Are there Amtrak timetables these days? Not necessarily the printed ones but on their website?I searched yesterday, even asked on their help chat line (no answer) and couldnt find one. One must enter date, origin and destination for a train schedule. I like looking at a timetable to make decisions.
thanks,
Ed
Just spent time on line and on phone with Amtrak.
Timetables (printed or pdfs) are history. You must now enter origin and destination and date to get info.
It's going to get worse.
Don't be too surprised when you read that the Spring timetable will be published on the Amtrak website only in Cyrillic or Mandarin.
Like a bank says when they close a branch office, it's all "To serve you better...."
No timetables: ridiculous.
These are not official, but you can get timetables from the Rail Passenger Association website:
https://www.railpassengers.org/resources/amtrak-timetables/
You can browse their timetables and then confirm availability on Amtrak.
But agreed - Amtrak not publishing timetables is an abomination.
And just when was the last time you were able to pick up an airline timetable? Besides the enthusiasts, who really cares?
Thanks for the link...exactly what I wanted!
adkrr64But agreed - Amtrak not publishing timetables is an abomination.
Why? They have virtually no use for the majority of the riding public. They're an artifact of a increasingly long gone era when information was distributed on paper. They're as antiquated as a physical paper ticket for a football game.
NittanyLionThey have virtually no use for the majority of the riding public. They're an artifact of a increasingly long gone era when information was distributed on paper. They're as antiquated as a physical paper ticket for a football game.
I take your point, but I respectfully disagree because it would cost Amtrak virtually nothing to have timetables on their website, as they did previously. No one here expects them to ever print such a thing again.
Are slide rules still made? Why?
NCDOT publishes it's own timetables for the Carolinian and Piedmont services. They are available online, in the stations and from crews and train hosts and are very often requested.
The failure of Amtrak to provide even a pdf format time table for all services simply shows their lack of interest or concern for their own customers.
NittanyLionWhy? They have virtually no use for the majority of the riding public. They're an artifact of a increasingly long gone era when information was distributed on paper. They're as antiquated as a physical paper ticket for a football game.
In this age of on-line everything, I agree that a print version is of little use, except maybe as you are travelling so you know what's going by the window.
On the other hand, having even an on-line timetable that would allow one to see available routes and schedules might actually bring in business (although some question if that's even a goal any more).
I can only hope that if I want to go from Point A to Point B on Amtrak, that the system is smart enough to know what the nearest station is to each terminus.
If I want to fly from A to B, I can put that into one of the on-line travel sites and I'll get all available flights between those points.
Which raises the question, is Amtrak a party to any of that? If I want to travel from Syracuse to Denver, will an Amtrak routing even show up?
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Nickle Plate....I found the Amtrak system to be extremely difficult to navigate. With multiple trains it would have been much easier to look at a pdf timetable.
BTW...I have a collection of 25 slide rules. Use one frequently.
Guess I am old school.
Does Amtrak still print employee timetables? Other railroads?
MidlandMike Does Amtrak still print employee timetables? Other railroads?
I have ETTs for both railroads I run over. They are really time tables, though. They just list all the stuff we need to know to run on the railroad - track chart, stations, crossings, special considerations, etc.
I have a fairly recent CSX ETT - which is basically the same as I just described.
"Just spent time on line and on phone with Amtrak.
Timetables (printed or pdfs) are history. You must now enter origin and destination and date to get info."
In other words, its just like my making an airline reservation. I'm not sure I see any real problem with this.
alphasIn other words, its just like my making an airline reservation. I'm not sure I see any real problem with this.
I would opine that the difference is that if you're flying from A to B, there are usually several flights daily, and likely on several airlines (except the really small places). So your decision comes down to what time you want to fly, and on which airline.
If you are making a trip that might involve several "hops," that will all get laid out for you, with options.
If you want to take the train from A to B, which days does it run? Aside from the corridors, there aren't a lot of trains running, really. If I'm planning a trip, it would be nice to be able to see what's available at a glance, instead of having to put in city pairs to see if the service I'd like is even offered when I want it.
I would also add that unlike airlines, rail travel often provides options to either get on or off at a smaller intermediate station instead of just large end point cities. Having a timetable allows one to see those potential locations in the context of the entire route. To use the web site, one either has to know in advance where the stations are or do that reasearch prior to loading end point pairs. Timetables make this process much easier.
tree68Which raises the question, is Amtrak a party to any of that? If I want to travel from Syracuse to Denver, will an Amtrak routing even show up?
The online travel sites won't, because most of the stations aren't assigned airport codes anyhow. Without IATA or ICAO codes, there's no real way to insert them into the system. Just cramming in the station codes is going to create conflicts at worst and unclear routings at best. I'm not sure how much use they are anyhow. I can't even get European ones to work on travel sites (XIK for Milan, for instance).
Google Maps does pull Amtrak data for travel routing. I decided a student living on campus at Syracuse wanted to go to the Wings over the Rockies Museum in Denver. https://tinyurl.com/bwk8f3eu
tree68 alphas In other words, its just like my making an airline reservation. I'm not sure I see any real problem with this. I would opine that the difference is that if you're flying from A to B, there are usually several flights daily, and likely on several airlines (except the really small places). So your decision comes down to what time you want to fly, and on which airline. If you are making a trip that might involve several "hops," that will all get laid out for you, with options. If you want to take the train from A to B, which days does it run? Aside from the corridors, there aren't a lot of trains running, really. If I'm planning a trip, it would be nice to be able to see what's available at a glance, instead of having to put in city pairs to see if the service I'd like is even offered when I want it.
alphas In other words, its just like my making an airline reservation. I'm not sure I see any real problem with this.
Here is an example for alphas; similar to your trip - Syracuse to Denver:
If I was a person who knew absolutely nothing about Amtrak, it's routes and services (which is probably quite a few people in USA Today) and I wanted to take a train from Columbia, SC {personal note, this is near where I live} to Chicago, IL: I could go to the Amtrak web site and enter these two end point cities. Guess what? The web site would tell me "no train service available between these two cities". So I would probably just forget Amtrak and make other travel arrangements. I happen to know however, that you CAN take a train (actually two trains) from Columbia to Chicago. To do so requires taking the Silver Star Columbia to Washington, DC. Spending the night in DC. Then taking the Capitol Limited to Chicago (an overnight train). If timetables of both these trains were available on the Amtrak website, (which they used to be) I could have figured out how to make the connections and then could have made the reservations for this trip. But as it stands now, the Amtrak website simply tells you there is no train service between these two cities! Because an overnight layover - off the train -is involved; the website can't connect these two cities by train.
[Note: I have made such a trip several times.]
[Note 2: At one time you could make the connection between trains at Washington, DC the SAME DAY. Meaning the same trip could be made without the overnight layover in DC. At some point, probably late 1990's or early 2000"s, Amtrak changed the schedules of the two trains making it not possible to connect the same day. You CAN, however, make a same day connection in Washington traveling the other direction - Chicago to Columbia!]
NKP:Picked up a great K&E 4081-3S this weekend at an estate sale, along with the leather pouch, original box and the instruction manual. Total cost for the slide rule and several other items was $5.00. Nice addition to my collection.
Anything of printed documentes within the rr industry are moving towards digital formats. No more hard copies. Just like in the freight industry, Amtrak has chosen to keep their clients in the dark with as little info as possible.
Sam
MP173NKP: Picked up a great K&E 4081-3S this weekend at an estate sale, along with the leather pouch, original box and the instruction manual. Total cost for the slide rule and several other items was $5.00. Nice addition to my collection. Ed
That's great! And only five dollars?
The day I successfully used a slide rule was a big deal to me! Use it in good health.
* * * * * **
Does anyone know why we can't private-message others on the forum? Is this to be permanent?
NKP guyThe day I successfully used a slide rule was a big deal to me! Use it in good health.
If you have a previously established PM thread going with someone, last time I checked you could still add to it. You just can't start a new thread.
railfanjohn tree68 alphas In other words, its just like my making an airline reservation. I'm not sure I see any real problem with this. I would opine that the difference is that if you're flying from A to B, there are usually several flights daily, and likely on several airlines (except the really small places). So your decision comes down to what time you want to fly, and on which airline. If you are making a trip that might involve several "hops," that will all get laid out for you, with options. If you want to take the train from A to B, which days does it run? Aside from the corridors, there aren't a lot of trains running, really. If I'm planning a trip, it would be nice to be able to see what's available at a glance, instead of having to put in city pairs to see if the service I'd like is even offered when I want it. Here is an example for alphas; similar to your trip - Syracuse to Denver: If I was a person who knew absolutely nothing about Amtrak, it's routes and services (which is probably quite a few people in USA Today) and I wanted to take a train from Columbia, SC {personal note, this is near where I live} to Chicago, IL: I could go to the Amtrak web site and enter these two end point cities. Guess what? The web site would tell me "no train service available between these two cities". So I would probably just forget Amtrak and make other travel arrangements. I happen to know however, that you CAN take a train (actually two trains) from Columbia to Chicago. To do so requires taking the Silver Star Columbia to Washington, DC. Spending the night in DC. Then taking the Capitol Limited to Chicago (an overnight train). If timetables of both these trains were available on the Amtrak website, (which they used to be) I could have figured out how to make the connections and then could have made the reservations for this trip. But as it stands now, the Amtrak website simply tells you there is no train service between these two cities! Because an overnight layover - off the train -is involved; the website can't connect these two cities by train. [Note: I have made such a trip several times.] [Note 2: At one time you could make the connection between trains at Washington, DC the SAME DAY. Meaning the same trip could be made without the overnight layover in DC. At some point, probably late 1990's or early 2000"s, Amtrak changed the schedules of the two trains making it not possible to connect the same day. You CAN, however, make a same day connection in Washington traveling the other direction - Chicago to Columbia!]
Exactly. That's why timetables are needed.
The website as it is will in many cases say that a trip is impossible.
But it may be possible the following day. It may be possible with certain layovers. In the case of Amtrak, potential travelers need to have a better understanding of the Big Picture in order to make decisions on when/where/how to go.
I don't want printed timetables; they are not necessary. But it would be simple for Amtrak to put the timetables online. If the Rail Passenger Association can do it, why not Amtrak?
It's easy to say "only railfans care." But there are a lot of people who are afraid to fly, or cannot afford to; or people who just want to see the country from ground level (and not just from a bus's Interstate highway view). If these people understood more clearly what's available, Amtrak would have more customers. Those people wouldn't automatically look to another mode. And the beleaguered Amtrak telephone sales agents would not have to deal with as many people who are totally clueless, which takes up lots of time and backs up the phone queue.
It's about a simple feature that could inform people and simplify train travel planning, and there is virtually NO downside in doing so.
The questions maybe should be: a) does Amtrak care about the traveling public, and b) does Amtrak actually want more customers?
Still in training.
I agree that a printable pdf file wold be an excellent idea. However, I do think that "afraid to fly" is more of a red herring and not a real reason. Can't afford to fly is not that viable, either. Anybody who is willing to plan a few months in advance can get a pretty good airfare.
CSSHEGEWISCH I agree that a printable pdf file wold be an excellent idea. However, I do think that "afraid to fly" is more of a red herring and not a real reason. Can't afford to fly is not that viable, either. Anybody who is willing to plan a few months in advance can get a pretty good airfare.
I was planning a trip to the PNW some years ago. I thought about making an adventure of it and taking the train. The coach fares were generally about equal, but the thought of 2-3 days in a coach seat each way wasn't all that attractive. A room added some $800 to the cost.
Using google maps is a great way to see all the different ways to go.
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