I've been buying tickets and riding trains since Harry Truman was President. Today, I feel like I need to repeat Trains 101. I am planning a round-trip from New York to Florida. I have been at the computer for hours. Is it within the realm of conception that it is no longer possible, anywhere and any place, to obtain a real, honest-to-gosh timetable for the Florida service, with all the stations enroute and the arrival and departure times, rather than airline-style "Where are you starting from and where are you going, and on what day?" websites? Can anyone provide guidance?
Wow, They have not made it easy to know what is available. They have removed any links to timetables from their website. They used to have them. Bean counters cut them out I suspect. I used to use Official Guides back in PreAmtrak days to dream up trips. And then the Amtrack Timetables which were up to 50 pages or more. Thought I might try to ask an agent so I called 800 USA-RAIL to see if I could get directions to them. AMTRAK's "JULIE" (automated voice system) answered and I requested an "agent." Got message "Due to high call volume, your wait time is one hour! or you can be called back when an agent is available. .....and then "Your call is Important to us" BS. Good luck in your quest.
So being persistant, I tried Google and I found a path! This was the output for train 91. NYP--MIA.
https://www.amtrak.com/tickets/schedule-results.html and that is what I got after inputing a train and date but it is a search output and so ignore it.
I started at: https://www.amtrak.com/train-schedules-timetables
You have to put in the end points plus a date and then select a train, then expand the time line.
In June we took a multi-leg Amtrak trip. Beforehand, it took all of my detective skills to find timetables, and hours of time, but finally I did.
But I just tried again, for Florida Service. No luck. Nada.
There is a page where you can type in your start and end cities, and your dates. There is a button that says Get Schedules; when you click on it, nothing happens. This is friggin pathetic. I try to give Amtrak every benefit of the doubt, but they don't make it easy. It's maddening.
If Amtrak wants the public and the Congress to take them seriously, they need to get their $#!t together, for Pete's sake.
No timetables????? You can't make this stuff up.
Still in training.
You can always follow the following link. The second link is a Meteor trip for today. At least it has all the times. Just select your train number on first link and the click on the train number at the upper left corner. Then print.
Amtrak/VIA Live Map (transitdocs.com)
Amtrak 98 (9/15) (transitdocs.com)
blue streak 1 You can always follow the following link. The second link is a Meteor trip for today. At least it has all the times. Just select your train number on first link and the click on the train number at the upper left corner. Then print. Amtrak/VIA Live Map (transitdocs.com) Amtrak 98 (9/15) (transitdocs.com)
That is so Amtrak. It's easier to find out when a train DID travel than when it WILL travel. Yes the scheduled time is on there. But there is nothing saying how long that schedule is in effect. You can't count on that.
Thanks to all for their interest and efforts. What I will do is print one of my old Silver Service timetables from my collection with the times blanked out, then add the current schedule to that column. I did try the "Call Amtrak" route several times; actually got a busy signal three times, then told twice of long wait times, then inputted my number for a callback when it was convenient for them, got the callback about an hour later, asked the agent about timetables, was told there were none but go online, asked where online, was told she didn't know as she had no access to the Atk website from her phone. Seems to me one of the railfan websites could make these up and charge a few bucks for them. I'd be a happy customer. On the other hand, maybe just a tiny minority of us left. I like to ask people using GPS in their cars if they can read a map. Many can't.
This morning I found this timetable, but not on the Amtrak site. It's a pdf copy of the real deal. It unfortunately doesn't say how long it's good for, but it does say it became effective on 10/10/20.
I hope this is somewhat helpful. Maybe if by phone you could confirm the departure time and the destination arrival time of the train you are interested in, you could assume this schedule is still in effect. At least with this timetable you can get a rough (or maybe accurate) comparison of each train's sched.
Also, if you stop by a station, you may be able to pick up a physical copy of the timetable; I was able to do that in Galesburg IL in June.
Lithonia Operator This morning I found this timetable, but not on the Amtrak site. It's a pdf copy of the real deal. It unfortunately doesn't say how long it's good for, but it does say it became effective on 10/10/20. I hope this is somewhat helpful. Maybe if by phone you could confirm the departure time and the destination arrival time of the train you are interested in, you could assume this schedule is still in effect. At least with this timetable you can get a rough (or maybe accurate) comparison of each train's sched. Also, if you stop by a station, you may be able to pick up a physical copy of the timetable; I was able to do that in Galesburg IL in June.
Search "Amtrak status maps". It shows scheduled and real departure times and status for all trains that are currently on the move.
Rick
rixflix aka Captain Video. Blessed be Jean Shepherd and all His works!!! Hooray for 1939, the all time movie year!!! I took that ride on the Reading but my Baby caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride.
In all fairness, when was the last time you obtained a current airline timetable? It sounds like the experiences mentioned above remind me of Lynn picking out schedules for our vacations on the American Airlines website.
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