Is Amtrak Fading into History?
Amtrak is subsidized by the US Government. That means it has to fight for its funding. Amtrak has to go up against every other government subsidy and all of its opponents in Congress. In the recent past it has faced opposition from The President of the United States and many Congressmen. They do not see the value of the rail service. Should it be their choice to make? In many cases taking the train is cheaper than driving or flying, yet it is not well promoted nor is it well supported. Amtrak is great way to travel long or short distances, and it is a great way to see the country. In a time where gas prices are sky rocketing, and travel is becoming more and more unreasonable, why are they trying to eliminate our choices?
By short changing Amtrak, the government is creating more problems for the railway. The more problems they have, the less people will travel on it. That equals less revenue. It is a destructive cycle.
Amtrak has very reasonable prices if you book far enough in advance. The fare increases as the train becomes more full. If you book early on, you can secure a lower rate. When Amtrak has its funding pulled, base fares rise. Fare from Indianapolis to Chicago used to start at $15 (summer 2004). Now it starts at $17 (winter 2005). Each time Amtrak has to scrounge for money, the customers end up paying more. Amtrak also has to up prices of on board items such as food.
When the price hikes are not enough, cuts have to be made. Sometimes it is routes that find themselves on the chopping block. Up until recently there was a route that ran through Fostoria, Ohio while en route to Chicago. Now that line stops in Pittsburgh. While Toledo (with 2 trains that stop there) is not too far away, it still saved driving time for those in the area. Now those patrons no longer have that option. Trains that once had over night cars and dining cars are now reduced to just coach seating.
Amtrak could be much more effective if it had more routes. Say you wanted to take the train from Indianapolis to Toledo, OH. Driving, that would be around four hours. However, there isn’t a train that goes from Indy to Toledo. Instead Amtrak would have to route you through Chicago. Right now Indianapolis on has one daily train that goes to Chicago. It leaves Indy at 6:50 a.m. arrives in Chicago at just before 11:00 a.m. local time. There are two trains that leave from Chicago that stop in Toledo, but the earliest one isn’t scheduled to leave until around 5:30 p.m. The return trip is even worse. On the way back there is nearly and eight hour lay over. This is fine if you want to do some shopping in Chicago, but eight hours is a really long time. Plus if the place where you have a layover isn’t exactly thrilling, it can be very boring. If Amtrak had more money, they could have more routes. If they had more routes, it would be more attractive to customers.
Train delays are another issue. Amtrak doesn’t actually own the tracks it runs on. Other rail companies (freight and cargo) do. Amtrak “barrows” the tracks. If a freight train has issues or if a freighter is going 35 miles an hour, it has priority. That means (especially through portions of PA and OH) the Amtrak train will most likely be delayed. When I went home for Thanksgiving, my train was supposed to arrive in Toledo at 10:40 p.m. We left Chicago on time; however, we were stuck behind a slow moving freight train for most of the trip. We did not arrive until 1:30 a.m. If Amtrak (or the government) worked out better agreements with the owners of the rails, maybe this could be remedied.
You would think if the train starts at the station you are leaving from you will avoid this problem.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ This is not always true. Chicago may be the origination point for your train, but that does not preclude it from having a delay. Basically the same crew works the train both ways.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Lets say you wanted to take the train from Chicago to Toledo, OH. The Captiol Limited comes into Chicago from the East Coast every morning.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½This train makes a stop at the Toledo station on its way through Ohio.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½It then departs with the same crew for the return trip that evening.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ If the train was very late coming into Chicago that morning, your train to Toledo may still be delayed because the crew hasn’t had enough time to rest. This happened to me when I tried to go home for Christmas. We were delayed for over an hour.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ If Amtrak was allotted more money, they could have more crews readily available to alleviate that.
Another issue is what happens when there is something wrong with a train? I had met my mother in Chicago (she took the train from Toledo. I took the train from Indy) for a weekend of shopping. I had taken this train several times, and it had never been late. I knew getting in at 1:00 a.m. would make getting up for work a little rough. I was willing to take that risk. It still gave me a few hours of sleep, plus I could sleep on the train. Instead there was a problem with our initial train. By the time they remedied the problem, we did not get in until almost 5:00 a.m. That gave me enough time to rush home take a shower and hurry off to work. I had been so upset about the delay that I did could not sleep the whole way home. The next day at work was miserable. More funding could be used to implement a more timely process.
Another way that Amtrak has suffered has been in Customer Service. With their funding cut, their Customer Service has suffered greatly. Every time a train has been delayed, no one has ever apologized for the inconvenience. I have been at the Chicago Station, and I have tried to find out how long my train is delayed for, and no one there will tell me anything. I have had to call the 1-800 number to get information on my train. Some of the ticket checkers have been known to be overly forceful and even a bit abusive to customers. I had one checker basically shove me into the line of passengers in front of me.
When there has been rudeness or a delay, no amends were offered. Your only recourse is to contact customer relations. They are understaffed and overwhelmed. While I have never had a bad experience dealing with them one on one, getting their attention can be cumbersome. If you e-mail, they are so understaffed it will take them a while to get to you. I e-mailed in my complaint, and the initial staff did get back to me with in 24 hours. That person told me my e-mail had been referred on to another person and they would get back to me shortly.
Weeks go by and I hear nothing, so I e-mail again to ask about my status. I receive another e-mail back apologizing for the delay. The e-mail instructs me to call in. They tell me to press zero at the opening menu, and that will take me to Customer Relations. I dial the 1-800 number, and I press 0 as directed. It doesn’t take me to Customer Relations, it only repeats the menu. Once I repeat the menu, I list for any option resembling Customer Relations. Nothing comes up. Finally I give up. I get connected with a booking agent, and I apologize profusely for my intrusion. I explain I was just trying to follow the directions listed in the e-mail and ask to be transferred to Customer Relations.
Once I do finally speak to a Customer Relations Rep, she is very nice and helpful. She listens to my complaint, and makes note of the details. The woman answered my questions the best she could. I realize she doesn’t know everything, but she was at least honest with me. He replies never sounded scripted, and she at least seemed very willing to help. She makes arrangements to send me a voucher for my trouble. The woman apologized for noot getting back to me sooner. She explained that the number of e-mails had been crushing as of late. They were trying to keep up the best they could. Maybe if Amtrak had more money, they could hire more Customer Relations Reps, or at least redo to menu so you can find them.
Amtrak has a great deal of potential. If they were given more funds, they could easily remedy their key problems. However, if the government keeps pulling the funding Amtrak will become obsolete. How can you help? The best way to help is to take the cause to the men and women who hold the purse strings. Write your local Congressmen. Tell them you want more Amtrak funding. Write to the President and the Vice President. Let them know that you value Amtrak, and the service it provides. Let them know you do not appreciate them trying to take Amtrak away.
