Congress Acts to Establish Amtrak's Future

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a long-sought multi-year funding bill for Amtrak by a 311-105 vote, following the lead of the Senate, which has already passed a similar bill. President Bush has threatened a veto, although both House and Senate versions passed with veto-proof margins.

Amtrak ridership is up strongly in the wake of record high gas prices, with May setting a new ridership record and the passenger railroad expecting to reach 28 million riders in 2008. There could be even more riders, but for 37 years of active neglect by Washington and continued attempts at derailing Amtrak by dead-enders like President Bush. A McCain administration will be no different: the Arizona senator is a longtime Amtrak critic.

Comments

[Liz]

Amtrak could be doing even better if their website was just a bit more user friendly and complete. We tried to book tickets online and were unable to do so, although when we called the toll free number we were able to for the same dates. I still can't quite figure out the whole luggage thing. We are taking a train out of Albany and changing in Chicago for St. Louis. If we check bags will they be switched in Chicago or do we have to reclaim them and then get them on the new train? Why does it say in one place that we can have two suitcase sized bags, yet the roomettes say two small tote bags? What about garment bags (for suits) do they count as carry on bags? We only have coach seats for the Chicago to St. Louis and reverse legs. Are garment bags going to work with coach seats? What happens if we get into Chicago on the return trip after the Chicago station closes for the night and after our Albany train has left? Who's going to make those famous hotel, meal, and taxi arrangements?I rode Amtrak years ago and had 6 hours between the two legs of a trip, but the train was 7 hours late, so I missed the next train -Amtrak sent me to Port Authority from Grand Central Station in the middle of the night to catch a bus I was a 24 year old who'd never been in NYC by herself before. That's got me a bit spooked, ok? I can't find the answers to any of this on the Amtrak site.

I'm actually looking forward to the trip. We've booked two roomettes for on the way out, but they only had a standard bedroom for on the way back, so that will be a bit of a squeeze for 3 adults, but I think we'll manage. I'm mostly just really worried about making connections. We only have an hour and 40 minutes to make the return connection in Chicago anyway and now they're saying that train may be an hour late. I'm just afraid that the hour they're talking about will turn into 3 and we'll end up in Chicago after the station is closed.

Trying to get through on the 800 number is not easy either. If you can just use their automated system it wouldn't be too bad, but if you actually need to speak to an agent (say to ask questions) you can have waits of more than 15 minutes. If they made their on line site more responsive, I'll bet the phone waits would be shorter.

It would be nice if the online site had a place for questions or even a list of FAQ's.

I want to be a rail supporter, I wish we had better rail options locally, but they need to do as good a job as other options in making information clear. Their virtual tours on the other hand are really helpful. They really clarified whether we could actually squeeze the 3 of us into a standard bedroom.