As some may know from an earlier post, we planned to do a day-trip to NYC from the Baltimore area on the Friday after T'giving -- knowing full well that it would be crowded, but wotthehey.

After reading posts here and verifying that the only bus service was a 6 am departure from well north of Baltimore (the Dahlia bus to Chinatown is out of commission), we were stuck paying Amtrak's outrageous $144 round-trip, black-out period fare. I believe it would have been cheaper by air, but would have been actually more time and money, with the 2 hrs. check-in plus transport to and from, not to mention the fact that on Friday it was a blustery, rainy day and all airports were messed up.

Well, of course the Met. Museum was jampacked with the rain and the day-after crowds, but I ran into an old college friend in town from New England for the day for pretty much the same reason. Such coincidences seem to occur all the time in NY, at least to me.

We were traveling with someone who'd never been in NYC at all so we took her up the Empire State Building ca. 6 pm so she could say she'd done it. With 100 MPH gusts and driving mists, it wasn't a great view of the city BUT she thought the drama of being in the middle of such an amazing storm, lit up by the flood lights, was pretty great.

NOW ABOUT AMTRAK:
We had a 7:35pm train from Penn Sta. that would get us home ca. 10:45. Good enough. It wasn't the Acela or the Metro, which would have been still more expensive but good enough. We arrived at Penn St. to see the words "DELAYED" or "CANCELED" all over the arrivals and departures boards. The information desk people told us that our train was currently 4 hrs. late (as were most trains) because of an electrical problem in Rhode Island. But he said that a previous train, also very late, was due into the station in 15 min. and we should just get on board and our tickets for the train #175 would be honored on the #173.

He wouldn't, however, tell us which track to camp near. This is a game Amtrak plays at all its stations.

Then we hear a PA announcement saying that only those with tickets for #173 would be allowed on board that all-reserved train (still no track announcement). I go to the ticket window and ask to have our tickets exchanged for #173. She said, no no no, just get on board, just go sit on the train. She also told us which track to go to, bless her 1000 times over.

We camped near the track escalator and sure enough it started up and people started down before the track was posted on the board or announced. We got on board, took seats together, and waited tensely until the conductor punched the tickets (didn't even look at them) and we no longer feared we'd be kicked off at the Newark Airport station. We got home only 15 min. late, but only because we ignored the PA announcement and were helped by one "renegade" agent.

The train was completely full but I don't think anyone was forced to stand. Meanwhile, at least 2 Acelas that were 2/3 empty whizzed through -- also very late but also very uninhabited.

I will also observe that despite tables set up for the purpose and a few people in uniform, there was no security check and no ID check.

Far be it from me to hold airlines up as examples of efficiency or even customer service, but how very stupid and sad that Amtrak, which is gasping for financial, political, and popular support, doesn't have coordinated plans in place for such problems as electrical failure at a distant station. How hard would it have been to decide that on this occasion, people inconvenienced by hours-late trains could be "upgraded" to the Acela or a Metroliner to move them along to their destination?

As for security, clearly it would have been the backbreading last straw on top of the chaos on such a busy day if anyone actually HAD examined IDs or bags (and I'm not sure how effective that is, anyway). But it does seem to me that they've just thrown up their hands and given up on the entire issue.

In a country where it costs only $200-400 or less to fly coast to coast but you can't get from Raleigh to Dubuque for less than $880 and two or three changes of plane -- and you can't get to within 100 miles of some cities at all! -- we desperately need an organized, working passenger system. Does seem to me that Congress wants Amtrak to fail, and that plan seems to be working.

Final note: interesting that Friday's chaos on Amtrak from the electrical failure in Rhode Island was not even slightly newsworthy. SSDD, I guess.

Before I get pounced on by political flaming, let me explain re: my comment about Congress --

1. Congress wants Amtrak to fail.
2. The people who manage Amtrak seem to be clueless or worse. And while many employees do their damndest to be helpful, others love to be obstacles.
3. Amtrak is therefore in the process of shooting itself in the cow-catcher.
4. Therefore, Congress may get its wish.

I was not trying to say that it was Congress's fault that there was an electrical failure and/or a general lack of ability to cope on the part of Amtrak last Friday. That's another discussion.

Having taken Amtrak to NYC from Rochester a few times I will concur that it is positively the worst service you can imagine. The trains are often late (with or without any apparent problems). They usually run out of food around Syracuse. People are standing in the aisles (baggage and all - thereby prohibiting even a trip to the bathroom) by Albany. You can't see out the windows because they are so grimy. The bathroom is overflowing with papertowels and other unmentionables (so I guess a few people must be able to get to it...). There is no repect given to girls room vs. boys room (yuk). Each car has its own "unique" temperature/air situation (usualy stale beyond belief). Meanwhile the skeleton crew on board spends most of their time casually sitting in the dinig car (which is crammed with standers and has no food) playing car games. Of course it is impossible to make out any announcements given on board. Penn Station can't even be mentioned it is so appalling. We'll just drive from now on.

Damn... I am SO glad I saw this post.
My daughter and 2 other 18 year olds were planning to fly to NYC for a few days than take Amtrak from NYC to PHL and finally to DC for a senior trip.
I am not so sure I want them to do it now!

I have heard myriad Amtrak horror stories over the years, and certainly don't doubt even one of them, but my (limited) experience with Amtrak has been positive.

I have taken Amtrak from NYC to Boston a few times, from Williamsburg to NYC once, and NYC to DC a couple of times. On each occasion the trains were on time and pleasant. I imagine I've been lucky.

TxTravelPro -- Amtrak is really the way to go for NYC to PHL to DC. It won't be that bad -- I promise. Especially if they don't go on a holiday weekend. It is frustrating for those who travel frequently or who travel on the weekends, but it's the best way to get around the NE corridor if you're making several stops. Plus, the stations take you into the heart of the cities.

weenie -- no need to take Amtrak or to drive from Rochester to NYC now that there's JetBlue! It's clean, easy and cheap!!

I'm very sorry to hear that Amtrak got delayed -- on the busiest travel weekend of the year. But I've taken it numerous times on the Boston-NYC-Washington corridor without any incidents like these.

If you had an airline ticket for a flight that was delayed several hours, would you expect to be given a first-class seat on an earlier flight? I didn't think so. As cfc mentioned, on Friday the airports were "all messed up" due to weather.

I've never experienced any ID or security check in all my Amtrak travels, including plenty of trips since 9/11/01, with the exception of being asked for ID when I pick up my tickets. So for a round-trip, there's no ID check on the return tirp, under normal circumstances.

Some Amtrak trains are "unreserved" and indeed people do end up standing, the food service and bathrooms are overtaxed, etc. So look for trains in which the economy section is "reserved;" this doesn't give you a specific seat, but does guarantee you A seat.

Amtrak doesn't play the gate-announcement "game" at all its stations. But it does this at busy stops along the way so that departing travelers don't crowd the platform before arriving passengers have a chance to get off the train and out of the way. Allowing passengers at Penn Station onto the platform before the train arrived would lead to impossible and dangerous congestion when arriving passengers were trying to disembark.

My daughter is planning to attend college in DC next year, and I'd have no reservations at all about her traveling home to Boston on Amtrak. We've made the trip several times for vacations and college visits, and thought it was just fine, certainly less hassle than flying, as even cfc admits.

My limited experience on the PHL to NYC on Amtrak has been positive except for the exorbitant price! I always took Amtrak from Trenton b/c my husband always takes that route for business and I just did what he did. But after being told I'm nuts for spending so much money, I looked into NJ Transit. Amtrak (regular, not Metro/Acela) from Trenton to Penn Station is $76; NJ Transit it $20. That's quite a difference. Some NJ Transit trains take forever, I got the schedule and took an express, for no extra money. With the express, the time was the same as Amtrak - about 1 hr.

I've never had any serious problems with Amtrak either. It was the busiest week of the year, and as was explained, they track announcements are withheld to prevent over-crowding of arriving & departing passengers all crowding.

Most of the trains in the Boston to DC corridor run very closely on time, but for trains outside that area, a completely different story, and the further away from YOUR departing station the train's origination was, the more likely it is to be late, such as those in Rochester getting onto the Lake Shore Limited (from Chicago) or the train coming from Toronto. The trains that run strictly between Albany & NYC run on schedule most of the time.

Underfunded as Amtrak is, the reservation system does not assign seats, nor is there anyway for agents to see "loyal" passengers - it would be nice if some "regulars" could have been put in those Acela trains ... but then, if YOU had paid extra for a seat in an Acela, would you like to have someone who paid 1/2 of your ticket sitting next to you?

Try Amtrak again, but not on a busy holiday. It might be worthwhile to go to DC and to board a train that originates there (you'll get the best pick of seats at the start), and I'm sure you'll have a more favorable opinion.

Amtrak prices vary a lot by date of travel, date of purchase, type of service, and other specials offered. The last two times I've gone frm Boston to DC, the 3 of us traveled for a total of $240, round-trip.

Been on the metroliner a few times,, never had a bad experience.... must just be luck.

I've travelled on Amtrak a lot, I love trains, and I was noting with sadness an occasion on which the dominoes fell and Amtrak floundered (sorry about the mixed metaphor).

The observation that the northeast corridor USUALLY works whereas service elsewhere usually doesn't is right on the money. So TixTravelPro, I wouldn't worry about the plan -- still the very best alternative, esp. if you make sure to get the discounted tickets. But getting to and from Rochester is a completely other story.

Now then, Anonymous, it makes zero sense to choke up the system with displaced passengers while running empty trains, no matter how much the individual seats cost (and I point out that I paid close to Acela prices because it was a blackout period, anyway). BTW, they didn't hesitate to load Acela passengers onto the non-express last year when it took my son -- who paid the Acela rates for a lark --12 hrs. to get from NYC to Boston, and no, there was no offer of a refund.

It really isn't a good or tight analogy to air travel -- for one thing, you can't add extra cars to a plane!!! For another, you aren't trying to manage a stream of customers who get on and off at over a dozen stations. We're not talking about cramming the few seats in the first class cabin of a 757 with 200 people, here, we're talking about entire trains.

Amtrak will never get "up and running" by pleasing the handful of Acela people who had seats while the station was crammed with angry, tired, displaced passengers resolving never to use the train again.

As for being upset because I paid a certain amount for a ticket and the person next to me paid much less, I don't know where to begin with that argument. First, it happens to me all the time on planes -- moreover, I'm usually paying out of my own pocket or using my personal miles earned by travel I paid for to upgrade, while the person next to me is often traveling at corporate expense.

But second, are you really saying that the people sitting on the Acela are paying for the enjoyment of sitting surrounded by empty seats and passing by the throngs of exhausted, stranded passengers who will be getting home 4-6 hrs. late? That would not be enjoyable to me, and I really hope not to know too many people who would think that was a good arrangement. We help earthquake victims in a distant land but tough noogies on other rail travelers in trouble? P-shaw.

If the Acelas that you saw "whizzed through" Penn Station, perhaps they weren't scheduled to stop in NYC at all, but were on their way to Philly, where all the seats would be spoken for?

As far as enjoying an empty train --

I used to take the Colonial when it traveled from Boston to NewportNews, boarding it in NYC around 1am. I found it worthwhile to pay the extra $ for business class, since the car was usually close to empty, thus very quiet, and as selfish as it sounds, yes, I did enjoy having so much space to myself & not having to share a seat, so I could sleep (it was an overnight train) - and for normal, non-holiday travel I would NOT have appreciated the car being filled up - not for what anyone was (not) paying, but just because I've grown accustomed to a quieter, emptier car when I pay the extra - which I only did on the overnight train.

But for an important family holiday like Thanksgiving, I guess I would have felt selfish. Amtrak probably should have refunded the extra money people pay for Business class and filled those cars up - people want to get home. As far as sympathy & empathy for other passengers -- this was not a disaster such as an earthquake that we're discussing here, but an annual event of too many people stressing all modes of travel during one long weekend.

I don't buy the story that empty cars "whizzed thru" - as NY Penn is not that kind of station - all trains stop there - and some of those "empty" cars may actually have been fully reserved by passengers boarding a few stations down the track, such as at EWR. Granted however, Amtrak does have it's share of problems, and communications with the public and amongst its own employees a big part of it. (regarding conflicting announcement & advice whether other tickets would be accepted.)

We took Amtrak for the first time over the Turkey Day holiday. We travelled from Richmond to Philly outbound on Wednesday and back on Saturday. In both cases the trains were within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. Both trains were quite full, but relatively pleasant. We did shell out the extra few dollars for business class. All in all, we found the experience a good value and a vast improvement over driving during the holidays. The restrooms were a bit poorly cleaned, but otherwise we had no complaints. We'd prefer reserved seating to mean assigned seats, but the first-come first-served method is fair and probably more efficient.

We normally fly this route, and would still prefer that. However, our last minute plans made the cost prohibitive. I found the employees to be friendly and helpful, despite the fact that the trains seemed to be much busier than usual. We would make this our second choice (over driving) for future trips.

I seriously doubt that any Acelas by-pass NYC, and if they did, they would not go through the city.

Amtrak does try, but it doesn't take much to throw them off. Have gone from Raleigh to NYC and it took, it seemed, 3 days. We were literally sidelined by every freight that came by.

I like business class, although it's been "discovered" and sometimes it's more crowded than regular coach. Word to the wise -- bring your own earphones.

I would have felt very bad indeed to think people were being stranded even though seats were available on my train. Rarely do enough people board at Phila and points south to overwhelm the number of seats left vacant by people disembarking.

I must say, I have taken the train MANY times from DC-Baltimore, Balto-Phila, Balto-NYC, Richmond-Balto, NYC-Albany and once Balto-Boston and while I've had problems a few times, I would say 9 times in 10, it's been a very pleasant, comfortable journey and quite often it's been ontime!