Railroad Forums 

Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, nomis, FL9AC, Jeff Smith

 #1496254  by Jeff Smith
 
Jenny on a M2 wrote:...For now though, I think the safest bet-especially around rush hour-is to just buy your ticket through the Amtrak app.
Now that's some common sense... you'd think the people who want to use the Amtrak trains would try to be their tickets with Amtrak by now if they're worried about getting on. A simple advisory "Although Hartford Line tickets are cross-honored by Amtrak, we recommend until capacity issues are resolved that if you intend on using an Amtrak train you buy an Amtrak ticket so that your seat is reserved".
 #1496354  by Jenny on a M2
 
Thank you! I assure you I didn't need my engineering degree to come to that conclusion, either. :P

Honestly, the moment I know I'm going to be on a peak Amtrak HL train that's known to have capacity issues I pull out my phone, buy a ticket on the Amtrak app, and save my UniRail ticket for a later trip on a CDOT train or off-peak Amtrak as they're good for 60 days.

I've never seen an Amtrak HL train sold out on the app, even on the dreaded 495 while I'm standing on the Berlin platform buying it with 5 minutes to arrival. So I really think this is the way to go.

That said, it sure doesn't help out the college kids with the U-Pass. And, before we heap on them with "they're getting a free ride so they can suck it and wait", I'm pretty sure there's a mandatory fee for the U-Pass in their tuition so they still ARE paying customers.
 #1496399  by njtmnrrbuff
 
There is a chance that over Martin Luther King Day weekend, I might take a spin on the Springfield Line somewhere. I may go all the way to Springfield to see the Basketball Hall of Fame for the day and if I do, I would take MNR to Ctrail heading north and then Amtrak Shuttle Train # 467 down to New Haven. I'm also thinking about going to Berlin and Hartford and in that case, I might just ride Ctrail trains, depending on how early I get up. I may decide to ride 460 up from NHV.
 #1496438  by lordsigma12345
 
CDOT’s spokesperson in the recent article mentioned an announcement forthcoming. One thing I bet they are considering is to convert the corridor to unreserved. While this wouldn’t solve the overcrowding problem it would even the playing field and remove the bad optics of one type of ticket holder being treated different than another. If they do that I hope that only Amtrak tickets within the corridor will go unreserved and that ticket holders transferring to or from Northeast Regional or Acela service at New Haven will still have a reserved seat as they are paying higher fares.
 #1496876  by daybeers
 
Jenny on a M2 wrote: That said, it sure doesn't help out the college kids with the U-Pass. And, before we heap on them with "they're getting a free ride so they can suck it and wait", I'm pretty sure there's a mandatory fee for the U-Pass in their tuition so they still ARE paying customers.
Yes, I am one of those college kids. It's a $20 fee on the tuition each semester, which isn't much, but if the whole point is to get more people to use the trains, and their first experience is being left on the platform, it would be remarkable for the average person to try using the service again.
 #1497005  by Jenny on a M2
 
daybeers wrote:
Jenny on a M2 wrote: That said, it sure doesn't help out the college kids with the U-Pass. And, before we heap on them with "they're getting a free ride so they can suck it and wait", I'm pretty sure there's a mandatory fee for the U-Pass in their tuition so they still ARE paying customers.
Yes, I am one of those college kids. It's a $20 fee on the tuition each semester, which isn't much, but if the whole point is to get more people to use the trains, and their first experience is being left on the platform, it would be remarkable for the average person to try using the service again.
I agree with you 100%. $20 isn't much but you do expect to get some utility out of that, much of which is the ability to work/study on the train vs having to focus on driving to class each day.

You're not getting that if you're freezing on a platform somewhere missing class you've paid for.
 #1497057  by DutchRailnut
 
why would Amtrak add more cars without a contract asking and paying for those cars ?
 #1497063  by njtmnrrbuff
 
Once an Amtrak train is on the Springfield Line, the State of Ct tells Amtrak what to do but yes, it would be nice for more cars to be added to the shuttles. People shouldn't have to stand nor get turned away from trains, especially when they have places to go.
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