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Amtrak • Abusive staff • Poor security • Slipshod safety • Late, late, late • Thrown Off • Luggage problems • Express shipping • Just plain bad --- News • Feds Developing Positive Train Control Regulations • House Joins Senate in Boosting Rail Travel • Lone Congressman Can’t Kill Amtrak • Lack of Federal Funding Could Kill Amtrak • Amtrak Attempts a Makeover • Amtrak Delays Leave Passengers to Fend for Themselves

To put it mildly, train travel in the U.S. is off the rails. Amtrak lives from moment to moment, totally dependent on the Congressional whim of the moment. The equipment is rundown, the tracks are a mess and the train crews are, all too often, ill-trained, rude and even downright abusive.

Here are a few of the more recent complaints we've received ...

Carla of Big Rock, IL October 13, 2008

We were scheduled to return to IL, from Denver,CO on Oct 5,08 @8:10pm. We called, before we drove the hour to Denver Station, and they said the train was 14 mins late. We arrived at the station at 7:40pm. At 8:15 (5mins after we were supposed to leave) they announced our train was stuck behind a broken down freight train, and there was no estimate of how long. For the first three hours they told us that the train would arrive in 1 hour. That hour came and they announced it would be another hour. Finally at 12am they said the train would arrive at 1am. 1am came and went no further announcements were made.

We waited in that station for 7 hours, with no information being gived to us. We finally borded the train at 2:30am. We were not given any other options, I later found out that we could have recvd a refund then, and found an alternate way home to IL, we were not given that option. Twice on the way back to IL we had to wait for new crew to arrive, the one time in Nebraska, we waited there for 2 hours for the crew.

The tickets we paid for said we were to arrive in Naperville, IL on Oct 6th at 2:30pm. We finally arrived in Naperville on Oct 7th at 2:30AM. 12 hours after the scheduled time on our tickets. The train was dirty, and the bathrooms in our car were not working, The toilets were full of waste. We were on that train for exactly 24 full hours. We contacted Amtrack when we got home.

We paid 206.50 for 2 round trip tickets from Naperville,IL to Denver CO. All they will give us for our trouble is a 175.00 (for both of us) voucher for another train trip. Like we will ever take the train again!

Darryl of Santa Monica, CA September 22, 2008

In October of 2007, my wife and I (65 years old) began a two thousand dollar Amtrak trip in a standard roomette. We were soon subjected to stultifying high temperatures and a lack of ventilation in our 6 and-a-half by 3 and-a-half foot compartment. The unsmiling, condescending and insolent conductors professed helplessness in the face of the oppressive conditions, and when I asked one of the conductors what his name was, he immediately covered his identity badge with his hand! We continued to object to these conditions, and finally the conductor had the train stopped, called in local marshals, and ejected my wife and I from the train in the middle of the night. We were forced to quickly pack all of our luggage and drag our bags off the train without any assistance. We had our tickets confiscated, and were left standing in the dark around midnight, after being told that we were forever banned from Amtrak trains.

However, we were not the only couple who was profoundly distressed by our Amtrak experience. When the conductor overheard me speaking to one of the marshals about this, he immediately returned our tickets to us and offered my wife and I the option of getting back on the train the following day! What was it that I told the Marshall? That approximately 12 hours before, another couple had been kicked off the train with the accompaniment of the police for complaining about the suffocating conditions!

It's one thing that Amtrak charges high prices for the honor of occupying a tiny bedroom in one of their obsolete railcars. It's another thing if in addition, the service personnel are generally rude, insulting and sadistic. The only exception to this would be in the dining car where a gratuity is expected. My wife and I sued Amtrak for this abusive service and our abandonment in an unknown town in the middle of the night. We won with little difficulty. It seems Amtrak has a stable of attorneys on call to take care of litigations of this type. Make sure you are prepared with adequate legal support the next time you travel Amtrak.

John of M,T. Clemens, MI September 13, 2008

Booled ticket from Kalamazoo Mi to Det. Mi Sept 12. Train was to leave at 3pm, left one hour late. Then the trained was stopped several times to allow freight trains to use the rails. Freight vs people? Trip was two and one half hours longer than scheduled. Come on the train schedules in the 1940s and 30s were on time. Sixty years later the schedule is very rarely kept?

I missed my ride and had to hire a cab at the same cost of the train ticket.

Lynette of Bronx,, NY September 10, 2008

purchased tickets to travel to richmond virginia on train 67 leaving penn station new york at 3am 9/5/08. while at the station it was annouced by intercom that the train was only going to washington, the attendants at the station had no other info for us.when the train arrived and we got on the train the conductor announced over th loud speaker that due to the expected storm the train will only go to washington and anyone going beyond will be on their own , amtrak has no other arrangements made, when the train arrives in washington we will be taken back to where we originated from my husband and myself are seniors and did not want to stranded in washington so got off the train.

On Saturday 9/6/08 i called am trak customer service got an apology was told that the train did go to Richmond it was an hour late, that it was probably a misunderstandind and that they will investigate to find out where the conductor received his directive, they also said that they were commuter trains from washington that could have taken us to richmond if we were given those directives they told me to mail my tickets or go to an Amtrak station and have my money refunded or use it for another time. i am appaled that a company like amtrak could do that to their consumers at 3am and also to know that we were given incorrect information, the attendants were misinformed, the conductor was misinformed, we were unable to spend the time with our family at a special event, food that i was taking for that occasion was wasted.

Sheri L. Berrier of Colorado Springs, CO September 8, 2008

I just found out my brother had died. So i was going to travel from Denver to Osceloa, IA on sept 4. ...The train was late gettig into denver, then thru the night late at other stops making the final stop for me almost 3hrs and 20 mins past the time that was suppose to be he arrival time.

My son was there waiting to pick me up, then drove my to Des Moines...I wasnt able to shower or clean up for a lucheon with family,,,but still missed the lunch,,,and then to top it off my other brother was then taken to the ER with severe chest pains, and these brthers of mine are just in their 50's.

Amtrak gave me so STESS, and I travel by train ALL the Time and have NEVER had a bad thing to say about the service before, but on the night of Sept 4th comming from Den on train 6 it left little to be desired...sorry. Former Amtrak Lover

Dean of Connellsville, PA September 1, 2008

We have been loyal Amtrak riders for many years, and we have never had a problem until our last trip on August 31. When the train pulled into the station, the platform was about 1 1/2 foot below the first step of the train. Normally, the conductor puts a stepstool on the platform to aid passengers in boarding the train, but this was not done. The conductor saw that my wife was unable to lift her foot up on the step, yet no aid was provided to her.

She had to get on her knee to get on the step and when she tried to get up she slipped and caught the handrail. When I tried to get on, the same thing happened as I was unable to get my foot up on the step and I had to crawl up the steps to get on the train. THE ENTIRE TIME THE CONDUCTOR JUST STOOD WATCHING THIS HAPPEN!! NO OFFER TO HELP OR ANYTHING!! HIGHLY UNPROFESSIONAL OR COURTEOUS! I am not looking for anything in return for this incident, just for Amtrak to train their employees in simple courtesy.

Erin of Upper Lake, CA August 15, 2008

I took Amtrak for the first time, alone, with my two small children, ages 19 months and 5 years old. I purchased roundtrip tickets online to travel from Sacramento to Salt Lake City and back again. When I arrived at the Sac station to pick up my tickets they printed me two tickets, one for me and one for my 5 year old, to go from Sac to SLC. I asked about my return tickets and was told I would be issued the return tickets at the SLC station.

Nearly a week later when I arrived at 10 PM to prepare for my 11:30 PM train from SLC to Sac I was told that the computer showed my tickets had already been printed in SAC. I explained there had been a mistake, that I was not issued the return tickets. The Amtrak empolyee, Don, was VERY rude to me. He said he could not print me another ticket. When I asked to speak with someone else, a manager or someone higher-up, he refused. He rolled his eyes a lot at me and walked away when I begged for help. He told me that all he could do was sell me another two tickets. I explained that I didn't have the money and it was too late for me to find a way to get the money.

I explianed that I had no friends or family in SLC, I had been there for a symposium, and I asked if Amtrak was going to kick a mother with two small children onto the streets for a mistake THEY had made. I was told by Don and later told by an Amtrak employee over the phone, Yes. Don told me he would not print me a fake ticket and implied the whole time that I was trying to scam Amtrak! I have never been treated so rudely in my life! I ended up having to call my husband and despertly find a way to buy two additional tickets so I could get home! Every course of action I have tried to take has gotten me nowhere. When I arrived in CA I waited in the Sac station for over an hour, pouring sweat (no a/c there) waiting for them to look for my tickets. They told me of course that they couldn't find them.

My children and I have been nothing short of traumitized by this experince. I cannot even look at an Amtrak employee without having a post traumatic stress reaction. I cannot even begin to explain how frightening it is to be in a strange city, late at night, in a filthy train station, with two small children, and to be told that Amtrak doesn't care that they sold me a ticket they didn't give me - I was going to either come up with anohter 100 or be spending the night on the streets! Both my children, and especially my 5 year old, were very traumatized by this event. They were scared they wouldn't be able to get home and my son has nightmares about the event.

Lisa of Bismarck, ND August 14, 2008

My extended family of elven boarded, including one diabled adult, two elderly and two children, boarded Amtrak on Monday, August 4th for our first vacation in 20 years. We were informed upon arrival at the Wolf Point, MT station that there had been a freight train derailment and we would need to take a bus 270 miles from Libby, MT to Shelby, Mt. My first concernt was for our diabled passenger, confined to a wheelchair. I questioned the stationmaster about this and he assured me Amtrak knew about her and they would make arrangements to accomodate her(they had a Handicap sleeper) and we had made previous arrangements for her at each station.

When we boarded the train we were instantly met with an extremely rude car attendant. We were told, in regards to our disabled person perhaps she shouldn't be on this train if she can't walk. Needless to say this is not an acceptable comment to make to anyone. I questioned the conductor about transfer to the bus and onto the bus for a disabled person and was, once again, assured Amtrak would tak care of it. Well, when we arrived in Libby, MT there was NO accessible form of transportaion or anyway for a diabled person to board the bus. My husband and brother basically picked her up and she tried as hard as she could to move her legs as much as possible. They basically carried her up (and back down when we arrived) the steep embankment to the bus and the steep bus steps.

When we arrived in Shelby, we were not given any information other than it would be at least an hour and a half wait for the train to arrive. It was over 2.5 hours. This was the most miserable night of our lives. The children (both under 8) were so exhausted they could barely function, as well as the rest of our crew. When we finally got on the train - after trekking about 2 blocks, in the dark, over uneven, gravelled surface with our whole crew - we were told we couldn't sit down until all the seats were turned around the other way. This took well over 15 minutes to do.

Amtrak claims to be accessible and will accomodate their hadicap passengers - WRONG. On our outbound trip there wasn't anyone that provided assistance. I think my brother and husband even assisted putting out the wheelchair ramp to the train. There was no way that Amtrak complied with ADA at any point on our outbound trip.

My family paid for 11 tickets as well as over 1000 for a handicap sleeper. This money was pretty much a waste for the outbound trip. Also, for our elderly, children and handicap, and the rest of us, we were so exhausted we lost a whole day of our vacation, because all anyone could manage was to fall into bed when we arrived at our destination.

Chad of Trabuco Canyon, CA August 9, 2008

I went on a multi city trip from San Juan Capistrano (SNC) to Santa Barbara (SBA) to Salinas (SNS) and back to Irvine (IRV). This was the first time I tried bringing my bike along as well as the first time I purchased online. The station attendant at San Juan Capistrano was very helpful and assured me that bringing a bike would not be a problem, she told me where the racks were on the train and that the bus driver will simply put the bike underneath. No problem I thought and was excited for my trip. I got to Santa Barbara no problem; I got to Salinas no problem.

My return was a problem. The bus driver informed me that there was already a bike on the bus and it was too full to fit my bike. I informed him this was my return and I do not live in Salinas, California. He told me I could take the next bus but I knew this would get me at my destination at 11 o clock at night which wasnt feasible. So he suggested putting the bike on the next bus, which was an inconvenience for my friend who dropped me off at the station. So the bus driver told me to talk to the baggage check at SBA. When I arrived in Santa Barbara for my transfer, I told the ticket agent my situation. He informed me that he has never heard of a bus not having enough room for a bike. After hearing this as well, I came to the conclusion that the bus driver was too lazy to move some bags around to make my bike fit. I was furious.

The ticket agent told me the best they could do is have my friend put my bike on the Monday train to union station in Los Angeles, which is at least an hour away from my home and an incredible inconvenience. Let me also state that my friend was leaving for a trip for a week the next day so this would not work for him or me. My friends best option was to ship my bike at my expense. This was also my best option.

This bike is not just for fun. I do not own a car. I own a bike. I work 4 days a week and my bike is my main source of transportation to work. The buses are not convenient and walking is unrealistic. I work at 5 am tomorrow and will be walking because I do not have my bike because the bus driver wouldnt let me take it home because he was too lazy to move some bags. The bus wasnt even half full of people! There were lots of empty seats on the bus. This is very frustrating.

I am out a bike at the moment, which was damaged dealing with fed ex. and It cost my friend at least 60 bucks to ship my bike.

Susan of Saugatuck, MI August 9, 2008

Manager would not divulge her name, but since train I had beeen was too late to make connections from Chicago to Holland acted abusively & demanded that I board a van to Michigan or relinquish my Michigan ticket for half it's value and take 20 in cab fair. I have great concerns and financial losses. The van driver was NOT an Amtrak employee.

Physically and emotionally drained...missed work....had to hire my own licensed driver while stranded and am now out over 500 due to expenses incurred to reach home in Michigan.

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