How long of a delay is too long?

[BobbinWeez]

So I took the train from Massachusetts to Chicago yes a long ride but not awful. Well right outside of Pittsfield MA a freight train hit a pedestrian. My train was held up for 4 1/2 hours. I completely understand why we needed to wait and all that. But shouldn't Amtrak at some point consider alternatives for their passengers? Thoughts?

 

[NHdisneylover]

I am sorry you had to wait so long Airlines do not have other ways of moving people when flights are grounded either. I think travel sometimes has long delays and you just have to deal with it.

 

[Handbag Lady]

So I took the train from Massachusetts to Chicago yes a long ride but not awful. Well right outside of Pittsfield MA a freight train hit a pedestrian. My train was held up for 4 1/2 hours. I completely understand why we needed to wait and all that. But shouldn't Amtrak at some point consider alternatives for their passengers? Thoughts?

Like what, exactly? Hire buses to cart people and their luggage the rest of the way. How do they get people off of the train if they are not at a station? How would they be able to even find buses/drivers in so short a notice? They can't lay more track in four hours...

I agree that maybe Amtrak should have made everyone on the train as comfortable as possible (and you don't mention it either way), but I think maybe considering the circumstances, 4.5 hours isn't that long to try and do something. Maybe if the track was damaged and the delay would be a day or two I could see them needing to do something.

 

[Bethenny]

Amtrak from St. Louis to Chicago gets delayed by several hours frequently due to having to yield to freight trains. We were supposed to take it one time when they called just as we were leaving the house to let us know it would be at a 3 hour delay. We ended up driving.

 

[msmayor]

As another poster said, what exactly would you expect Amtrak to do?

The train my sister and kids took to Orlando also was delayed by the exact same thing: someone decided to simply end their life on the tracks at 3am. The delay ran about 4 hours so authorities could complete all their work and the train could be cleared to continue.

In your case, there probably wasn't much at all Amtrak could have done. For the most part, Amtrak doesn't own the tracks...they are owned by freight lines and Amtrak must always yield to their trains. Often, there is only one line of track with sections of sidings periodically along the route for the Amtrak trains to 'make way' for the freight lines. There's no second track to divert to.

The car attendant told my sister that folks would be surprised just how often a train hits and kills a person; it apparently happens more than one would think. My sister's train was in August, and the attendant said it was the fifth or sixth she's had since January.

On their return trip, the train hit a rather large deer. Didn't stop for that.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

As another poster said, what exactly would you expect Amtrak to do?

The train my sister and kids took to Orlando also was delayed by the exact same thing: someone decided to simply end their life on the tracks at 3am. The delay ran about 4 hours so authorities could complete all their work and the train could be cleared to continue.

In your case, there probably wasn't much at all Amtrak could have done. For the most part, Amtrak doesn't own the tracks...they are owned by freight lines and Amtrak must always yield to their trains. Often, there is only one line of track with sections of sidings periodically along the route for the Amtrak trains to 'make way' for the freight lines. There's no second track to divert to.

The car attendant told my sister that folks would be surprised just how often a train hits and kills a person; it apparently happens more than one would think. My sister's train was in August, and the attendant said it was the fifth or sixth she's had since January.

On their return trip, the train hit a rather large deer. Didn't stop for that.

This is the main reason for long delays. We take the AutoTrain to Disney World for all of our trips. We've had some pretty long delays due to accidents on the track, etc. Most of the delays, however, are due to the freight trains. Since the freight companies own the tracks they have the right-of-way in ALL instances.

 

[Gigi22]

It would partly depend on Amtrak's service standards. Where we live, if a passenger train is over an hour late, you are entitled to reduced fare on your next train trip within a certain period (you have to keep your train ticket to show that you were on a delayed train).

 

[MM27]

Did they offer any compensation? I was sitting in the train station in Boston a few weeks ago to get home to NH on Amtrak. The train started out with a 30 minute delay, then in went up to 50 minutes, after we finally left we stopped somewhere along the way because there was a problem on the track. We certainly weren't 4 hours behind though. They gave everyone on the train a free trip voucher for a one way trip. It was totally unnecessary, but it was gladly received. I figured it was something Amtrak just routinely did.

 

[MushyMushy]

4 1/2 hours? That's nothing!

I rode the Auto Train and was delayed 24 hours. We were given $200 towards another ticket, but really they didn't even have to do that. It wasn't their fault.

 

[clori]

I was delayed once on the Downeaster (Boston to NH) for 1 maybe 2 hours in the middle of the trip which was less than 2 hours. In this case there was a car accident ahead of us not related at all to the train but blocking our path. We had to wait until the accident scene was cleared and the police give amtrak the get go. We didn't get any compensation other than free water. However we got free entertainment from a crazy person on the train to the point where a cop from the accident scene did come aboard and remove the passenger.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Our train was due in at 9am never got in till 5. Return train was canceled and we had to drive home with no notice (autotrain) It actually ended up costing me more money since I have to pay to return the tickets and wait a month for a refund.

 

[RunDanceSkate]

Recently a train hit someone 30mins outside of Ottawa. The passengers and there luggage were put onto buses and arrived only 1hr later then scheduled. So it can be done.

 

[MoniqueU]

I was delayed once on the Downeaster (Boston to NH) for 1 maybe 2 hours in the middle of the trip which was less than 2 hours. In this case there was a car accident ahead of us not related at all to the train but blocking our path. We had to wait until the accident scene was cleared and the police give amtrak the get go. We didn't get any compensation other than free water. However we got free entertainment from a crazy person on the train to the point where a cop from the accident scene did come aboard and remove the passenger.

Well after this thread my decision not to take a sleeper car from here to back east is confirmed and I could easily have been the one taen off the train. That is a long time to be stuck if you have claustraphobia issues. Nowif they let me off the train to walk around while waiting it would be no problem.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well, but that's Canada. I bet in Canada, the company that owns the passenger trains also owns the actual rails.

 

[bicker]

And Amtrak is really not able to command the type of fare from rail passengers that would be necessary for them to be able to afford reaccommodating passengers like the airlines do. Remember: Amtrak is not a private business. Amtrak is owned by the U.S. federal government. It actually operates at a substantial loss: $2.6 billion of tax money goes to Amtrak each year, to cover that loss. Amtrak exists, ostensibly, to keep America attuned to inter-city rail transportation.