Boarding an Amtrak

[NortholtPark]

Hello

I have been watching some of the Railfan video content on Youtube.

Silly question to the folks who know...how does a passenger know where to board an Amtrak train?

To take Ashland, Virginia as an example. An eight car train arrives and yet passengers only seem to use
two entry and exit points even though the platform is probably long enough for all eight cars.

 

[Iskra]

Usually they only open some of the doors. So the doors opened will be staffed; one for Coach Class, one for Sleeping Car passengers. Also on the double decker cars, staff always operated the doors on my trip.

 

[Watershed]

Usually they only open some of the doors. So the doors opened will be staffed; one for Coach Class, one for Sleeping Car passengers. Also on the double decker cars, staff always operated the doors on my trip.

Yes, the sleeping car attendant got rather annoyed with me when I once opened the door to catch a bit of fresh air at one of the stops, rather than waiting for them.

 

[ricohallo]

It's very common for them to open just one or a few doors on minor stations. When that happens the doors that do open will be locally opened by staff who step outside the train. So the passengers can find the open doors where the conductors step out of the train. More often than not the train is also longer than the platform. Inside the train it will be announced which doors will open, e.g. please get off where the conductor is, only these doors will open or only the doors at the Cafe car will open. This practice takes place on Amtrak trains as well as many commuter trains. Also, sometimes only part of the consist is open to passengers with the other cars closed off (which I still find quite strange, why include 8 cars when you're only using 1 or 2 of them?).

 

[ld0595]

Even at major stations they seem to use one door on occasion.

I took Amtrak between Washington Union Station and Alexandria, VA late last year and they only used one door at both stations.

 

[185]

Seem to recall it was precisely this on the Carolinan that caused delays to mount and mount, especially through Raleigh & Durham - major stops with just two doors open.

 

[John-H]

It has always ben the case in North America that a crewman opened the doors. Thus there were no more open doors than crew.

Platforms were low, sometimes very low, and the crewman would set out a step stool and assist any passenger that had difficulty getting up the stairs. I have heard that the junior trainman was sometimes referred to as the "babylifter"

John

 

[cyclebike]

Yes don't make my mistake, boarding the Cascades at Tukwila - the train pulled up, I pressed the door open button, the door opened, and I was duly castigated by a crew member to not do that and come to him to be assigned my place...

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I was duly castigated by a crew member to not do that and come to him to be assigned my place...

Rather condescending and controlling, and I feel the same way about New South Wales' Regional long-distance trains, where although you can usually board from any door, someone then comes through with a tick list to check you're in the right seat, they want you to obtain permission to move and even then will question you as to why you want to move, etc. It's not customer friendly.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Boarding Amtrak is, unfortunately, one of the least pleasant parts of the passenger experience. In big cities and terminus stations, boarding is like boarding a flight. You'll wait in the gate area and then be boarded in a long line. In small stations you will need to look out for whichever door opens and head there.

For historic and labour-related reasons, you have to be boarded and directed to your seating by Amtrak staff. On long-distance (LD) routes, this means Coach passengers can't choose their seats and will be distributed through the train according to how the staff want to place you. The big positive is that you are less likely to be disturbed by people joining and leaving en route, but the negative is that you have less choice about where you sit and you do get treated (in my experience) like you're either an idiot or a lamb that needs to be herded.

 

[NortholtPark]

Great answers thanks very much.

I did wonder if it was labour-related as in we have always done it this way.

Like most international travellers you would probably hang back and wait to see what the locals do,although
it would probably be difficult at some of the less used stations.

 

[The Puddock]

It’s always entertaining watching the Southwest Chief stop at La Plata, Missouri, on the Virtual Railfans webcams. The whole station stop is done in slow-time with no sense or urgency at all. It usually stands over the level crossing for at least 10 minutes while a big queue of passengers very slowly shows their tickets and boards one-by-one through a single door. I’ve seen them even close the door mid queue and move the train along the platform by a coach length to let passengers board at the door in the next coach, rather than getting the remaining passengers to walk down to the other door. From a British perspective it’s insane but a lot of stuff they do on the railroads over there looks like utter madness to us.

La Plata webcam -

 

[Fleetmaster]

, why include 8 cars when you're only using 1 or 2 of them?).

To save on the time/cost of cleaning it I would imagine.

Could be useful in Britain tbh, given how many trains now transport fresh air around and the tight margins on cleaning contracts.

 

[Taunton]

Amtrak trains commonly have a large crew, sometimes more crew than coaches in the train. There's the Conductor, one or more Brakemen (I think finally, after over 100 years of Westinghouse brakes, they are now called Trainmen rather than Brakemen). The latter just act as conductor's assistants and wear a similar uniform. Then there are the restaurant crew, cooks and waiters, the Lounge Attendant (barman), sleeping car porters (attendants), and on major services even coach porters. If there is a baggage car there will be a Baggage Car Man, and major services also seem to carry a Travelling Mechanical Fitter, who incidentally, with their enormous belt of screwdrivers and wrenches can be the most useful member of the whole crew on the now mostly 40-year-old stock. They (and their separate unions) all have their own perspective on what parts of the job they do. Or not. Some of these commonly travel together in the cafe car, where they take over one or more tables, but if you get the table next to them you hear everything going on realtime from their radios chattering away, plus acid comments about the railway management. Oh, I've forgotten the engineer. The traditional ethnic groupings of the various jobs still prevail to an extent.

And despite all this, it's just one door that gets opened for the coaches, and one of the Brakemen will have the job of putting down the stool at low platforms and seeing you in. Conductors seemingly don't handle foot stools, and likewise passengers don't do door handles. If you are in the sleeper you will be taken in there directly by its porter, who from the reservation list at an intermediate stop will be expecting you. In the usual American unionised way, if they don't see it as their job they don't do it, but if it is within their area, they snap to it and do it promptly and right.

Sometimes more than one door is opened just at the start point, for different destinations. Boarding at Chicago for California a porter stood on one of the stools and shouted in stereotypical pitch "Folks, those for Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, dis car here. Folks for Utah, Nevada, California, dem cars furrrrrrrther forward".

 

[williamn]

Even at NY Penn station boarding is often through one door - absolute madness!

As the above poster noted staff often colonise many tables in the cafe - often one per table leaving next to no space for passengers...

 

[Red Onion]

I do wonder what the crewing costs must be on one of these trains. It certainly echoes my own experience of using Amtrak in 2006.

 

[Taunton]

It sometimes seems little has changed from this Laurel & Hardy comedy made 100 years ago, featuring quite a number of the points discussed above (click) :

Filmed at the old Santa Fe station in Los Angeles, destroyed in an earthquake only a year or so after it was made, and replaced afterwards by the current Los Angeles Union Station.

 

[Iskra]

Even at NY Penn station boarding is often through one door - absolute madness!

As the above poster noted staff often colonise many tables in the cafe - often one per table leaving next to no space for passengers...

In practice, I don't see this as being a major issue as most passengers will choose to sit upstairs on the observation deck (where it exists).

 

[williamn]

In practice, I don't see this as being a major issue as most passengers will choose to sit upstairs on the observation deck (where it exists).

This is a single deck train though (The Maple Leaf) with only 1/2 a coach of seating available in the cafe (the other 1/2 being Business Class). Often there were only 2 tables left for actual passengers!

 

[DelW]

It’s always entertaining watching the Southwest Chief stop at La Plata, Missouri, on the Virtual Railfans webcams. The whole station stop is done in slow-time with no sense or urgency at all. It usually stands over the level crossing for at least 10 minutes while a big queue of passengers very slowly shows their tickets and boards one-by-one through a single door. I’ve seen them even close the door mid queue and move the train along the platform by a coach length to let passengers board at the door in the next coach, rather than getting the remaining passengers to walk down to the other door. From a British perspective it’s insane but a lot of stuff they do on the railroads over there looks like utter madness to us.

There are several odd aspects to La Plata, including that the platform was completely rebuilt two or three years ago - but still with only a short high-level section, and a narrow ramp between that and the rest of the station. Since passengers are corralled in front of the station building until the train has arrived (allegedly for safety reasons) that guarantees congestion on the ramp.
Then there's often the need to board some passengers in the sleepers at the front and others in coach class at the rear. Some crews manage to stop so that both are alongside the platform (albeit one end on the low level) meaning both can happen at once, but many others board at one door, move the train up, then board at the second.
Sometimes Amtrak comes in on the far track (at the freight dispatcher's decision) which means passengers crossing the near track and boarding one door at a time from a small ground level slab. I presume there are measures in place to prevent freight trains using the near track during this time!
Finally, it's not unknown for eastbound trains to overshoot the platform altogether, and either back up, or load and unload passengers on the road crossing using a step stool.
Overall it seems to mean that getting a couple of dozen passengers on and off takes up to ten minutes. Not to mention that some of the operating practices would surely have British train crew up for an awkward interview if used here!

 

[Dave W]

I boarded twice - once at Chicago which was as described up thread re major stations (airport experience) and then in Jackson, MS which was as described regarding the minimal door thing.

For the latter, the station was staffed during the day for one train each way. Imagine that here!

We dropped our bags which we then recollected on the platform and put into the luggage racks. We had upgraded to a 2 person cabin for the run down to New Orleans. Included lunch and a very private facing 1+1 seat with closing compartment. It looked like there was a bed above should we have wanted to lie down, but we were quite happy to just sit. We were attended by someone assigned exclusively to our coach (only 7 or 8 compartments). Very swish experience and I felt very important!

 

[NortholtPark]

These comments certainly help me understand some of the day to day operations, keep 'em coming, thanks.

 

[ac6000cw]

About 16 years ago, I watched the 'Empire Builder' train call at a small wayside station in Columbus, Wisconsin. Only 10 Superliner cars + 2 baggage/parcel cars, but it had to draw forward twice (so three sub-stops in total) due to the 'platform' only being long enough for about 3 cars. The whole pantomime took about 6 minutes for a relative handful of passengers, also blocking a level crossing for most of that time.

Just before its demise (years ago), I travelled on the 'Pioneer' (Chicago - Portland, OR via Denver, Ogden and Boise). It stopped at a 'station' called Borie, WY which was nominally for Cheyenne passengers. In reality it was a length of hardstanding and tiny building in the middle of a (dusty) nowhere, served by an Amtrak minibus connection to & from Cheyenne. This is someone else's photo of it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/129679309@N05/29146484015/in/photostream/

At Colfax, CA (on the west slope of Donner Pass) there is only a very short platform on one track and nothing at all on the other one - see this Google Streetview - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@39.1...4!1sXCrZ25vvB4uQtRJogdS15A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192 . I happened to be there having a coffee when both westbound and eastbound 'California Zephyrs' called almost simultaneously (one was late, of course!), so the westbound train passengers had to be dealt with on the level crossing area (I think they waited in the shade under the 'bandstand' you can see on the far side of the crossing on the right).

The westbound train arriving & departing is the first part of this (my) video:

 

[43096]

The westbound train arriving & departing is the first part of this (my) video:

Why haven't I found your YouTube channel before?! Love the sound of those big GE 7FDLs...

 

[Steve4031]

Amtrak tickets for coach passengers do not have seat and car numbers, thus the process of opening only a few doors. On most trains, passengers are grouped into cars based on destination. The passengers traveling the farthest are usually closest to the food service cars. The passengers traveling the shortest distance are usually further from the food service cars.

 

[edwin_m]

This link (from London Reconnections) suggests nobody really knows why Amtrak do it this way.

Despite congressional pressure, Amtrak can’t get its story straight on train-boarding rules

Why you can’t go directly to the platform, not explained.

www.vox.com

Yet curiously, even though the big advantage of this boarding method is how quickly it allows large numbers of people to get on and off, it is not how Amtrak boards trains at its busiest stations — New York Penn Station and Washington Union Station.

In DC, passengers are subjected to an airline-style queuing system where everyone needs to get their tickets checked as they pass through a single gate. This routinely produces overcrowding and confusion in the station and slows down the entire process.

And most strikingly of all, nobody at Amtrak can explain why they do it this way.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thailand, interestingly, has gone from a European approach to this nonsense too. There seems to be very little right about Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal, not even the confusing* name, and the station and its operational style is like combining the worst aspects of Birmingham New St and Euston.

Just conservatism perhaps? Like at Beeching time in the UK, it seems like the choice is between "Amtrak as it is" and "shut it all down and put on a bus" - there's no mind to Europeanising it by operating trains with just a driver and a guard (or even DOO) nor just installing gatelines and letting people board on their own.

* Nobody calls Bangkok "Krung Thep" in English, and it isn't central either, it's out in a suburb like Old Oak Common.

 

[Dave W]

The system in general feels very over-staffed, although I'm not generally in favour of reductionism to minimum staffling levels.

As mentioned when I was in Jackson, I actually went to the station the night before we travelled - about 45 minutes after the (last and only) northbound train left and there were still 2 members of staff behind the desk. The station was fully open, lit and air conditioned. Doing this several hundred times at fairly minor wayside stations must cost them a fortune.

New Orleans was of course busier, but only felt like a medium sized intercity station - reminded me of a cross between Milton Keynes and Blackpool North - and there were Amtrak staff everywhere. Overall, the travelling experience was a lot nicer than your average London-Edinburgh, but there is probably a balance.

 

[Fragezeichnen]

My experience from my only trip on Amtrak so far was similar to the article - the staff member handling the boarding had pre-prepared hand written reservation cards, and handed them out one by one to each passenger in the queue. The numerous staff seemed highly motivated - my carriage was regularly cleaned with a portable vacuum cleaner!

Given that Amtrak is a plaything of US federal politics and the US obsession with "job creation", I suspect any move to cut jobs would face not just natuarally face oppposition from the Unions, but from politicians too. Any moves to set up something radically different would be done via a seperate entity.

 

[williamn]

I find staff attitude very different UK to USA. Staff are generally friendly in the UK, whereas on Amtrak I generally find they have the same cheery demeanour as border agents...