Anyone who reads this blog (or follows me on Twitter or follows my page on Facebook or has spent more than five minutes talk to me) knows that I am a huge fan of Amtrak. It’s anti-flying: slow travel that requires no jumping through hoops created by the TSA, no forfeiture of your bottle water (or bottle of wine), &, when traveling into New York City, no $50 taxi ride into the city.
I will admit that I’ve gotten very lucky during my Amtrak travels to avoid their legendary delays. I’ve heard of people delayed hours, even double-digit hours, on the longer routes. But the NYC-DC route usually runs like clockwork. The conductors are always pleasant, the wifi usually works well (especially on the Acela route), & the passengers are always a great mix of students, young professionals, & others enjoying not being on an airplane.
Except when it’s not.
Last weekend was one of those not times. Actually, the first not time I’ve ever experienced on Amtrak. I won’t go into a long, detailed complaining post, as who really wants to read about someone whining – you can head over to Twitter if you want all the details. The train was late arriving at Penn Station, so we were all boarded quickly, ready to leave, when they decided to swap engines, & when we rolled out of the station an hour late, it was stifling hot on the train. As people complained about the heat, the conductor told everyone there was “nothing they could do.” I questioned further & was told that the temperature was set at the train’s departure point (Boston) & that it was much colder in Boston than in NYC. So we’d have to “deal with the heat.” Four hours of sweating later, on a train with no working Internet, we arrived in DC an hour late.
What struck me was not the mechanical delay (these things happen), but the staff’s indifference to both how uncomfortably hot it was on the train (the explanation doesn’t even make SENSE!) & how late we were. This isn’t the Amtrak I’ve grown to know & love. It made me wonder if the country’s only national train system is moving in the wrong direction? Maybe their staff is being cut due to the sequester? Maybe the staff was just hot & cranky like the rest of us? I was left with a bad taste in my mouth which, all in all, is not the end of the world. I got home to DC safely & only an hour late. But I didn’t arrive relaxed & caught up on work, which is how I usually do after an Amtrak trip.
This one instance won’t turn me off from train travel, but I’ll definitely approach my next trip with a feeling of skepticism. Hopefully next time, I’ll be able to write a glowing review like this one.
I’m a big fan of AMTRAK too! To bad that Phoenix doesn’t even have rail service. The closest station is in the suburb of Maricopa, which is actually where I live… The problem is there are only 1 or 2 departures a day and I think they leave pretty late at night.
I’ve taken AMTRAK many times from Chicago and St. Louis to various places in Illinois. I agree I love how you can just get on a train just minutes after arriving at the station and no TSA!
Also, the trains are so relaxing even the older ones they use. However, the Chicago to St. Louis track is being upgraded which will be nice. But anyways long comment, but I wish Phoenix would have more rail service. I think I’d actually use it.
Thanks for your comment, Bryan! I shouldn’t complain because I know that I’m so lucky to actually have Amtrak service where I live. I could basically travel the whole country getting on a train on DC. I hope they continue to improve and aren’t sliding downward.
Seeing the photo of the railway station and woes about Amtrak, I am now feeling less disappointed by the railway system in my own country:P(It’s India by the way). But amidst all of this, I am not quite clear of one thing- Why do you travel by train at all ? It takes more time, gives less comfort and most importantly, it can be traumatising if you haven’t got in there for the purpose of joyride!
I don’t pretend for a minute that our rail system woes are anything like what you guys deal with! Your rail system is definitely more extensive than ours as well.
You raise a good question: why take the train at all? For a relatively short distance, like from DC to NYC, the train is a good option for two main reasons: you can work on the train (with free wifi and the ability to make and take cell phone calls) and the train goes from the city center of DC to the city center of NYC. Usually everything moves more smoothly than flying as well :)
well, if you are happy with it, then who am i to interfere? :) And yes, I agree taking cell phones calls is really important at times.
Christina, I am also an Amtrak groupie, but I certainly think we would all benefit by a breakup of this national conglomerate. Isn’t there a process for breaking up this company into smaller ones, or opening up the market to other companies. I wonder if it’s that Amtrak is so entrenched. Or maybe their monopoly is seen as conducive to infrastructure. In any case, though I’ve had my share of delays on them, I still find that trains in general (in working order and running upon a soundly cared for network) are the safest and cheapest way to travel.
In the UK we’ve privatised the rail network and the results haven’t been as good as hoped. I think the trains are probably cleaner and slightly more punctual but the fares are far too high. I like to travel by train but it isn’t always cost effective.