BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve

Subject: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: mg
Date: 01 Dec 14 - 06:38 PM

I am on another amtrak mudslide situation. Two mudslides in three days. Tons of mudslides in washington state. This is not a once every hundred year occurance. It is frequent. So do they even tell us even as the train is dueto depart? No. Do they even k ow where the train is...we are talking between everett and seattle wa..hardly a vast area ofuntamed wilderness. Do they evenseemto think tbeyshould inform us so we can take tbe bus or make phone calls or get lunch..seeing how last mudslide they ran out of food...tbe woman actually said well ithas been all over the news. Employees i talked with in my big girl going on dominatrix voice had no sense of informing thepublic, calling station for updates etc. We have satellites as i said in a review tbat can see a hummingbird poop..can they not locate a big train..can theynot compute how long it takes to my station..no. They are off.byanhour on an under tbree hour trip. I have missed my connections..next bus is in two days. I cantake a detour and it willcost me one hundred dollars although i am going to insist they cover the addio amtrak expenses. A country thatcannot keep its trains ru ning will cease to exist. We are too incompetent. My grandfather who was section master for part of this run would die of shame

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Dec 14 - 08:09 PM

I'm so sorry you are in this mess, Mary. Safe travel and fair skies to you!

Maeve

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: Greg F.
Date: 01 Dec 14 - 08:30 PM

If rail transit were adequately funded in the U.S. - instead of having been nickled and dimed to death over the last 70 years - hell, if ALL public transport in the U.S. were adequately funded - you wouldn't be having these problems, Mary.

Or are you wanting them to be able to accurately predict mudslides i advance?

Could have been a lot worse tho- you could be dealing with one of the airlines. Count your blessings.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: mg
Date: 01 Dec 14 - 08:42 PM

They can.predict that tjere will be lots of mudslides over a small area. They can keep.people informed. They can carry more food and water on the train. They can know if they are the conductor if the train has wifi or not. They can paint the.bathrooms in the portland stattion..station is otherwise fine. Seattle used to be filthy but they have fixed it upl. Not enough toilets..how can you revamp soething and nt put in enough toilets with the traffic they have...
And they have at least scrubbed the floors after decades of filth.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Dec 14 - 10:23 PM

I love train travel, mg, and I have crisscrossed the US as well as having crossed Canada from Toronto to Prince Rupert.

But oh, do I have stories to tell! On one run from New Orleans to LA - well, actually, we never made it to Los Angeles on the train, they offloaded us into a bus which averaged over 60 miles an hour (even including the notorious Grape Vine in a run from Palm Springs so we could catch the northbound train at Martinez - we ran out of food, drinks, and water. At one point the toilets also became unusable. I told two staffers that they MUST get the toilets fixed or they would have an actual mutiny on their hands. I don't know how but they fixed them.

One steward actually quit and retreated to his own quarters, leaving his work-mates that much worse off. At the end I tipped the one staffer 20 bucks, telling her that we knew how hard it must have been for them. She hugged me and burst into tears.

The northbound train was fine. We even had a wine tasting. :)

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: GUEST,Lin
Date: 01 Dec 14 - 10:56 PM

Sorry to hear of the bad situation you have had on Amtrak. I just took Amtrak from LA to Salinas recently with an Amtrak bus connection to Monterey. I did pay for a private sleeper/bathroom in the room and included 2 meals - lunch and dinner. Steak for dinner and turkey meatballs with mashed potatoes for lunch. Steward was great - very nice and helpful. Also, nice waiting private lounge area at Union Station for customers who had paid for sleepers. This is before the train trip started. Coffee, tea, juices, fruit and other pastries and large screen TV.
I thought it was worth the extra money to travel in comfort and have private shower/bathroom, large pillows, blanket, nice hand towels, in the room.
Now I want a room like that on an airline when I fly. ha, ha, ha
Only for the super, super rich to have a room like that on an airline and only a few even offer it in first class or might be called something else.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Dec 14 - 02:09 AM

Guest/Lin, I too take a stateroom. When you figure in the perks it isn't much more expensive than 'coach', and the comfort level can't be beat.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: Mr Red
Date: 02 Dec 14 - 11:24 AM

The UK is not much better, but we are all closer together so journeys are shorter, by and large.
But we still have bus substitutions for quite a long time. The most recent round here was to put in a two track stretch that now it is finished won't be used for 2 years. Go figure.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: GUEST,Tootler
Date: 02 Dec 14 - 01:38 PM

We've been promised a direct train service to London.












Starting 2020

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: Greg F.
Date: 02 Dec 14 - 05:30 PM

You UK folks should be thankful for what you've got- in the US there is virtually NO mass transit worthy of the name.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 10:14 AM

mg, it looks to me like you should forget the train and just take the bus between Everett and Seattle. It's obvious that that stretch of track is through very unstable terrain. (or should I say terrane?)
==========
"A mudslide onto railroad tracks between Seattle and Everett this afternoon has shut down Amtrak and Sounder service for 48 hours, according to BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas.

The slide, which occurred at 2:05 p.m., was south of Mukilteo on the BNSF double mainline and was 25 feet long by 10 feet deep, Melonas said. It's the third slide on BNSF tracks between Seattle and Everett this winter, Melonas said.

Last year, mudslides interrupted service on the line multiple times, and BNSF Railway made significant engineering enhancements to the area where most of those slides occurred. There have been no further slides in that area this winter, Melonas said.

Today's slide was about a mile north of the stabilization work, he said, and within two miles of another slide this winter. The third slide this winter was in the Everett area.

Melonas said BNSF is looking at engineering plans for other slope areas along the tracks."
=============
One year ago, the DH and I took a Trailways bus from Galesburg IL to Peoria and back. The bus was immaculate and the passengers were nice. I'm ready to try more bus travel.

And if there's a slide on its usual road, a bus can always take a different road.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: mg
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 11:45 AM

I leave from seattle and go south..buses are not good for my connections unless i go all the way to.portland and take the bolt which is great..trip is so eensive i csn not do it.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: GUEST,John from Kemsing
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 12:23 PM

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: GUEST,John from Kemsing
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 12:26 PM

mg,
    I think you will find it was the wrong sort of mud. We in Britain sometimes have to put up with trains being cancelled due to "the wrong sort of snow or wrong sort of leaves on the line"!!

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: artbrooks
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 09:40 AM

Sorry about that muddy problem. We take the train as often as we can (connections from Albuquerque aren't great) and have never had a connection or weather/delay issue. The same with train vacations in Canada (Amtrak cars are better, but it's hard to beat VIA food.) Next trip is ABQ -> LA -> Tacoma for Rainy Camp.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: mg
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 11:47 AM

Cool..have you worked out how to.get there from tacoma..tacoma station. Is not nice..seattle lr lacey better..

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 12:30 PM

IF they sent the wrong sort of mud, Amtrak should send it back and get the right sort!

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: artbrooks
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 08:58 PM

Daughter is is Tacoma.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 10:14 AM

" in the US there is virtually NO mass transit worthy of the name."

Tell that to the thousands of people who take a bus, train or airplane somewhere every year.
===========
Mg is beating her head against a wall. The Pacific Northwest is made up of volcanic and sedimentary rock which was pressed onto the old North America as it moved west, pushed by spreading in the Atlantic. The Pacific Northwest has huge areas of broken, deformed, tilted and unstable land.

When rock and mud get wet and slide onto the tracks, there are all sorts of concerns.

how far is the nearest earth-moving equipment

where can they go with the debris

is it just mud, or does it include huge rocks

is there anybody buried under there

has it stopped moving, or will removing debris trigger another slide

are the tracks under the slide damaged?
============
You can't expect immediate answers to all that.

(Remember the recent slide in Colorado that killed three men sent out to investigate it? Slides can be dangerous.)

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: Greg F.
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 12:19 PM

ell that to the thousands of people who take a[n]airplane.

Who the hell can afford airplane tickets. As for the railroads, its a skeleton service and the number of routes and stops is shrinking every year.

Long-distance bus travel is one of the inner circles of hell.

Subject: RE: BS: don't take amtrak if connections involve
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 01:02 PM

my complaint is not that we have mudslides...it is that they did not tell us anything about it when we could have gone and had some lunch, perhaps made other arrangements..they tried to convince me it was a once in a lifetime experience..it is not..it happens all the time...and they do not carry adequate provisions in case of being stuck..they ran out of food last mudslide ...surely they know this will happen..hate to think if they have enough water. don't even take it without taking your own food and water and port a potty...what i saw was magnificent incompetence.