First time on Acela - wow does Amtrak suck

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 18, 2022 10:44 pm My traveling days are over, but I found that the best deal for Acela First Class was a late afternoon departure from Boston, with dinner served at the time of your request (after New Haven and the scenery), in plenty of time for a Philadelphia arrival, and the waitstaff solicitously ensuring that the inside of your wine glass was never unduly exposed to the air. STrRedWolf is right: if you don't get a damned good meal out of it, you're just as well off with Acela Business Class or a Regional, and that depends more on the times than anything else.

This is essentially what I'm talking about. If you got 8 hours on a train, you might as well get a good meal out of it, so time it for that meal. Shorter than 4 and it's a waste of money -- get food at the station and time your arrival for your hunger.

Think about it this way: I'm going up to Pittsburgh again. I have enough time in Philadelphia 30th Street to grab something from Au Bon Pain or even Wendy's. Unfortunately, it's 6 hours to Pittsburgh -- I'm likely to get dinner on the train before I disembark. And that'll will be "7-11" fare.

west point wrote:Unfortunately all freight RR locos are geared for 70 MPH max speeds.

Who said anything about using freight locomotives?

Union contracts aside for a moment, there's nothing stopping Amtrak from providing P42s or eventually Siemens power to run the services on their lines.

No different at all from how Metra uses UP and BNSF labor today.

I'd bet dispatchers would worry a whole lot more about timing out one of their own crews than they do an offline crew running Amtrak. Especially if the crew desk is riding them about it.


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Wow, and I say this with all due respect, I'm not sure if this is serious or an SNL style skit.

As others have mentioned, there are far more cost effective Amtrak options between Philadelphia / Philly (not Phili) and New York Penn.
At best the Acela might save you 10 minutes on that stretch when compared to a Pennsylvanian, Keystone, Regional, or any ACS-64 hauled Amtrak train. But it will be far more costly.

As for the on board experience regarding the unruly passengers, that's unfortunate.
As for delays, that too is unfortunate. It's one of those things that can happen and as a passenger you have no control over.
The food, well, you're on a train. Yes it's a premium express train, but it's a train. The prices generally don't reflect the quality of food.
It would behoove you to purchase your food outside of the station district, as food in train stations, especially busy ones can be expensive. Similar to sporting arenas.

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience on Amtrak's Acela. However, I think you could've at the very least avoided shelling out so much money if you thought this through.
The delay and wild passengers weren't in your control. But the spending and planning were, you didn't do a great job with that.
Plan better next time. It seems you spontaneously booked and financed this trip thinking it would be seamless because it's the Acela.
It was a rude wake up call, but hopefully you learn from this.
Maybe try booking through Amtrak's site on a laptop / desktop and look at the options (different trains), pay attention to the time differences and prices.
In my opinion I don't think the Acela is worth it for the PHL - NYP stretch, I'd push for PHL - STM or PHL - WAS instead at least. Take your time and save your money.

I felt like I was reading a disgruntled Yelp review by an out of touch customer.

NortheastTrainMan wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:21 am In my opinion I don't think the Acela is worth it for the PHL - NYP stretch, I'd push for PHL - STM or PHL - WAS instead at least. Take your time and save your money.

We can agree on PHL-NYP, but PHL-WAS? PHL-BWI is roughly 90 minutes and WAS is maybe 20 minutes more. I don't see Acela improving much on that... and even food at the top stations is better than Acela 1st class. As I mentioned before, if you're not stuck on it for over 4 hours, Acela First Class isn't worth it.

Wait, for first class!? Oh no, it's definitely not worth it for PHL - WAS. I rode the Acela once as a bucket list item between PHL - WAS once.
I picked that segment because it was quicker than PHL - NHV (I'm looking at you ConnDOT / Metro North), and longer than PHL - NYP, which is similar to PHL - BAL or BWI.
I was able due to low ticket prices (circa 2020) and booking it like 6 weeks in advance. I didn't sit first class though. Coach will suffice my needs 99.9% of the time.
Personally if I can save 20 - 30 minutes, I'll consider it. 10 minutes isn't worth it.

I enjoy the Acela, but it's not something I would ride regularly, I'll stick to my Regionals, Keystone, Pennsylvanians, and any other ACS-64 hauled trains.
They're more conducive to my wallet.

I admit I did once take the Acela from Philadelphia to NYC. My Truway Motorcoach to Scranton was canceled and when the I asked if could go to NYC instead of waiting a day the Amtrak CSR booked me on the next train for no additional charge. That just happened to be an Acela. Also it wasn't First Class (obviously I would've accepted if she offered).

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Having never taken Amtrak myself (Metro-North was cheaper, more flexible and only 30 minutes slower!), it sounds like they need to step up communication about any delays and improve customer service in stations. As for the woman and children, there needs to be some kind of penalty for bad behavior. They could implement a system where the conductor scans the ticket, they get a "black mark" and a stern form letter. After a second black mark someone actually looks into the situation. Third black mark gets the ban hammer.

BandA wrote: ↑Sat Jul 02, 2022 2:33 pm there needs to be some kind of penalty for bad behavior. They could implement a system where the conductor scans the ticket, they get a "black mark" and a stern form letter. After a second black mark someone actually looks into the situation. Third black mark gets the ban hammer.

Can we implement the same for the customer facing employees on Amtrak?... That's a sure way to thin out the herd.

Before we go further, I want to make a slight point here:

There’s bad customer service where there was an active choice by the attendant to provide such bad service… and then there’s limited customer service for various reasons.

For example, 30(4) was running over an hour late, and Pittsburgh was overwhelmed as there were only two station staff total. Also, on 42(5) there’s only two conductors and one cafe staff. All of them were a bit overwhelmed for handling the Pittsburgh stop.

Does it excuse intentionally bad customer service? No. But “limited customer service” means customers have to work with the agents and conductors.

eolesen wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 7:37 pm

BandA wrote: ↑Sat Jul 02, 2022 2:33 pm there needs to be some kind of penalty for bad behavior. They could implement a system where the conductor scans the ticket, they get a "black mark" and a stern form letter. After a second black mark someone actually looks into the situation. Third black mark gets the ban hammer.

Can we implement the same for the customer facing employees on Amtrak?... That's a sure way to thin out the herd.

Getting a little tired of reading your lousy generalizations about the work habits of more than 20 million people. Can we come to your job and critique your performance, as you seem to feel so entitled to do about these people? Facing the general public is unpleasant. Doing so at a railroad that can't get funded properly to complete the mission without endless hassles has got to be more unpleasant. Federal government employees have had to further deal with the indignities of the debt ceiling nonsense whenever someone wants to do a little bit of grandstanding. Cap that off with folks like you who act like they should do all of this with a smile and for even less money than they make, benefits constantly being tinkered with due to an electorate that asks why public employees have benefits and not why they themselves don't, and I absolutely understand the staff being unhappy and it showing through in their work. You're not helping.

Amtrak does not employ 20 million people, let alone in customer facing positions. Those who are in customer facing positions are (with the exception of managers) union employees with good pay and benefits that are NOT being "tinkered with". These aren't non-union Walmart cashiers we're talking about.

jwhite07 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 4:36 pm Amtrak does not employ 20 million people, let alone in customer facing positions. Those who are in customer facing positions are (with the exception of managers) union employees with good pay and benefits that are NOT being "tinkered with". These aren't non-union Walmart cashiers we're talking about.

Really, how so? I cant wait for this one...

If you really think you're getting mistreated, try working a non-union job. You will never appreciate what you have once you go without.

At any case, alleged mistreatment by management is not license for bad conduct. Before you go shields up again, I will go further to say that yes, indeed, the deck is somewhat stacked since most of the problem with Amtrak's inconsistent customer service is due to lack of training, lack of focus, ineffective or nonexistent supervision in the field, a rules-bound culture, and poor management of handling disruptions.

jwhite07 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:00 am If you really think you're getting mistreated, try working a non-union job. You will never appreciate what you have once you go without.

At any case, alleged mistreatment by management is not license for bad conduct. Before you go shields up again, I will go further to say that yes, indeed, the deck is somewhat stacked since most of the problem with Amtrak's inconsistent customer service is due to lack of training, lack of focus, ineffective or nonexistent supervision in the field, a rules-bound culture, and poor management of handling disruptions.

Well as a former non union employee who has done plenty of going without. Ever wonder if your car was going to be were you left it the night before? Not because I was worried it might be stolen. Try doing landscaping in the great northeast in the middle of winter and plowing no snow because well mother nature is... as an example. I could list my numerous other non union jobs but that would be boring.

I have said it before and I will explain it to you. If Amtrak was truly serious about customer service they would not be teaching it during the week of rules class when ones focus is on pass these tests or loose ones job. In my 25 years of service there have been many programs rolled out to "help" those who struggle with the aspect of being nice. There was charm school, never saw that work. Made a few of them worse. "Be our guest" I would not allow a guest in my house to put their feet on the furniture or turn seats to how they like them. So why were we supposed to let people on the train act like they owned it. Silos, which silo do you fit into or are you a combination. There has never been any consistency. EVER. People today are far worse than they were 10 years ago. I am glad I make them stop and go. I hear what conductors have to put up with. It is not an easy job, especially if you know you have no back up.

Customer service cant be taught it has to learned. I learned at a young age in the family business, some people never learn and some can say things that I would not dare and they will get a laugh.

Management is just like any other place I have ever worked you take the good with the bad. I've had both in my railroad career and in the private sector. Again no consistency in how to handle problems as they happen every issue is like the first time.

Just my .02 worth.

Likely off-topic, but this topic is evolving into one regarding customer service.

"Guest" was the "W-Gangs" euphemism for passenger. Now I have always wondered if such is a legal term, and its use should have been controlled accordingly.

I'm not a lawyer, even if being a CPA, I have worked in a legal environment. much the same as do many other professions.

It seems if a hotel's management, often defined as an "Innkeeper", has the right to enter a Guest's premises without notice. A Landlord, the definition of one who has leased property to a Tennant, the lessee of such, must give that Tennant "reasonable notice" of their intent to do so. Likewise, an Innkeeper can remove a Guest on demand and without cause. A Landlord must take legal Due Process to do so before Eviction of a Tennant.

An Amtrak Passenger Conductor or an airline Flight Crew has the right to remove a guest/passenger for any reason, so long as that act has been done with the person's safety first and foremost.

So, I must wonder who dreamed up using the term Guest for an Amtrak passenger? Was it someone in Marketing and did Legal get to pass judgement on the term?

Enquiring mind is "curious".