Destaffed Stations

During the Amtrak era how many and which stations have been destaffed? How many employees were affected and will Amtrak restaff these station again? This also goes to stations that lost service like from the Desert Wind, Palmetto, Three Rivers and Pioneer.

I was wondering this myself because the Amsterdam, NY station is not staffed but if you go into the waiting area, there is ticket window and juding by the building, it was built in the 1950s, but I can't find anything to tell me when it was de-staffed.

Stations in Vermont, that serviced the Vermonter, used to have station agents, who would sell tickets and assist with baggage etc. That train lost its staffed station service in Vermont, along with the baggage car some time around 2002 I believe. Now the stations in Vermonts have caretakers, which at least open up the station around when the train passes through. But they can't sell/print tickets or perform baggage duties.

State of Vermont needed to save some money so this is the cost-cutting measure Amtrak presented them with - de-staffing stations and installing caretakers.

The Vermonter used to carry bikes, skis, and other regular type baggage in the baggage car. The car also had a unique wrapping on it - identifying it as the baggage car for the Vermonter train. Good advertisement as one would see it role by! I may have an old timetable at home that listed what stations had agents, but off the top of my head, they were at least:

1) Burlington/Essex Junction
2) White River Junction
3) Brattleboro
4) Bellows Falls
5) Waterbury (Stowe)

The Ethan Allen Express (sponsored by the State of Vermont) and Adirondack (sponsored by the State of New York) also had a similiar story around the same time period. Each also had unique wrappings on the baggage cars that identified the train. Again, the baggage cars were taken off when the states needed to save money - or Amtrak increased the cost of running the train for the state (subsidy) and offered this option to "save" money in light of the increase.

Vermonter, Ethan Allen Express and Adirondack would have been affected by de-staffed stations north of Schenectady, off the main Empire Corridor, and north of Springfield, off the main NEC.

Stations which were staffed prior to destaffing in c 2002:

North of SPG to SAB on the Vermonter:
White River Jct, Burlington/Essex Jct, Saint Albans

On the Ethan Allen in VT:
Rutland

An old Montrealer timetable I've seen shows alternating seasonal staffing of Waterbury/Stowe (winter) and Montpelier/Barre (summer).


Really, what would it take for these caretakers to sell tickets, if only at WRJ and ESX (the two busiest stations in VT)? Or is it because they aren't Amtrak employees? Or how about install Quik-Trak machines. To solve the baggage problem, how about a self-check system - the baggage door opens at each station and you lift your baggage up to the baggage car, then get on a car. Doesn't seem like it would take much and it could be offered at any station. It's a pain to bring your snowboards/skis/bikes on board and store them in the car, especially if heading on the NB run, although I've seen people do it.

-Jay

NJTRailfan wrote:During the Amtrak era how many and which stations have been destaffed? How many employees were affected and will Amtrak restaff these station again? This also goes to stations that lost service like from the Desert Wind, Palmetto, Three Rivers and Pioneer.

Returning to the original post a question that has come to my mind while researching the former Southern Railway stations has been the following:

What is the smallest (by ridership) full time staffed station in the system?

I thought it was interesting to notice that Glenview, IL, and several others on the Empire Builder route are staffed but, curiously, do not offer checked baggage service (Minot, ND; Rugby, ND; and Wolf Point, MT).

gokeefe wrote:

NJTRailfan wrote:During the Amtrak era how many and which stations have been destaffed? How many employees were affected and will Amtrak restaff these station again? This also goes to stations that lost service like from the Desert Wind, Palmetto, Three Rivers and Pioneer.

Returning to the original post a question that has come to my mind while researching the former Southern Railway stations has been the following:

What is the smallest (by ridership) full time staffed station in the system?

I thought it was interesting to notice that Glenview, IL, and several others on the Empire Builder route are staffed but, curiously, do not offer checked baggage service (Minot, ND; Rugby, ND; and Wolf Point, MT).

Rugby is becoming unstaffed next month. They've also removed staff from Prince, Worcester and few other places that currently escapes me. With E-ticketing and Baggage Light, I expect the trend to continue without regard to size.

Caretakers will open and close the buildings but no other services are offered. Hours are also reduced at other stations such as RTE 128.

Although the changes are unfortunate in some senses the savings are too big to ignore. I'm happy to see Amtrak continuing to consolidate their cash flow while also increasing ridership. This is the kind of growth curve the railroads could only dream of in the 1960s.