Reading Arthur Frommer’s comments on increasing bullet-train service in the U.S. in the Nov. 1 Daily Progress (“European rail success should spur U.S. to act”), I could not help but conclude Amtrak needs not only to have speedier trains, but higher quality service as well. A 2008 train trip to Chicago illustrates the point.
Since I would be traveling alone, I thought it would be neat to travel by train to my conference in Chicago. After all, my father worked for the railroad for much of his life, I dabbled in model railroading at one point in my life, and I still remembered the train rides I took back in the ’50s. But my trip to Chicago was a far cry from those shown on old movies.
I brought along my laptop thinking I would have hours to work with it. I looked in vain for an outlet. There was none. The battery lasted an hour and a half.
After a while I became hungry and had visions of walking back to the dining car for a nice meal. That was a shocker. There was a dining half-car, but I was not allowed to eat in it because I had not purchased a sleeper berth. My only recourse was a microwaved refrigerated sandwich, a bag of chips and a drink, which I had to take back to my seat and balance on my lap while I ate.
Since the daily return train left Chicago two hours before my conference ended on a Wednesday night and the next day’s train would not have gotten me back to C’ville until Friday afternoon, I decided to skip all the inconvenience and fly home Thursday.
With this kind of disregard for the personal comfort and convenience of its customers, no wonder people aren’t falling over each other to get on the train.
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