Why can't we get trains to work?
I had a friend come in from Rochester today who was assured when she boarded the train at 8:27 this morning that since the bad weather was mostly in Albany and to the south and east, that she should get here on time.
I arrived at the station about 20 minutes before the scheduled arrival at 12:50 p.m. and was startled by the crowd. Many, I soon learned, had been waiting hours for delayed trains headed south, into the teeth of the bad weather.
I called my friend to check on her progress and found out that she was still west of Schenectady and creeping along, for some undisclosed reason, at about 15 mph. She finally arrived about 2:15 p.m., or almost an hour and a half late. She almost could have bicycled from Schenectady faster.
But why should I be surprised? I remember going to Rochester for work a few years ago by car, and deciding that Emily would join me for the weekend there. The train seemed like the logical answer - but the train ended up being four hours (!) late. We haven't tried that again.
Insert your own horror stories here, as well as tales of fast, efficient trains in Europe and Asia. I will skip all of the press conferences I have covered over the years promising yet another new program to speed rail serviced.
But on a good note, my friend was impressed with the new train station across the river from Albany. Far different from the dump in Rochester, she noted.
Then again, she mentioned that only a handful of people got on the train in Rochester.
Wonder why?
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Trains are always on time in Korea and go 160 miles an hour. Our health care system is rated #37. I wonder what # our train system is. Your rants are great!
ReplyDeleteI also had someone coming in yesterday - from Buffalo - and his train was also late, also crawling starting west of Schenectady. His 5 hour ride turned into 6+.
ReplyDeleteI am fearful about my trip to NYC tomorrow.
Ah Amtrak!
Rant:
ReplyDeleteAmtrak is also horribly overpriced for their service. I never ride with them any more.
I have never been a regular Amtrak rider, though I love trains (when they work). I've taken Amtrak probably about twenty times and twice they've broken down during the trip. Both times we were stuck on the tracks for hours before they pulled us into a station.
One time (prior to cell phones), I was headed down to NYC and they finally pulled us into Croton-Harmon station and transferred us to Metro-North. We ended up at Grand Central four hours later, my ride of course was waiting for me at Penn Station.
The other, I was on my way back from Buffalo and we sat on the tracks for hours with no lights before getting pulled into Utica to wait another hour or so for a new train.
No compensation either time.
I had wonderful experiences backpacking in Europe and seeing England, France, Italy and Switzerland by Train.