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Amtrak is a nightmare. Their on time percentage is abysmal. https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance I've taken 4

Amtrak is a nightmare. Their on time percentage is abysmal. https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance I've taken 4 Amtrak trips in my life, 3 basically ruined the trip. First, when I was a kid we took a train to Chicago from Michigan and for whatever reason we checked a bag. They lost the bag with my favorite stuffed animal in it and I remember spending most of that weekend crying. Second, we tried going skiing in Whitefish Montana from Seattle and they made us take a bus to Spokane to "get the train back on schedule." We were something like 7 hours late getting to Spokane because of traffic and snow (not enough snow to mess up the train) and we missed a full day of skiing on our 2 day trip. (There'a a LOT more to that story that made it even more ridiculous.) Third trip was from Seattle to Portland and it went fine. Final trip was from Seattle to New Mexico. I had the time and figured it would be kinda cool to see the country by train. The first leg of the trip to LA was actually pretty fantastic, but shortly before arriving the second leg was canceled because one of their bridges burned down in a wildfire near Palm Springs. I realize that was a freak accident but they offered zero help and I had to scramble to find lodging and eventually a Greyhound bus to my destination.

AlbertCory 3y ago
> Third trip was from Seattle to Portland and it went fine. I did the other direction. It took over 4 hours, because the train had to go 20 mph due to flooding elsewhere. On the other hand, Boston -> NYC and NYC -> DC went fine. If you like trains, then take Amtrak for that. Not because you expect a great trip.
- LeafItAlone 3y ago
  Amtrak owns about 3/4 of the tracks between Boston and DC, so those will be their most reliable. That’s what I use it for the most. From my experience, that’s also more expensive than other trips, but I haven’t done an extensive comparison. Elsewhere, on tracks that are owned by others, especially commercial companies, Amtrak may not get priority, so things get dicier.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    it's probably unacceptable for Amtrak to just say "hey, we can't give good service on this route, and it's unprofitable anyway, so we're ending it." Congress would then say, "well, then, we're ending your subsidies." It would be an interesting exercise to see if they could be profitable, albeit smaller.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      If Amtrak were a normal business they’d probably run the Northeast Corridor route and just shut everything else down.
      - bombcar 3y ago
        NEC, Surfliner, maybe a few others. All the long distance routes save the auto train would be cancelled leaving only the commuter trains. If it has sleeper cars, it loses money. However Amtrak serves a portion of the population that are in areas not serviced by much else and I’m perfectly fine with subsidizing that outright. But that may be because choo choo go choo.
        AlbertCory 3y ago
        Yeah, I think you & ghaff have the right idea. But even Reagan didn't touch this one. Much political pain, not much gain.
pstuart 3y ago
I think that Amtrak is severely challenged by being a second-class citizen of the rails and at the whims and mercy of freight traffic. There's ways to address that but we don't have the collective political will to do so.
SoftTalker 3y ago
Yep, took Amtrack from Chicago to Las Vegas and was over 24 hours late arriving and luggage was another day late after that. At least they did send it to the hotel. Never again.
wolverine876 3y ago
> I've taken 4 Amtrak trips in my life C'mon, that's not a big sample size for such sweeping conclusions. I've taken many trips, more than I can count. On-time hasn't been a problem for me. But they've become very expensive.
- saganus 3y ago
  If you use/consume 4 of anything and 3 of those things are a bad experience, I think it's reasonable to have a bad opinion of said thing. Imagine buying 4 Cokes in you life and 3 of them being flat. Most people would probably consider Coke a bad product at that point, even if the sample size _is_ small. Or imagine going to a restaurant 4 times. and 3 of those times getting food poisoning. Most people would probably consider it a bad restaurant. I don't even know if most people would even manage 4 visits after getting food poisoning twice, let alone thrice.
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    It's not reasonable because it's unsupported by the evidence. I wouldn't be surprised if someone had bad feelings about it, but that's different than drawing conclusions about all of Amtrak everywhere.
    - chaps 3y ago
      Um. The evidence very much shows how much of a shitshow Amtrak is. Have a look at Grand Junction station delays for the past week[1]. Seven out of eleven have delays of over thirty minutes. Three of those are an hour late. One of them is a five hour delay. And in 2023 so far [2] it's 376 out of 524 that are at least 30 minutes late. 291 of those over an hour. 71 are over four hours late. 15 were eight hours late. And one was delayed by over 1000 minutes (16.75hr). A lot of this is because Amtrak doesn't have propriety over the lanes and has to yield to cargo traffic (though I'm not familiar with the nuances). [1] https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=&station=GJT&date_start=09%2F22%2F2023&date_end=09%2F29%2F2023&df1=1&df2=1&df3=1&df4=1&df5=1&df6=1&df7=1&sort=d_ar&sort_dir=DESC&co=gt&limit_mins=&dfon=1 https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?t... [2] https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=&station=GJT&date_start=01%2F1%2F2023&date_end=09%2F29%2F2023&df1=1&df2=1&df3=1&df4=1&df5=1&df6=1&df7=1&sort=d_ar&sort_dir=DESC&co=gt&limit_mins=&dfon=1 https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?t...
CalRobert 3y ago
It sounds like you were on the accursed coast starlate. Back in the day it was routinely 6-12 hours late - so much so that I relied on that fact when booking tickets (no way did I want to get up at 5 AM to catch the Sacramento to San Luis Obispo train). I thought it had improved since 20 years ago :-\
- bombcar 3y ago
  It’s a single track with no other routes available, and corn trains seem to always fall off the tracks. It’s a beautiful ride but on time it is not. Pro tip: bring a pack of cigs even if you’ve never ever smoked in your life. If the train stops in the middle of nowhere because a corn train decided to leave the imposed restrictions of the rails, you will be let off the train, but only if you’re a tobacco addict. You can also sometimes order delivery to a stuck train.
joemi 3y ago
I think the on-time-ness might depend on the route. I've done the NYC<->Boston trip a lot and it's on time within a couple minutes about 75-80% of the time and on time within 10-20 minutes most of the rest of the time. I've done NYC<->DC fewer times but had roughly the same experience on that stretch.
- inferiorhuman 3y ago
  I've done the NYC-Boston trip once. The Boston end was underwhelming to put it politely. Back Bay station was just nasty. Even the Wikipedia pictures comment on the haze and air pollution at the platforms. Getting a Charlie card took a few tries across a few stations. Acela? Acela was fine but it's both expensive (presumably because of the demand) and a lot slower than it ought to be. That entire stretch of Metro North(?) tracks through Connecticut? There's no good reason the track is in such poor shape and no good reason to limit Acela to a snail's pace. OTOH Acela still seems to be pretty popular, so perhaps Amtrak can afford to let it rot for a bit. Hopefully not for too long.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    The alternative to Acela is flying so that’s how the pricing is set. Or take the Regional which is what I usually do with my own money. Or drive and driving into Manhattan is awful b
mschaef 3y ago
> Amtrak is a nightmare. It depends on the route. Long haul trains like the ones you describe are a dubious choice. I've done that twice, and that was enough. I've also used Amtrak to commute on the Northeast corridor literally hundreds (if not thousands) of times. In that scenario, I'd be hard pressed to choose anything else. It's vastly more convenient and flexible than the alternatives.
NovemberWhiskey 3y ago
There are really two Amtraks. There is the Northeast Corridor, including the Acela, and then there is everything else. I mean this fairly literally: Amtrak both owns are operates the NEC vs. the situation for the rest of the country. They even operate different Twitter/X accounts for service alerts between NEC and "everything else". The Northeast Corridor operates something like a typical middle-distance, reasonable frequency, reasonable timeliness rail system would do in a European country. The rest of Amtrak is for rail fans only.
- bombcar 3y ago
  There are a few other trains that are NEC in quality. The Pacific Surfliner for example is relatively reliably on time (used to ride it every weekend). The key is the commuter trains often run on rails that are relatively freight-free.

AlbertCory 3y ago

> Third trip was from Seattle to Portland and it went fine. I did the other direction. It took over 4 hours, because the train had to go 20 mph due to flooding elsewhere. On the other hand, Boston -> NYC and NYC -> DC went fine. If you like trains, then take Amtrak for that. Not because you expect a great trip.

LeafItAlone 3y ago
Amtrak owns about 3/4 of the tracks between Boston and DC, so those will be their most reliable. That’s what I use it for the most. From my experience, that’s also more expensive than other trips, but I haven’t done an extensive comparison. Elsewhere, on tracks that are owned by others, especially commercial companies, Amtrak may not get priority, so things get dicier.
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  it's probably unacceptable for Amtrak to just say "hey, we can't give good service on this route, and it's unprofitable anyway, so we're ending it." Congress would then say, "well, then, we're ending your subsidies." It would be an interesting exercise to see if they could be profitable, albeit smaller.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    If Amtrak were a normal business they’d probably run the Northeast Corridor route and just shut everything else down.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      NEC, Surfliner, maybe a few others. All the long distance routes save the auto train would be cancelled leaving only the commuter trains. If it has sleeper cars, it loses money. However Amtrak serves a portion of the population that are in areas not serviced by much else and I’m perfectly fine with subsidizing that outright. But that may be because choo choo go choo.
      - AlbertCory 3y ago
        Yeah, I think you & ghaff have the right idea. But even Reagan didn't touch this one. Much political pain, not much gain.

pstuart 3y ago

I think that Amtrak is severely challenged by being a second-class citizen of the rails and at the whims and mercy of freight traffic. There's ways to address that but we don't have the collective political will to do so.

SoftTalker 3y ago

Yep, took Amtrack from Chicago to Las Vegas and was over 24 hours late arriving and luggage was another day late after that. At least they did send it to the hotel. Never again.

wolverine876 3y ago

> I've taken 4 Amtrak trips in my life C'mon, that's not a big sample size for such sweeping conclusions. I've taken many trips, more than I can count. On-time hasn't been a problem for me. But they've become very expensive.

saganus 3y ago
If you use/consume 4 of anything and 3 of those things are a bad experience, I think it's reasonable to have a bad opinion of said thing. Imagine buying 4 Cokes in you life and 3 of them being flat. Most people would probably consider Coke a bad product at that point, even if the sample size _is_ small. Or imagine going to a restaurant 4 times. and 3 of those times getting food poisoning. Most people would probably consider it a bad restaurant. I don't even know if most people would even manage 4 visits after getting food poisoning twice, let alone thrice.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  It's not reasonable because it's unsupported by the evidence. I wouldn't be surprised if someone had bad feelings about it, but that's different than drawing conclusions about all of Amtrak everywhere.
  - chaps 3y ago
    Um. The evidence very much shows how much of a shitshow Amtrak is. Have a look at Grand Junction station delays for the past week[1]. Seven out of eleven have delays of over thirty minutes. Three of those are an hour late. One of them is a five hour delay. And in 2023 so far [2] it's 376 out of 524 that are at least 30 minutes late. 291 of those over an hour. 71 are over four hours late. 15 were eight hours late. And one was delayed by over 1000 minutes (16.75hr). A lot of this is because Amtrak doesn't have propriety over the lanes and has to yield to cargo traffic (though I'm not familiar with the nuances). [1] https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=&station=GJT&date_start=09%2F22%2F2023&date_end=09%2F29%2F2023&df1=1&df2=1&df3=1&df4=1&df5=1&df6=1&df7=1&sort=d_ar&sort_dir=DESC&co=gt&limit_mins=&dfon=1 https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?t... [2] https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?train_num=&station=GJT&date_start=01%2F1%2F2023&date_end=09%2F29%2F2023&df1=1&df2=1&df3=1&df4=1&df5=1&df6=1&df7=1&sort=d_ar&sort_dir=DESC&co=gt&limit_mins=&dfon=1 https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/history.php?t...

CalRobert 3y ago

It sounds like you were on the accursed coast starlate. Back in the day it was routinely 6-12 hours late - so much so that I relied on that fact when booking tickets (no way did I want to get up at 5 AM to catch the Sacramento to San Luis Obispo train). I thought it had improved since 20 years ago :-\

bombcar 3y ago
It’s a single track with no other routes available, and corn trains seem to always fall off the tracks. It’s a beautiful ride but on time it is not. Pro tip: bring a pack of cigs even if you’ve never ever smoked in your life. If the train stops in the middle of nowhere because a corn train decided to leave the imposed restrictions of the rails, you will be let off the train, but only if you’re a tobacco addict. You can also sometimes order delivery to a stuck train.

joemi 3y ago

I think the on-time-ness might depend on the route. I've done the NYC<->Boston trip a lot and it's on time within a couple minutes about 75-80% of the time and on time within 10-20 minutes most of the rest of the time. I've done NYC<->DC fewer times but had roughly the same experience on that stretch.

inferiorhuman 3y ago
I've done the NYC-Boston trip once. The Boston end was underwhelming to put it politely. Back Bay station was just nasty. Even the Wikipedia pictures comment on the haze and air pollution at the platforms. Getting a Charlie card took a few tries across a few stations. Acela? Acela was fine but it's both expensive (presumably because of the demand) and a lot slower than it ought to be. That entire stretch of Metro North(?) tracks through Connecticut? There's no good reason the track is in such poor shape and no good reason to limit Acela to a snail's pace. OTOH Acela still seems to be pretty popular, so perhaps Amtrak can afford to let it rot for a bit. Hopefully not for too long.
- ghaff 3y ago
  The alternative to Acela is flying so that’s how the pricing is set. Or take the Regional which is what I usually do with my own money. Or drive and driving into Manhattan is awful b

mschaef 3y ago

> Amtrak is a nightmare. It depends on the route. Long haul trains like the ones you describe are a dubious choice. I've done that twice, and that was enough. I've also used Amtrak to commute on the Northeast corridor literally hundreds (if not thousands) of times. In that scenario, I'd be hard pressed to choose anything else. It's vastly more convenient and flexible than the alternatives.

NovemberWhiskey 3y ago

There are really two Amtraks. There is the Northeast Corridor, including the Acela, and then there is everything else. I mean this fairly literally: Amtrak both owns are operates the NEC vs. the situation for the rest of the country. They even operate different Twitter/X accounts for service alerts between NEC and "everything else". The Northeast Corridor operates something like a typical middle-distance, reasonable frequency, reasonable timeliness rail system would do in a European country. The rest of Amtrak is for rail fans only.

bombcar 3y ago
There are a few other trains that are NEC in quality. The Pacific Surfliner for example is relatively reliably on time (used to ride it every weekend). The key is the commuter trains often run on rails that are relatively freight-free.