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As someone who used the train in Japan extensively, it drives me crazy that Amtrak can’t do simple stuff like knowing what platform a train is going to come to,

As someone who used the train in Japan extensively, it drives me crazy that Amtrak can’t do simple stuff like knowing what platform a train is going to come to, let alone get the train to line up so the doors are in the right place. A train system run in a foreign language should not be simpler and less confusing than one in my native language!

saghm 3y ago
At Penn station, you used to be able to wait on the floor below (which has a staircase from the main floor as well as its own staircases down to each platform) and then just directly go down to your Amtrak as soon as you wanted rather than waiting for them to form a giant line. My dad taught me this trick, and we both used to use it to be able to avoid waiting longer, but once when I did it one of the Amtrak workers got super angry at me for it despite the fact that I did wait until after everyone leaving had come up, and as a socially awkward teen, I was too nervous to ever do it again. I suspect the rationale behind not telling people beforehand is that they don't want to have to deal with people trying to get on at the same time as people leaving, but I feel like the main reason people are so aggressive about trying to get to the train as fast as possible on Amtrak is precisely _because_ the system treats them as too irresponsible to get timely accurate information. If people didn't need to worry about having only a couple short minutes to avoid missing their train and could plan ahead where to be when the train arrived, I think that a lot of people wouldn't feel the need to try to jostle through the crowd to race each other for the earlier spots in the line.
- benesch 3y ago
  You can still do this. In fact, it’s even easier since the construction of the new mezzanine beneath Moynihan. There are glass windows on the mezzanine looking out onto the tracks beneath. If you’re good at differentiating train set for your train, you can easily spot your Amtrak train as it pulls in and head down to the platform well before the track is announced. Knock on wood, but I’ve never had anyone give me so much as a sideways glance for this. The red caps will let you down early if you ask for assistance anyway.
  - saghm 3y ago
    Nice! I haven't ridden on Amtrak nearly as much in recent years, so I've only boarded twice in Moynihan, but it's definitely a _lot_ nicer than Penn Station, and it's nice to hear that the benefits go beyond just cosmetic.
  - meetingthrower 3y ago
    Also a random aside here, but have you noticed the social media video folks setting up on this mezzanine to do dance videos? Every time I've been through lately I've seen squads of kids filming...
- dotnet00 3y ago
  >I suspect the rationale behind not telling people beforehand is that they don't want to have to deal with people trying to get on at the same time as people leaving, but I feel like the main reason people are so aggressive about trying to get to the train as fast as possible on Amtrak is precisely _because_ the system treats them as too irresponsible to get timely accurate information. If people didn't need to worry about having only a couple short minutes to avoid missing their train and could plan ahead where to be when the train arrived, I think that a lot of people wouldn't feel the need to try to jostle through the crowd to race each other for the earlier spots in the line. Agreed, this is the case with the LIRR, the tracks are usually known well ahead of time and so when the train arrives, people stand to the side of the doors so anyone on the train can get off, and then relatively orderly board the train. Very little rushing involved.
kmeisthax 3y ago
Amtrak is incompetent because it's primarily a government welfare program for exactly two kinds of people: - People in the northeast corridor (Boston, NYC, DC) taking Acela[0] - People who live in rural towns without airports The structure of Amtrak's ticket fees ensures the former subsidizes the latter, but the end result is the same: the vast majority of Americans do not give a shit about the functioning of commuter trains, so the organizations who run them are effectively vestigial. A microcosm of this is train priority. Under US law, if Amtrak runs a train on freight rail networks, Amtrak gets priority. In reality, freight operators tell Amtrak to go fuck themselves and Amtrak duly complies. This means that their schedules have no connection to reality and trains get delayed for hours because the freight operators need to send 40,000 cars worth of coal to Texas and none of their lines are dual-tracked. Nobody at Amtrak is actually going to try forcing the issue, though, because that requires money, and running a functioning train service is Not Their Job. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if their inability to properly announce platforms has something to do with the priority issue, too. If you don't know when a train is going to come you can't reserve a platform for it either. [0] Me: Mom, can we ride the Shinkansen? Mom: We have a Shinkansen at home. The Shinkansen at home:
- rtpg 3y ago
  I wonder how much it would cost to add extra tracks in places like the Seattle -> Eugene line (that I recently took, except that the trip back turned into a bus due to ... well, freight I think). It's mostly emptiness, my understanding is that actually laying the track isn't hard. But the more I think about other rail networks, the more I feel like I almost never see multi-track lines. I think these lines are also being used for freight and yet... is the US really just running uniquely long trains for freight?
  - SoftTalker 3y ago
    > is the US really just running uniquely long trains for freight Yes. By a large margin.
- wolfgang42 3y ago
  Amtrak says[1] that while they technically have priority, they have no power to enforce it (and the DoJ isn’t doing anything about the problem); so the best they can do is write an irritated-sounding PDF[2]. I think they’d like you to call your representative and ask them to get this fixed. [1] https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance [2] https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/HostRailroadReports/Amtrak-2022-Host-Railroad-Report-Card.pdf https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...
FateOfNations 3y ago
Not announcing the platform in advance is a conscious choice by Amtrak. They do it intentionally because they do not want people waiting on the platforms, ostensibly in the interests of safety and efficient passenger flow in the limited space. It's not really an matter of incompetence, Amtrak absolutely could announce the platforms in advance if they wanted to do that.

saghm 3y ago

At Penn station, you used to be able to wait on the floor below (which has a staircase from the main floor as well as its own staircases down to each platform) and then just directly go down to your Amtrak as soon as you wanted rather than waiting for them to form a giant line. My dad taught me this trick, and we both used to use it to be able to avoid waiting longer, but once when I did it one of the Amtrak workers got super angry at me for it despite the fact that I did wait until after everyone leaving had come up, and as a socially awkward teen, I was too nervous to ever do it again. I suspect the rationale behind not telling people beforehand is that they don't want to have to deal with people trying to get on at the same time as people leaving, but I feel like the main reason people are so aggressive about trying to get to the train as fast as possible on Amtrak is precisely _because_ the system treats them as too irresponsible to get timely accurate information. If people didn't need to worry about having only a couple short minutes to avoid missing their train and could plan ahead where to be when the train arrived, I think that a lot of people wouldn't feel the need to try to jostle through the crowd to race each other for the earlier spots in the line.

benesch 3y ago
You can still do this. In fact, it’s even easier since the construction of the new mezzanine beneath Moynihan. There are glass windows on the mezzanine looking out onto the tracks beneath. If you’re good at differentiating train set for your train, you can easily spot your Amtrak train as it pulls in and head down to the platform well before the track is announced. Knock on wood, but I’ve never had anyone give me so much as a sideways glance for this. The red caps will let you down early if you ask for assistance anyway.
- saghm 3y ago
  Nice! I haven't ridden on Amtrak nearly as much in recent years, so I've only boarded twice in Moynihan, but it's definitely a _lot_ nicer than Penn Station, and it's nice to hear that the benefits go beyond just cosmetic.
- meetingthrower 3y ago
  Also a random aside here, but have you noticed the social media video folks setting up on this mezzanine to do dance videos? Every time I've been through lately I've seen squads of kids filming...
dotnet00 3y ago
>I suspect the rationale behind not telling people beforehand is that they don't want to have to deal with people trying to get on at the same time as people leaving, but I feel like the main reason people are so aggressive about trying to get to the train as fast as possible on Amtrak is precisely _because_ the system treats them as too irresponsible to get timely accurate information. If people didn't need to worry about having only a couple short minutes to avoid missing their train and could plan ahead where to be when the train arrived, I think that a lot of people wouldn't feel the need to try to jostle through the crowd to race each other for the earlier spots in the line. Agreed, this is the case with the LIRR, the tracks are usually known well ahead of time and so when the train arrives, people stand to the side of the doors so anyone on the train can get off, and then relatively orderly board the train. Very little rushing involved.

kmeisthax 3y ago

Amtrak is incompetent because it's primarily a government welfare program for exactly two kinds of people: - People in the northeast corridor (Boston, NYC, DC) taking Acela[0] - People who live in rural towns without airports The structure of Amtrak's ticket fees ensures the former subsidizes the latter, but the end result is the same: the vast majority of Americans do not give a shit about the functioning of commuter trains, so the organizations who run them are effectively vestigial. A microcosm of this is train priority. Under US law, if Amtrak runs a train on freight rail networks, Amtrak gets priority. In reality, freight operators tell Amtrak to go fuck themselves and Amtrak duly complies. This means that their schedules have no connection to reality and trains get delayed for hours because the freight operators need to send 40,000 cars worth of coal to Texas and none of their lines are dual-tracked. Nobody at Amtrak is actually going to try forcing the issue, though, because that requires money, and running a functioning train service is Not Their Job. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if their inability to properly announce platforms has something to do with the priority issue, too. If you don't know when a train is going to come you can't reserve a platform for it either. [0] Me: Mom, can we ride the Shinkansen? Mom: We have a Shinkansen at home. The Shinkansen at home:

rtpg 3y ago
I wonder how much it would cost to add extra tracks in places like the Seattle -> Eugene line (that I recently took, except that the trip back turned into a bus due to ... well, freight I think). It's mostly emptiness, my understanding is that actually laying the track isn't hard. But the more I think about other rail networks, the more I feel like I almost never see multi-track lines. I think these lines are also being used for freight and yet... is the US really just running uniquely long trains for freight?
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  > is the US really just running uniquely long trains for freight Yes. By a large margin.
wolfgang42 3y ago
Amtrak says[1] that while they technically have priority, they have no power to enforce it (and the DoJ isn’t doing anything about the problem); so the best they can do is write an irritated-sounding PDF[2]. I think they’d like you to call your representative and ask them to get this fixed. [1] https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance [2] https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/HostRailroadReports/Amtrak-2022-Host-Railroad-Report-Card.pdf https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...

FateOfNations 3y ago

Not announcing the platform in advance is a conscious choice by Amtrak. They do it intentionally because they do not want people waiting on the platforms, ostensibly in the interests of safety and efficient passenger flow in the limited space. It's not really an matter of incompetence, Amtrak absolutely could announce the platforms in advance if they wanted to do that.