Amtrak's Most Disappointing City Station

MACTRAXX wrote:Interloafer and Agent Skelly: I remember Schenectady well from the 80s-You have an interesting Downtown area with places like Proctor's Theatre and neighborhoods like the Stockade District. I also recall the large GE plants there-how are things there today? I like Amtrak's location there...

Well, the crime issue that I previously mentioned shifted as I recall more eastward and perhaps southward. And even then, its not where murders happen. The area around that station now is full restaurants, bars, stores and apartment buildings.

When I used to take the Maple Leaf monthly to Toronto, the conductor I used to always have a quick 10 minute chat with mentioned to me he was once told that Schenectady's station was designed with the idea that it would last only 10 years before it was replaced.

neroden wrote:Beaumont, Texas: a crumbling slab of concrete with no shelter, and no proper platform. People should be surprised that trains actually stop there.

http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/beaumont.htm

Beaumont is getting a new gabled roof and shelter. "Just don't go there too far ahead of the train with a full bladder. The design for the new $1.2 million station near 11th and West Cedar streets lacks restrooms."
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/ ... 73179.html

Traffic at the station may pick up when the Sunset goes from thrice-weekly service to daily.

Here's an easy one: Framingham. It has no structure which you can go inside of and wait for your train, as it's a restaurant. It's also unstaffed. It makes no sense that the LSL stops there, because it's an MBTA stop. If you want to get to Framingham, you should get off at Worcester, and wait for an inbound train.

njt/mnrrbuff wrote:How safe is the neighborgood around Schenectady?

The area is pretty safe. I used to work there on the Adirondack from Harmon. There were plenty of nice places to eat and the Union College campus was nice to walk around.

Rochester, NY needs some serious upgrading (like how about fixing the giant rot hole in the viaduct over N. Clinton Ave.). The Station's parking lot gives an air of total insecurity, the station's interior is useless and ill-conceived. Passengers can spend hours waiting there if there's a delay, but there's no where nearby to go to get food or drink other than the vending machines. I'm not sure at all what they're going to do with the money they just got that's supposed to be for station upgrades. No one seems to have any concrete knowledge yet.

For a close runner-up in my book, Croton-Harmon (Croton-on-Hudson, NY). I know it isn't an Amtrak owned station, but it doesn't serve Amtrak well at all, which considering every Amtrak train running between Albany and NYP stops there, is an issue. Considered the worst "important station" in MNRR's portfolio (by the MNRR forum here), the station leaves a lot to be desired. The station facilities are cramped, the platform that Amtrak uses is too narrow for people with baggage to navigate. The elevators are impossible to get to if you have bags, if they even work (I got trapped in one for 20 minutes once. The emergency call box connected me to a fax modem line.). There's no checked baggage service for the LSL passengers. So even if you're coming all the way from Chicago, you'll have to drag all your bags on with you, cause they can't handle them for you at the station. For non-village residents who wish to park longterm, you're going to have to walk quite some distance between your car and the station. It's probably best if you just forget about parking and find a ride or get a taxi to the station.

I had forgotten about Croton-Harmon. It has all the charm and feel of a commuter station: if it were located in a former Eastern Block nation.

And the cell service there sucks. Those of us who go through there frequently often expect to lose connections entering or leaving the station.

Definitely could use some improvement.

I have to agree that the Miami Amtrak station is poorly located. No connection to Tri Rail or Metrorail, only cabs and it is not in a neighborhood that I would want to walk in.The old FEC station was at least located downtown. Hopefully, the new station at the airport will be a big improvement.

Mcoov wrote:Here's an easy one: Framingham. It has no structure which you can go inside of and wait for your train, as it's a restaurant. It's also unstaffed. It makes no sense that the LSL stops there, because it's an MBTA stop. If you want to get to Framingham, you should get off at Worcester, and wait for an inbound train.

Once worcester train service expands to 20 trains a day in 2012, this may very well be an option.

From what I understand, Amtrak has stopped in Framinham since before the MBTA served Worcester. MBTA then began serving worcester with peak trains, then all day trains + weekends, and soon, 20 trains a day. Once MBTA service is reliable, I think Amtrak may be comfortable abandoning framingham.

Penn Central wrote:I have to agree that the Miami Amtrak station is poorly located. No connection to Tri Rail or Metrorail, only cabs and it is not in a neighborhood that I would want to walk in.The old FEC station was at least located downtown. Hopefully, the new station at the airport will be a big improvement.

I agree that the present Amtrak passenger station that serves Miami is kind of seedy BUT I do not think an airport facility
will be much of an improvement. I would much rather see them build a station downtown in the general area of where we
left on the special Saturday, May 1st past. That location was on the Miami Metro-Rail system and would be a decent
location for connections to the port as well as not too far from the beach as well.
I for one do not believe that a passenger station needs to be miles from the center of town just because the airport is
there. I hate to think what people using Amtrak would have to pay to park at a facility located at the airport.
Noel Weaver

I for one do not believe that a passenger station needs to be miles from the center of town just because the airport is
there. I hate to think what people using Amtrak would have to pay to park at a facility located at the airport.

One advantage of rail over air is precisely that in most cities rail begins in the city, not the outskirts. Buffalo please note.

To expand on what a previous poster stated, Framingham used to be the end of the line for the MBTA, so a stop there made sense. Now that there is commuter service to Worcester, the Framingham stop is a bit redundant.