Amtrak hates us. They have decided to keep the awful old trainset, the Amfleet cabbage, in the permanent rotation even though Racing Season in Del Mar is over.
This means we will always be late if on this train. Why? Because you can't get on it fast enough. Instead of two automatic doors per car, there are only manual doors. They don't open them all because there aren't enough crew to do it. The doors are narrow, with fold down rickety steps. Loading and unloading passengers takes minutes longer. On a 2 hour intercity ride, minutes more per station adds up to serious delays of 20 minutes or more into LA in the morning.
The regulars tweet Amtrak @Pacsurfliners to complain, plead, and cajole--if you're going to keep the cabbage, then at least put it on the less crowded mid-day trains, not at commuter hours.
But roughly twice a week, the cabbage is used on 763, the first train of the day from San Diego to LA and on to Goleta. This is a commuter-heavy train. WE're lucky if it's on time with a normal trainset; with the cabbage, it's at least 20-30 minutes late into LA, making us all late to work. Once it finally makes Goleta, it turns around to become 784, which is supposed to be a 5pm departure from LA--also loaded with commuters. And all that accumulated delay adds up to a miserable commute day for the regulars, when the cabbage is running.
2 comments:
Amtrak service on the Surfliner 582 is bad. The train cars are very outdated, passengers crowd up to a conductor so they can get off (because those junk boxes do not have automatic doors), the announcements (every 5 minutes all the way from LA to San Diego) are loud and repetitive to the point of obnoxiousness, conductors are not friendly but talk over the intercom as if we're first graders, the train is late more than half the time and managemnt does not care! I can't tell you how many times I have called their customer service in Pennsylvania and Los Angeles Surfliner office but with NO improvement because all they care about is $$$ and government funding (from our taxes). I cahnged my work hours so I don't have to ride home on the Amtrak Shitliner!
I wish Metrolink would extend their 3:50 Irvine Train from Union Station to add the last four stops all the way to Oceanside. Commuters would be so happy for a peaceful train ride without the loud, repetitive and condescending announcements about crowded trains and "ticket-paying passengers"! Listen up conductors, commuters are passengers who pay hundreds a month to increase ridership on the Amtrak Shitliner! Let's hope Metrolink will add another Oceanside train. It's amazing how one Metrolink conductor can manage 6 trains and get to its destination on time and Amcrap has half a dozen conductors and the train is late. Those old Amcrap cars are a disgrace.
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