dumpster.penguin wrote:On a recent eastbound trip, the Lake Shore lingered 18 minutes in Rochester. Numerous contributing factors: the station did not announce which end would be New York vs Boston, so boarding passengers were misplaced; crew of the New York section opened only one door, as far as I could see; passengers were welcomed aboard before about a carload of disembarking passengers had managed to fight their way to the exit!; and after that mess had resolved itself, the train made a second stop for first class.
I had expected the new high platform to bring improvements. But the Lake Shore resists.
As a frequent passenger of corridor (PNW, Detroit, and NEC) and LD (both east and west), my biggest gripe about the entire corporation: consistency. It just ain't. It's like there's a game going on of "how can we mix it up the most?". Boarding procedure, seating procedure, dining reservation procedure, bed lowering procedure...
When Amtrak was a basket case (arguably until 2000-ish when ridership made it obvious that Amtrak was never really going to go away), it's understandable how the culture was rather laissez-faire. If you're going to be gone next year, why bother writing a boarding procedure and training crews?
But now it's clear the entire network is here to stay. And crap like this is the absolute worst way to make a first impression. "Hi, welcome to Amtrak, guess which way we're going to board the train today... psyche!!!, you're wrong, now go wait in another line, walk around with your bags, ooops, no dinner for you, we started at the other end of the train today".
Any McDonalds has consistency with talent that is bottom of the barrel. Why? They have intense training, and little pictograms if you forget. Put the bun down, then the burger with cheese, then the tomato, then the upper bun. If McDonalds can get bottom-level talent to use boiling fry grease every day, Amtrak can figure out boarding procedures.
How to make a burger:
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The new Acela: It's not Aveliable.