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Published: August 20th 2006
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Train arriving in Toledo, 6:00 am
After a night on the couch at Toledo station, this was a welcome sight. Together, me and Klas travelled by train thrice :-) during this trip: Klas from Ann Arbor to Washington D.C., and both of us first from NY to Chicago and then from Detroit to NY. The first time, Klas was delayed 4 hours and 45 minutes. He had then heard several stories both about how often the trains run late (22 % run on time, which means are at the most 15 minutes late...) and why this happens.
Amtrak seems to be totally thwarted, I saw some numbers saying that up until 2006, Amtrak got several tousand dollars (I don't remember how much) each year from the state, but this year not a single penny. Sure, the Swedish railways, SJ, doesn't get state support either, officially, but they are still considered to be something worth supporting.
Some of the crew, like the conductor, cannot leave the train, get off duty, until the train is at its destination. Others, like the driver, must "only" work 12 hours maximum. This was really put to the test, and on the trip to Chicago, the guy that sold me a cranberry juice (all the other juices were sold out) had then been on the train for
Comfy chairs
At least the chairs are like in an airplane. Comfy. about 15 hours already, and on the trip back to NYC, the conductor had been working for 34 hours when we reached NYC. But sure, the coaches are comfortable, really nice chairs and plenty of space, but that's a small relief when your train is so delayed.
Amtrak doesn't own all tracks, and if there are people working on the non-Amtrak tracks, they don't have to move for passenger trains.
At junctions, freight trains always have right of way and there are so called slots that every train gets, and if the train is delayed and misses one slot, it has to wait for a very long time. of course, if Amtrak had the money, they could buy a new slot from a train that isn't delayed, but that virtually never happens, except in case of serious emergency (like when a woman told the conductor that her husband had diabetes, and his medicine was in the checked in bags in the luggage coach (unaccessible to passengers during the trip) and if he died, she would sue them).
What I see as more rude and a total lack of servicemindedness is that the staff never informed us when there
Second night
First night at the station, secind night in this position. Not as comfortable as a hostel bed, I can tell you. were for example Greyhound bus stations close by the train stations. You might think that a nice thing to do would be to let people know that "if you want to pay for it yourself, there is now a bus station close to the train station and there are buses to NY from there". We saw them a few times as the train left the station and felt almost bereft of something.
In Sweden nowadays, if you're train trip is scheduled to last for more than two hours and it's more than one hour late, your ticket is refunded via a voucher with which you can buy a new train ticket (to wherever you like to go next). Amtrak doesn't give anything to you. Not a thing. And even when we had to stop because the crew had been working 12 hours and some of them were to be replaced, the new crew didn't bring any more food, so that the only thing left in the cafeteria was some Pepsi cans and two Snickers bars... unbeliavable. (B.t.w., we bought both of the Snickers bars).
This on a trip that cost about 100 dollars. I mean, in countries such as
Corridor
I didnt mean to get that big guy in the middle on the photo, but he was there anyway ... this is an Amtrak corridor. Poland and Egypt, the train service is so much better! These trips in the US are the only ones when my packed meal has been totally eaten, nothing was left after these trips.
So my planned presentation in Chicago for the local translators' association had to be cancelled due to the train being six hours late. Really a shame, even though I got to meet one colleague that came to our hostel.
We'll see, we have now written a letter to Amtrak, claiming some compensation, and I do hope they will take it seriously.
I can only hope that the persons that now heard this story from us in the US make their politicians know how lousy Amtrak works and that they can perhaps make the politicians understand that people shouldn't fly and go by car all the time.
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