by Tadman
Roadgeek Adam wrote:I think it's a job security thing, IE "If we don't actively do active things actively, we'll be perceived as not useful and let go". What they're totally missing is the balance of safety and customer service. If you make 100-200 people cram into a narrow staircase, how the F is that safe? It's awful. If you boss people around all morning when, fifty miles down the railroad is an unmanned platform with nobody bossing passengers around, we get tired of it.Tadman wrote:Those mid-level Amshacks, similar to Detroit, have two failings: One, they were cheaply built and look like garbage with any level of use after 20-30 years. Two, they are not that great for more than 20 people to board at a time. Detroit fills with 100+ people for many trains and it doesn't work so hot. You have wall-to-wall people and a narrow stairway to get them all to the train. Of course, stations with attendants feel it's unsafe to let passengers up until the train rolls in, so we jam everybody into the darn stairway. Talk about unsafe.The station attendants sometimes take this much too seriously. Albany-Rensselaer comes to mind. I get safety, but man, it would be nice to stand on the platforms to wait for the train rather than be herded like cows.
Of course, the grand daddy of mid-size station problems is Staples Mill. You get 3-5 trains in about the same hour each evening and it's a s***-show, all in the same size building.
Anyway, hopefully these antiquated Amshacks go the way of the dodo. They are making progress, just not enough yet.
This is also where the third-party operator thing kicks in. If a third party bid on the Michigan operation, perhaps they would figure out a better station arrangement.
The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.
