Rail passenger tech

mtuandrew wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 4:08 pm “Proceed to position A to board coach 1.” Or “...business car A” or “sleeping car C” or for Acela, “FirstClass car 1.” Even if the crew is arbitrary about where they seat you, they’ll have to at least assign you a car before the train arrives.

This functionality could provide a foundation for Amtrak to enable user-selectable seating.

Talk about thread drift- this one induces whiplash.

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:27 pm

Tadman wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:25 am It would be nice if they quit using that esoteric car numbering system and posted the consist order at stations, as most trains rarely deviate. The Chief is almost always P/P/Bag/Trans/Sleeper/Sleeper/Diner/Lounge/Coach/Coach. Instead of using "car 0351" they could use "car M".

How about a notification saying "Board train by track position E"? "Board train from 5th car from engines"?

This is one of those situations where anything but the present solution is a good idea. The car numbering system is so esoteric that it has to be a carryover from Pullman time and it's another sign that management never really rides the trains with a critical eye to offerings and service levels. It would be like United Airlines telling us to board airplanes by tail number.

Imagine that, you get a boarding pass for New York to Chicago and it says N476UA, and then you get to walk around Liberty for an hour trying to spot a tail number. About ten minutes before boarding they tell you a gate number. Then once aboard they start moving you around.

I downloaded the NYP app on my droid and it works pretty slick. I plan on taking the LSL out of Penn to Chicago in a few weeks and I've been tracking which tracks it departs from so I now have a good idea where to go as I'm not to familiar with Penn. The GPS tracking will also help me navigate in an unfamiliar station.