Trip Report: October 8 - 28, 2000
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
ONBOARD AMTRAK
WITH TED AND SYLVIA BLISHAK
Tuesday, October 24, 2000:
Arrival into Los Angeles on the Sunset Limited
Our previous bulletin from the front lines was sent from our last "digital frontier" in Tucson, Arizona. Between Tucson and Palm Springs we are traveling in a no-mans land of the local analog cellular services of the Sonoran Desert. This means that not only is there no Sprint PCS Digital Service, but to make matters more complicated, when you attempt an analog roaming call you are intercepted by a local cellular company who has no contractual arrangements with major cell phone networks and therefore instead of completing your call automatically, puts you on hold until an operator can extract a credit card number from you in order to charge rates as high as $1.95 per call and $1.95 per minute. Even 911 emergency calls are delayed by these country operators, and although they promise no charges for emergency calls, you still have to wait until their operator can answer your call before you get connected to the emergency number. The days of universal contact by cell phone are still in the future, and will be until we can depend on satellite communication.
Monday evening our car attendant brings us a stack of fresh towels and we prepare for our evening shower, but discover that the shower light has malfunctioned, as has the razor outlet over the sink. He brings us a couple of chemical emergency rods, which glow like neon, to shower by and to keep in our restroom overnight for safety reasons. If grandson Garrett were still aboard, he'd say they were "cool," and they do the job.
Tuesday morning we awake to darkness outside the windows with silhouettes of palm trees as dawn begins to break. Clearly, we are not at this train's final destination, Los Angeles, where we are due at 6:15 AM. Our car attendant advises that breakfast will begin at 6:30 AM, so we dress and hike through four coaches of sleeping people, and the Lounge Car with coach escapees using loveseats for horizontal sleep.
Travel Tip: Don't even think about booking coach for overnight travel unless you really can't afford a sleeper. Snoring, crying babies, bare feet extending into the aisles, and the realization that most of these people have been on the train for two or three days without the opportunity to take a shower or a convenient way to put on fresh clothing, are all reasons why a sleeper is worth the high price. But make your plans months ahead, as sleeping car space is hard to get, even in this, the supposed "off season".
The dining car is brightly lit and everyone is wide awake. Passengers are laughing and talking with hearty good humor. Service had begun at 6:00 AM, and we get two of the last seats, after which they start taking names for a waiting list.
We are quickly provided with a sweet roll, oatmeal with brown sugar, bacon, sausage, juice, and tea. The riotous noise level has an explanation a New Zealand tour group is on hand. We cannot avoid overhearing that they have booked themselves out of LA on a flight later today, a risky decision made by a tour manager probably unfamiliar with Amtrak timekeeping .
Over the din we hear bits of announcements from the conductor, "If by some miracle we arrive in LA before 10:30, although I don't think this is going to happenunfortunately, this occurs all too often out here, and we appreciate your patience".
Overheard from one of the crew: "Some of the Amtrak executives in Washington have never even been on a train. They fly out here and try to tell us how to run things. But you have to ride on the trains to know what's happening. For example, Union Pacific reported that they have a broken rail up ahead, and that's why we're stopped here right now. And then those folks had to be taken off by ambulance last night. You can't avoid this sort of thing, but you can't understand it if you've never been on board."
Orchards of date palm and orange trees appears appear at first light. Soon the first rays of the rising sun guild the impossibly steep peak of Mount San Jacinto which looms more than 11,000 feet over Palm Springs.
Overheard while walking past the economy sleepers, "You meet such interesting people on the train! That alone is worth the price of the trip."
7:55AM announcement: "Passengers ticketed on Train #14 to Santa Barbara and points north will detrain at our next station stop, Ontario, where motorcoaches will take you to Santa Barbara to meet the Coast Starlight northbound. We apologize for any inconvenience created by this shuffle". Apparently this announcement was not understood by everyone, so a more detailed explanation was made a little later. We overheard in the diner that 62 passengers are affected by this transfer at Ontario, including a couple from Sacramento sitting at our table. They told us they didn't mind the nearly 200-mile bus ride, and that they preferred that to staying overnight in LA and taking the Coast Starlight the next day.
But still we cannot help but wonder why Amtrak continues to program their computer to accept reservations between this habitually late-arriving train and the Coast Starlight. Think of the reduction in confusion, anger, disappointment, aggravation -- and hiring of motorcoaches to play catch-up -- this would eliminate. Think of the many tourist attractions available in the Los Angeles area that these passengers could be enjoying prior to one overnight stay. Instead, they're going to be spending hours on a motorcoach instead of enjoying the coastal scenery and the many extra amenities of Amtrak's premier train, which they have paid to experience.
After breakfast we return to our Deluxe Room in the 2130 car to find that the toilet system is shut down due to the total filling of the holding tank. An illuminated sign on the stairwell advises Toilets Closed. Since a Sanitary Service truck was on the platform in El Paso pumping out the holding tanks, I ask our car attendant how this can happen. He informs me that the Sanitary Service does not pump out every car, only those which are indicated to be over two-thirds full. If we had arrived in LA on schedule this morning, it would not have become an issue, but since we are now due in over five hours behind schedule, and everybody is up and about and having breakfast, it has now become an inconvenience, sending all of the 2130 sleeper passengers to the already overcrowded restrooms in adjacent coaches.
This Superliner 1 sleeper is experiencing many problems on this trip. The first was noticed by our car attendant leaving Chicago three nights ago, an intermittent and loud groaning or rubbing sound. He reported this problem and mechanics investigated the car at Bloomington, Dallas, Ft Worth, and San Antonio, but without finding a solution. A mechanic was put on the train at El Paso, but the car continued to moan and groan. Our attendant guessed that the entire truck assembly should be replaced in LA before the car returns to Chicago.
We are approaching Ontario at 9:25 AM and I am now sitting in Bedroom D with my door open listening to the other passengers standing in the hallway complaining, in a good-humored way, to each other about all the things that have gone wrong on this trip.
One couple, Mr. & Mrs. Griper, who we met at dinner last night, are cashing in on Amtrak's service guarantee as they go, and tallying up their refunds $495.00 so far. Late trains, meals that weren't hot enough, and a burned-out light in a shower have been their complaints, and by voicing this either to a conductor or calling Amtrak's customer service, they are acquiring both cash refunds and vouchers for future travel. And they're telling other passengers about it, including us, and urging them to complain about any little thing.
But there is no "air rage" mentality here, and it's because of the crew's attentive service -- just a certain sense of disappointment. So, in spite of the excellent on-board service, delicious food, and the crew bending over backwards to handle the various problems that are occurring, many passengers are still understandably expecting more, especially considering the amount that they are paying for first class accommodations.
Amtrak has no control over the Union Pacific Railroad's preference for its freight traffic, nor of passengers getting sick on board and delaying the train even further. But it does have control over the maintenance of its own equipment and the scheduling of impossible-to-meet connections. If the equipment was working properly and passengers were not worried about making connections, the delays would not be a problem. This is all under the control of Amtrak.
It's now 10:30 AM, and we're pulling into Los Angeles Union Station. The good news is that this is a civilized time to arrive on a train. Our car attendant agrees that when the train arrives on time at 6:15, it is hard to get sleepy passengers detrained, and hard to get the end-of-the-trip work he has to do (such as collecting towels and linens) accomplished.
We retrieve our checked luggage from the Baggage Check counter and try to check a few bags full of items we no longer need home to Klamath Falls. But it turns out that one can only retrieve luggage here, and we are directed to the ticket counter at the other end of the building to check our excess baggage.
Then we walk out into the beautiful garden area adjacent to the art-deco station, where birds of paradise and hibiscus are in bloom, and the weather is mild and sunny and wonderful. Olivera Street is just across the street from the station, and we enjoy lunch at an outdoor restaurant called La Casa Golondrina where we can enjoy strolling musicians strumming guitars and Margaritas. Much more fun than riding an Amtrak Thruway Bus to Santa Barbara.
This is why people come to Southern California!
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