Refocusing Amtrak

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SP9033

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

I took the Coast Starlight for the last time back in the 80s. They fed me a microwaved hamburger because their grill failed enroute. They didn't tell me how they were preparing the food and the Steward was a real peice of work making it the passengers' fault for his problem. I ended up in the hospital for three days suffering from ameobic dysentery. It took all of my willpower not to retain counsel and bring suit after that. I've been on Amtrak since, but I doubt I'll ever go back to the Coast Starlight.

LC

LC,

That's a pretty hefty charge to put on our bothers and sisters of labor. Can you scan the hospital bill along with your tickets. I seem to understand you play hard and fast with the facts, sort of like that Rush Limbaugh guy.

Jim

Jim -

What I said has absolutely nothing to do with any Labor/Management dispute and everything to do with proper customer service provided by a passenger carrier, Amtrak. I guess you just have to paint everything with that labor union brush. It is all just a one issue world to you. And you wonder why jobs are heading offshore. If we don't take better care of our customers, we will have none. Trying to drag labor disputes into customer service only demonstrates that you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Oh, and Rush Limbaugh and I have nothing in common and I resent that idiotic insinuation.

At least you are predictable, if unintelligent...

LC

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Limitedclear

I took the Coast Starlight for the last time back in the 80s. They fed me a microwaved hamburger because their grill failed enroute. They didn't tell me how they were preparing the food and the Steward was a real peice of work making it the passengers' fault for his problem. I ended up in the hospital for three days suffering from ameobic dysentery. It took all of my willpower not to retain counsel and bring suit after that. I've been on Amtrak since, but I doubt I'll ever go back to the Coast Starlight.

LC

LC,

That's a pretty hefty charge to put on our bothers and sisters of labor. Can you scan the hospital bill along with your tickets. I seem to understand you play hard and fast with the facts, sort of like that Rush Limbaugh guy.

Jim

[Anonymous]

I took the Coast Starlight for the last time back in the 80s. They fed me a microwaved hamburger because their grill failed enroute. They didn't tell me how they were preparing the food and the Steward was a real peice of work making it the passengers' fault for his problem. I ended up in the hospital for three days suffering from ameobic dysentery. It took all of my willpower not to retain counsel and bring suit after that. I've been on Amtrak since, but I doubt I'll ever go back to the Coast Starlight.

LC

[AntonioFP45]

Dherbert53,

I've stated this before, but here on the east coast the Silver Service trains have been running with heavy loads from New York to Florida.

[DaveBr]

Me too,I also enjoy the Coast Starlite from Glendale to Albany,Oregon..Me and my wife take it twice a year.Now on April 25 they will no longer stop here in Glendale,Calif.
So if I continue to go to Oregon we will have to go into LosAngeles or over to their new
depot in Van Nuys.Or maybe take the metrolink to the Van Nuys Station,or even take Amtrak California over to take Amtrak.Grrrr. Dave Bryce,Glendale

[overall]

I am not very trustful of President Bush on this one. Just look at how his brother Jeb crushed the High Speed Rail corridor in Florida. He did extra legal things to stop the HSR that he has not done for Terri Chaivo. My feeling is that he was paying a political debt to the highway lobby.

George

[Green Bay Paddlers]

Take a look at how METRA is doing things in the Chicago area. Now they're talking about running all the way to Milwaukee. Right now I like their business model...

[TheS.P.caboose]

Very accurate reporting on the Coast Starlight and Southern Pacific's trains.

Here in California, there has been some talk of getting a high speed passenger train running between Los Angeles and San Francisco. While the talks have been going on, I haven't seen much as far as action goes.

[Anonymous]

My wife and I just got back from riding round trip on the Coast Starlight.

Mostly, the trip was a joy. We were wined and travelogued in the parlor car, dined and introduced to new friends in the diner.

The train is a gem...BUT, in my opinion, it's more of a national landmark than a viable means of transportation. We arrived in Seattle over two hours late and in Los Angeles five hours late. No problem for us diehard railfans, but I doubt if the young couple that we met en route will ever take a train again. Fifty years ago, the Southern Pacific's trains ran faster and almost always ON TIME. And, like every Amtrak train we have ever experienced, there was a staff of dedicated employees...and one rude individual who had no concept of customer service.

As much as I love trains, I don't think that the government should be running a railroad...especially over vast distances of the American landscape.

When Amtrak started in 1971, Congress talked a lot about it developing corridors, between cities about 400 miles apart, distances inefficient for either air or highway travel. In the 34 years that have followed, only one new corridor has been sucessfully inaugurated, the Portland-Seattle corridor, and that with a lot of state funding. Most of Amtrak's resources in the meantime have been spent on an attempt to keep the long-distance system running, with mediocre results.

If Mr. Bush is smart, he will leave one or two good long distance trains (I'll vote for the Coast Starlight) and focus on high speed rail in the most heavily populated corridors.

Dean In Cincy