Saturday Night at Amtrak

President Obama is calling for increased federal funding to improve Amtrak, the passenger train company in America, especially in what’s called the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston. He wants to give Amtrak $1.3 Billion. 

Sounds like a pretty good idea but I doubt if the President has ever ridden on an Amtrak train between Washington, New York and Boston as an ordinary citizen. If he had, the first thing he would demand is an overhaul of Amtrak’s miserable customer service. He might also consider the explosion in popularity of bus service in the Northeast Corridor. At $25 each way, a bus costs about one-quarter the price of a train ticket, and many buses have WiFi. When people flock from the train to a bus, it is a sign that something is wrong. Examine the trends, Mr. President!

As an occasional Amtrak passenger between Washington and New York during the last 35 years, I can safely say that Amtrak has not improved its customer service in more than three decades. Ask most passengers, and you will hear horror stories of Amtrak’s arrogantly incompetent and indifferent customer service people.

• Passengers stand around, waiting for their train gate to appear on a big board. 
• When the gate appears, there’s a mad stampede to push and shove onto escalators to the train.
• Ask Amtrak personnel for information, and they shrug, say they have no idea and make no attempt to help.
• Lines at the customer service windows crawl along as snail’s pace, Amtrak agents completely indifferent to the needs of passengers.

This past Saturday evening, for example, I stood in line at Amtrak customer service in New York Penn station, and listened as I waited my turn in an attempt to get my ticket changed.

• A young couple with two small children had lost their tickets, and were desperate to get new tickets in order to get home. “There’s nothing I can do about it,” shrugged the customer service manager. Even I was stunned when he said Amtrak cannot replace lost tickets. When the young mother protested, he suggested that she contact Amtrak’s marketing department on Monday. I could not believe the level of indifference, an Amtrak employee who would not lift a finger to solve a passenger’s dilemma.
• Next, a young mother with four small children had lost her identification, except for a welfare card. The Amtrak personnel were not going to allow her on a train without the identification but they eventually relented with four crying children on their hands.

“There’s nothing I can do about it,” seems to be the mantra of Amtrak personnel. They take no responsibility, and make no attempts at solving passenger issues. 

I remember taking the train from New York to Washington in February 2003 during a snowstorm. The sliding doors of the passenger cars had gotten stuck open, and snow and frigid air were blowing in. Passengers were freezing.  ”There’s nothing I can do about it,” said the conductor.

Vice President Biden commuted between his home in Delaware and Washington many times, and loves the train. But, he has always been a VIP who has gotten VIP treatment. The focus now needs to be on ordinary passengers, not VIPs, starting with a dramatic overhaul of Amtrak’s customer service. Incidentally, a check Amtrak’s Web site shows no senior executive assigned to customer service. Sure seems like a broken business model to me.

Filed Under: Featured • Personal notes

Tags: Amtrak • President Obama • Vice President Joe Biden