An Amtrak High-Speed Train Left New York Without Its PassengersRead more: http://www.businessinsider.com/an-amtrak-high-speed-train-left-new-york-without-its-passengers-2014-8#ixzz39TXlTVTb
An Amtrak Acela Express train left New York's Penn Station over the weekend without its passengers, The New York Daily News reports.
Eighty-five passengers waiting to board the Washington, D.C.-bound high-speed train were left stranded and bemused on the platform when it pulled out of the station without them. In an apparent communication mixup, passengers waiting to board the 3 p.m. train were told to go to one platform as Acela Express 2253 waited at another. In fact, several minutes passed before news of the train's departure even reached the then-stranded passengers.
"They literally sent us to the wrong platform, and the conductor took off without any passengers," Damien Miano, a stranded passenger told The Daily News. "The right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. It's just so bizarre."
According to the paper, stranded passengers were taken to a waiting room at the station, given food, and eventually accommodated on later Amtrak service.
In a statement to Business Insider, Amtrak apologized for the incident and said it was "investigating the circumstances" surrounding the mishap.
Freight carriers have 'Right Car, Right Train' metrics as a part of their Car Scheduling systems. Does Amtrak have a 'Right Passenger, Right Train' metric for getting passengers on the train they bought tickets for?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Semantics rears its ugly head again: "The train took off without its passengers." When passengers would ask me what time the train is going to take off, I used to respond "It won't. We taxi all the way." Then, after letting that sink in for a moment, I would tell them the departure time.
Amtrak operates Penn Station a lot like an airport, and they open the platform when the train gets there. Sounds like the new crew (crew change point) saw passengers, and assumed the passengers were on the train. Someone at NYP sent the passengers to the wrong platform, and no one realized it until the train had left on schedule.
Well, seeing as the train has Canadian heritage, "take off" might have a different sort of meaning...
"It's the beauty way to go" ?
I'm Sorry, but if I were a conductor on a train operating on the busiest corridor in the country, I would call upstairs to find out why ABSOLUTELY NO ONE is boarding my train, especially at 3:00pm on a Sunday afternoon.
The Daily News story (or the linked gloss written off of it) makes it sound as if the train did indeed leave with zero passengers aboard, which means it was captained by the most dense (or don't-give-a-damn) conductor around.
TRAINS' Newswire story was more ambiguous, sounding as if possibly "only" 85 passengers had been misdirected. It did not come right out and say the train left empty. (Careless writing.)
pajrrfind out why ABSOLUTELY NO ONE is boarding my train,
It doesn't say that. It only said 85 pax were left behind. Apparently, some boarded.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Overmod Well, seeing as the train has Canadian heritage, "take off" might have a different sort of meaning... "It's the beauty way to go" ?
OMG. SCTV. GWN!
From what I have gathered, the train did have passengers, as it was a Boston-DC train. There were approximately 200 passengers waiting, some who got on. There may have been a NJT train unloading on the other side of the platform. Because NYP is a crew change point, I can imagine that the crew has other things to do besides watch the passengers load.
The train arrived in Baltimore nine minutes late, according to Amtrak's site. No time is given as to when it left Baltimore--but it arrived in Washington fifty-eight minutes late.
Johnny
DeggestyThe train arrived in Baltimore nine minutes late, according to Amtrak's site. No time is given as to when it left Baltimore--but it arrived in Washington fifty-eight minutes late.
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
The big problem here is the way Amtrak mismanages Penn Station New York. Frequently an arrival or departure is spotted on a track and some or even all the escalators leading to the platform are left running in the wrong direction throughout the passenger boarding/alighting time frame.
Commuter trains of LIRR and NJT are held for boarding until the last minute; resulting in a dense mob that had collected on the concourse storming the gates and often making the departure a few minutes late. I once heard an Amtrak employee say of a large crowd making one of these last second boardings: "Heard those passengers down the stairs like cattle and load them on the train like hogs."
In contrast, Chicago's Metra has a policy to have trains spotted on the platform and immediately opened for more leisurely boarding not less than 15 minutes before scheduled departure.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.