally pretty clean, and I've had nothing really jump out at me other than one particular head which MUST have been visited by a psyhcopath "marking his territory". Oddly enough, I rode the same car on the return trip the next day and it sparkled. The Chicago cleaners do a prety good job.
That's actually brilliant! Have to look on Amazon for one of those for my next trip. Hope you enjoyed your time in Bolivia!
I believe the movie quote refers to the en suite and I've had some pretty filthy experiences now and then. I think it has to do with SL's not being designed for retention systems, esp. at higher elevation. If we ignore the worst and focus on the most common experience a typical Amtrak roomette reminds me of the discount dollar cinemas of my youth. They were okay at surface level but if you shined a bright enough light in a wrong enough area watch out.
Bolivia? Not been there. Brazil, yes, and the aircraft accident was in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. Other than that untoward happenstance, I enjoyed Brazil. I missed being born there by 10 days.
I've seen people ejected from trains several times, but never a service animal. It is insulting that AMTRAK will not allow a comfort break for these wonderful animals, especially in traveling with a thoughtful handler, as you appear to be.
New locomotive engines that can handle N Dakota and Montana winters. New coaches sleeper cars dining cars and sightseer lounges. Expand routes in the Midwest "flyover" zones. Hire and train more on board staff and mechanic staff. Convince Congress to subsidize Amtrak at a criticality sustainable level.
Require Amtrak management to meet their national requirement to provide transportation to all Americans.
with our govt running huge deficits, Amtrak needs to Reduce losses. Not saying profitable.
Amtrak's budget is basically a rounding error compared to the overall budget. If we are worried about the deficit (as we should be) there are other places to look at first. I will not go any further with this given that is gets away from Amtrak and into politics.
In the context of a multi-trillion-dollar Federal budget, the operating losses at Amtrak are chump change. Kind of like the nickels and dimes that fall out ofd my pockets when changing clothes. Sometimes I don't even bother to bend down and pick them up. Congress has now enacted revisions to the Amtrak laws that state that Amtrak doesn't need to make a profit. This is reasonable. Do the Interstate highways/waterways/airports "make a profit?" Does the United States Marine Corps "make a profit?" We feel that Passenger rail is a public good that provides benefits, financial and otherwise, to the Nation. While, of course, the service should be provided in a financially responsible manner, the idea that it needs to be "profitable" is silly.
These are indeed interesting, and perhaps we should all be reading the relevant reports before pontificating on subjects covered by the reports.
if the routes are popular, raise fares.
