Virtually all of this is wrong.
There were two phases to it. The first, around 2016, was the elimination of the national timetable book. It was dropped because the demand just wasn't there. They were producing actual trash. Demand plunged following the introduction of the smartphone. Every year, they were reducing the print run size to meet the actual number that they were actually distributing every year, but this was happening at a rate that would have reached a print run size of zero around 2019. They decided to retain the single route cards at this point.
The second was the elimination of the route cards around 2020. This one has a bit of an odder reason. The route cards were produced as a side task of a single senior employee. This individual maintained the timetable in an Excel spreadsheet, very rudimentary stuff. There was an understanding that the individual route cards were to be discontinued at the same time as the national timetable and go with a fully digital model. However, they compromised and retained the route cards until the employee making them retired. That happened in 2020, in line with the rather useful opportunity of having massive schedule fluctations that precluded print runs anyhow.
Talked to my son last night. Among the conversation he volunteered that his wife and eldest daughter would using Amtrak from Kansas City to St. Louis and return at the end of July for a Girl Scouts field trip.
Thought I would look at Amtrak.com to see what the opportunities were between the locations in each direction.
Amtrak puts you through the wringer to come up with simple schedules and don't tell you much once you do come up with the schedule times.
One anomaly I happened upon when looking at possible St. Louis to Kansas City options was to leave St.L at 6:35 AM and to to Chicago on Lincoln Service and then lay over for more than three hours in Chicago to catch at 'direct' train from Chicago at 2:50 PM (Southwest Chief) and get to Kansas City at 10 PM ... who are they trying to market this to? The alternatives are Missouri River Runner departing at 8:10 AM and arriving KC at 1:50 PM or a Lincoln/River Runner departing at 3:11 PM and arriving KC at 8:51 PM.
Amtrak is not making it easy.
As info - Driving time on I-70 between the locations is a nominal FOUR hour drive.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Most of the people grousing about no timetables are the collectors...
http://dixielandsoftware.net/Amtrak/status/StatusMaps/
DixielandSoftware site keeps track of the Amtrak network. By clicking on a geographic area you get a representation of the trains operating in that area. Trains operating are shown by their train number with the number being displayed in Green, Yellow or Red. Green is OT to 30 minutes late; Yellow is 30"L to 2'00L, Red is over 2 hours late. Clicking on the train ID will give on the functional 'timetable' of the train's scheduled stops and how it performed at stations it has already passed.
I saved a few of them and when I am riding a train, I cut out the timetable for that one and take it with me. Stops are usually the same and many times , the schedule is too. Then I put it away when I return in a folder with others. and works quite well. I have no idea why they did away with them, glad I kept a few. I have looked at website and cannot see any schedules on there any longer and not even trains by name.
Just tell the conductor where you want to get off and ask him or her notify you about when you are about to arrive. Try it, it works like a charm.
Timetables are different for airlines and trains. It is important for passengers on trains to know that the stop they just had means the next stop is where to get off. I would like to know how many passengers miss or almost miss their stop. Most airplane flights stop at just one airport. Then maybe a connection. Except maybe SW with 3 or 4 stops.
But we have persons on a train that makes multiple stops. Especially LD with 8 - 14 stops over 2+ days.
It's okay if there are no printed timetables. But no excuse for no online ones.
Many people want general info about where Amtrak goes, and when.
How hard can this be?
Still in training.
What I remember was that Amtrak first started discussing eliminating expensively-printed paper timetables when 'photo-quality' home printers started to become ubiquitous and "nominally" cheap. Those who wanted a paper copy could then easily just print one... and then another if or when the information changed... shifting the cost to the end-user where I agree it ought to belong.
My great objection is that Amtrak is not updating its on-screen timetables, probably in part since phones don't have printers and aren't optimized to display timetables legibly. The great problem is that the current 'user interface' presumes that passengers already know where they want to get on and off and what date and time they want to travel... so you have to enter those things explicitly to get any information. You could still extract a timetable of sorts, but you have to do an awful lot of work and have no real idea if or when service or schedule changes are made.
Just about the last timetables left in print are for suburban service (rail and bus) and city transit (usually maps but some timetables for individual routes may be available).
My recollection is that Amtrak quit printing timetables (even on their website) during the pandemic because the schedules were changing so often, that even an electronic version would quickly become an artifact.
Sears used to publish what was called the WISH BOOK. My wish book was the OFFICIAL GUIDE.
rdamon zugmann Timetables are between the phone books and the new car brochures. Or going to AAA to get a packet of maps for your trip
zugmann Timetables are between the phone books and the new car brochures.
Timetables are between the phone books and the new car brochures.
Or going to AAA to get a packet of maps for your trip
And the AAA Trip-tik paged maps following your complete journey. Start to Finish.
jeffhergertThat people have been conditioned to just put in locations and dates and let the computer do the work.
And since you can do that, why waste the time with a timetable?
Not a matter of people being stupid, it's about is it really needed?
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
They probably think people are too stupid or too lazy, or a combination of both, to use an actual timetable. Even one on a website. That people have been conditioned to just put in locations and dates and let the computer do the work.
Jeff
Airlines haven't had printed schedules for years. The last one that I had was for Northwest.
Here we have another case of putting all your eggs in one basket. Amtrak's lack of TTs IMO it appears that Amtrak can have every potential passenger to follow into one method of making reservations. That just is not so. Certainly the airlines are not doing that now. However with the insane loads on airplanes will airlines fall into the same trap?
Load factors in the 60s - early 80s ran from 45 - 60% depending on travel season.
Any type of question about Amtrak's decision making might be answered with the knowledge that the Board and senior management perhaps are in their positions because of the Dunham/Kruger factor. Somewhat similar to the "Peter Principle" whereby those with extreme self confidence, the ability to be absolutely blind to their lack of knowledge, possessing a remarkable ability to bluff others into letting them into positions of power and a truly amazing skill at getting away with awful decisions without skipping a beat.
Yes, there is a place for internet based travel planning/ticketing, just as there is for brick and mortar stores, Amazon, and catalog shopping and a company probably should be doing all three thereby giving customers and potential customer the most options. I travel with holdover copies of individual schedules so when I wake up, look out the sleeper window and see Fort Morgan, I know that in about an hour, I will be arriving in Denver on the CZ and should get myself ready to go.
I can remember ordering a copy of the first passenger-only edition of the OG back in 1974. Basically, it included Amtrak and Canadian intercity schedules plus the names and addresses of the various suburban operators but NOT their schedules. It was a bit of a disappointment.
My airline experience when flying puddle jumpers was many persons would pull out the route specific TT to know what next stop(s) would be. That would be equivalent to today's multi stop trains.
Auto train very few need timetable or would concerned however the Florence service stop might interest some persons.
BEAUSABRE Fred M Cain But with the $66 BILLION dollars that Amtrak has supposedly gotten access to, why not? Pollution, recycling, etc - the great bogeymen of our times. How many printed TT's just ended up in the trash when DST began or ended. How many were just left on station benches and tossed on the ground. AMTK wants to be seen as a good, non-polluting neighbor and also doesn't want to pay more than it has to for janitorial services. And where is the great demand from the public for TT's. Fans might love sitting in the den pouring over a TT and dreaming. Everyone else pretty much knows where they want to go and when. It just took me less than 60 seconds to look up a trip Amtrak Tickets, Schedules and Train Routes
Fred M Cain But with the $66 BILLION dollars that Amtrak has supposedly gotten access to, why not?
Pollution, recycling, etc - the great bogeymen of our times. How many printed TT's just ended up in the trash when DST began or ended. How many were just left on station benches and tossed on the ground. AMTK wants to be seen as a good, non-polluting neighbor and also doesn't want to pay more than it has to for janitorial services. And where is the great demand from the public for TT's. Fans might love sitting in the den pouring over a TT and dreaming. Everyone else pretty much knows where they want to go and when. It just took me less than 60 seconds to look up a trip Amtrak Tickets, Schedules and Train Routes
Maybe someone could publish 'The Official Guide to Railway Passenger Schedules'.
Containing all Amtrak schedules as well as all tourist railroad operations as well as all rail commuter operations.
[/sarcasm]
CMStPnP They stopped with the timetables because thanks to most our Class I freight lines, Amtrak trains are notoriously late and they are probably tired of the public complaining about it. So adopting the frieght railroad philosophy of the train will get there when it gets there, I suspect Amtrak hopes to reduce complaints.
They stopped with the timetables because thanks to most our Class I freight lines, Amtrak trains are notoriously late and they are probably tired of the public complaining about it. So adopting the frieght railroad philosophy of the train will get there when it gets there, I suspect Amtrak hopes to reduce complaints.
This: https://www.railpassengers.org/resources/amtrak-timetables/
is a good website for timetables. However, as it is not an official AMTK site, I'm not sure how quickly it gets edited to reflect changes. For example, I see nothing on there at the moment about the suspension of the Silver Meteor currently in effect.
I'm not necessarily lobbying for printed timetables. Mainly I just want timetables on Amtrak's website. I thought I had read that they are bringing them back, but AFAIK nothing has happened on that front yet.
EnzoampsWhere would they get a paper schedule anyway?
Doesn't METRA still have staffed stations and ticketing windows with people in them with large racks and racks of timetables as far as the eye can see?
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