| A Comparison - travel in the USA by train The choice of the train The US is the land where the automobile is King ... and where businessmen fly from city to city, State to State from meeting to meeting. So why - when we visited the USA on what was primarily a business trip last week - did Lisa and I choose to get around by train? Because (even in the USA) it seemed to make logistical sense for this trip. And because I wanted to get an international comparison between rail travel in the UK and USA ... and what better trip to use. And because the price seemed economic / sensible. Friday, 10th August A Rude awakening Transatlantic flights seem to run pretty well these days, with fewer major delays than I can remember in the past, so I'll put it down to pure bad luck that we arrived at the ticket / checkin counter at Newark Airport's Amtrak station about three hours late - which equated to about 15 minutes after our train had left. We weren't too bothered - after all, there are one or two trains every hour until late in the evening on this corridor and it wasn't yet 5 O'Clock. But the desk was unmanned. "Back a 4 O'clock" said the handwritten sign. Hmm. Automated machines demanded a credit card which we were disinclined to give them, as we were picking up pre-bought tickets, but there was a help phone on the wall. Picked it up and spoke to control. "There should be someone there" we were told and, yes, we knew that. "I'll call him". An ongoing confusion (and a mixum concerning Newark Airport v Newark Penn Central) and a few minutes later an agent had been extracted from the back room to assist us. Our "USA Rail Passes" were duely issued. Sold to me as the American equivalent of the BritRail pass, these tickets were to allow us to ride any train in the North East of the USA for up to 15 days - and at $299 each (150 pounds) that's something of a bargain compared to buy-as-you-ride. The same incredible value is offered to USA visitors to the UK on Britrail - or rather, we were just about to discover that we had been oversold on our tickets ... "There's no space left for you to reserve on the rest of today's trains from here" says the agent. "This IS a Friday, you have to have a reservation, and there's only so many per train for these tickets". Wonderful - 5 p.m. in Newark, speaking with a "jobsworth" who isn't really interested in offering solutions but rather in stating problems ... and a hotel booked way down in Virginia. But fortunately, I had studied the maps / timetables a bit. "Any Space on the trains from Newark Penn Central to DC" I asked and, begrudgingly, he checked. "Only on the two minutes past seven". "WE'LL TAKE 'EM!"  Now - how can we get up to Penn Central - the next stop up the line, five or ten minutes away with plenty of suburban trains and some long distances services that call at both of them too. "I can't get you on to any of the long distance trains - they're full and you're US Rail pass doesn't cover the suburban trains" ... and so it was that we found oursleves starting our USA Train Adventure an hour late, heading away from where we wanted to go, and having had to pay $7 each extra over and above our "unlimited train travel" tickets.Newark, Penn Central I write computer software, I train people who write computer software. And I would LOVE to train the people who wrote the software for Amtrak's ticket agents to use as they sell tickets! We took the opportunity of 90 minutes at Newark to make reservaltions for the following Sunday - New Carrolton to New York Penn Central, and then New York Penn Central to Albany for the following Sunday. What a good job we had 90 minutes - I have never seen such an incredibly long process as the one the agent took to issue me with a reservation for the train we wanted from New Carrolton, and then the huge trouble he had trying to locate the ongoing train in his system. It just wasn't showing up. "It must be fully booked" he concluded, leaving me with a three hour layover in New York (great with all that baggage!) and a scheduled arrival in Albany well in the evening on a train that left two hours after I wanted, and then took longer too. And having booked MY reservation, he had to repeat all his keystokes (though, to be fair, he left out the section of trying for the 3:45) to make Lisa reservations on the same train. All tickets have to be signed upon issue, ID provided just like an airline flight. But I was able to present him with Lisa's passport, point to her across the waiting hall, and promise that I would have her sign them straight away and ... we had our tickets for Sunday. I'm so relieved he took pity on us and didn't have me drag Lisa up there and loose our one valuable-in-the-rush hour seat. A human face, a guy trying to do his job within a frustrating system! Tea with the homeless  Still an hour before our train, and no food eaten for a long while. Some interesting looking food places at the station. But wandering around in the great cavern under the tracks, they're all takeaways - no where to sit, and dragging our 49lb cases with us, we're not exactly going to be Mr and Mrs Popular as we stand in line and explore all the options with the foodsellers. Ah - one's a sit in cafe; "Waiter service only" but the waiters are packing up for the day, chairs propped against tables to indicate that they're no longer open for new customers. We find seats in the ticket office, labelled "for ticketed passenger only" and Lisa heads off to one of the stalls.It starts to dawn on me ... the seat that we're on is one of the few labelled that it's for travellers, and the others are clearly occupied by people who are not there so much for the railway facilities, but because it's somewhere that's warm and dry. Some interesting character studies to be had, for sure ... nut also care to be taken that the bags and cases remain in sight and in our control. And I wasn't said as the clock ticked around and it was time to go up onto the platform. Denied Boarding, but a nice train in the end  Some things are the same the world over ... the 5:02 was posted, was signed as being on time, but then just as it was due went "30 minutes late". The story of our journey! The 5:14 - also going down to DC rolled in on time. Very nice looking train ... but a quick word with the conductor elicits the response that even though we have an "unlimited" ticket, that's not really the case and we are limited to travelling on less glamorous and slower trains than his.The 5:02 drags in at - what - around 5:30; busy, but we do get in, find room for our luggage, and find seats - sleeping much of the way on the now-dark Friday evening down through Philadelphia and Baltimore, train getting quieter all the way, and so on to Union Station in Washington DC where the remenants of the passengers alight. The Amtrak carriages all seem pretty well standardised - a similar livery, a similar look and feel, a comfortable ride, airline-style seating but reasobaly spacious; we'll be in other similar trains on subsequent legs of our journey. Across Washington DC We're met at DC with a blanket of hot air, even at 10 p.m. at night; past experience has lead us to travel in shirt sleeves and indeed my one pullover remained in the suitcase all week. Off the train, off the platform, and down into the DC metro having negotiated the ticket machine. At $2.75 (that's just under 1.50 in UK money) for a ride all the way out to the end of the line at Springfield Franconia, it's a bargain - a fifth of what it would cost in London - and the Metro is much smoother and more comfortable as the tube, although just as crowded. Change from the Red line to the Yellow Line, then from the Yellow to the Blue ... and you'll be in Springfield in just half an hour. Except there's a section of the Yellow line that's closed from 10 p.m. this Friday night ... so we have to make a great horseshoe loop on the Blue. Up past Foggy Bottom, across through Roslyn, and back down past Pentagon and Crystal City (what a Misnoma for a concrete cavern of a station!) to Van Doorn and - eventually Springfield. The "Great Way Round" - now where have I heard those GWR letters before? A quick call to the hotel that we've prebooked to have their van pick us up (a common USA practise) brings the news that they don't do pickups after 10:45 and ... of course ... it's now after 10:45. A final 2 miles in a taxi, and a chance to check in and collapse for the night. Sunday, 12th August Springfield-Franconia to Troy, up state New York The DC Metro  A transfer ride from our hotel (we WERE in their time frame today!) and a Metro ride from one extreme of the Metro system to the other brough us to New Carrelton.Even here in the capital of the most powerful nation on earth, Sunday is engineering works day .... and our train clearly labelled "New Carrelton" all the way along was pulled up short two stations early in an interetsing suburb of what is also one of the most violent cities in the nation and we were all dumped out onto the platform. But engineering works don't mean "bustitution" here - they mean single track working, and the service had been sensibly thinned out to alternate trains to th eouter terminus. A service that ran every 15 minutes under normal circumstances was half-hourly; not causing a conjestion problem, efficient, clearly well practised. And it looked like the works were quite major ones too. And so, on to Carrolton still in good time for the Amtrak. Amtrak to New York  You don't wait on the platform in the USA - you wait in the waiting room. You've heard me desribe the one at Newark earlier in this article; the one on Sunday Morning was much cleaner, quieter .... and with fewer facilities. To the extent that we were tempted up onto a bare, bare platform for a boring, boring wait - no seats at all - 20 minutes ahead of time. I have been in trains calling here before and wondered about the bareness, and now I know. An on-time train, seating together, power points at the seats, for the 3 hour ride back up through New Jersey past Newark and under the Hudson river into New York's Penn Central station. A somewhat event-free journey, but a handful of things did strike me. The ticket checking system. Above each seat is a clip rail, and the ticket inspectors - one for every 2 or 3 carriages - come along on each major leg of the journey, collect issued tickets, and put a smaller card in the clip rail above eash passenger's head. Some are near-plain, others have station names coded into them and in spite of a few minutes idly wondering, I wasn't able to suss out the system. But I do know that shortly before passengers are due to leave, the conductor can tell in an instance who's due to leave and he clears their card. The buffer car. "Chicken Sandwich" request Lisa. Yeah - right - that's REALLY gonna be possible! But I find the menu panel offering a Ham and Cheese bagette, and a chicken summat bap. Pictures of both, but with a big cross through the chicken. Hmm - "no Chicken today" I ask. "Yes, we have" replies the lady on the counter and I'm thinking "is this the dry British hurmour come to the USA, or does she mean it". Tursn out she meant it - she went on to explain that one of her colleagues previously operating the buffet car had run out and crossed though the item with a permanent marker; well - actually she wasn't that polite about it, in fact she expressed quite a low opinion of him! Station stops. L-o-n-g-e-r than in the UK as passengers are encouraged, airline-like, to remain in there seats until the trtain has come to a complete halt. So plenty of time to admire the platform at BWI - Baltimore Washington International Airport - and at MetroPark, where we were watching a couple, probably waiting for a subsqeuent local train, handling a teddy bear in a way that would be quite inappropriate to handle a child. The initial clutches were very private and intimate indeed ... and then they moved on to swinging the poor beast by its ears. And so to New York ... Written 2007-08-21 19:17:29 Available entries ... Welcome to News and Views Welcome to News and Views The story so far Looking slightly wider Don't let this become history! Meeting, 20th September - getting nervous Encouraging traffic not just warm words Official (Government) view ... and I agree Excursion! Don't believe everything you hear Old pictures. Not to be repeated event Meeting! Great meeting but just a start. 35% Growth in one year - Melksham ticket statistics Swindon to Trowbridge Regularity, Reliability, Realistic connections Core meeting Didn't you read page 52 of web document? An easy timetable - Melksham to Chippenham and Swindon Would this government close a station completely? Quotes from Government Tuesday, 18th October - Kiss and Ride day Six NEW factors why the TransWilts train that serves Melksham should be enhanced and not cut And more train users ... Try the train on 18th October Tracking codes for TransWilts stations New stats prove it - the service IS used Bump from Glasgow Ready for Tuesday Kiss and Ride report A case of the tail wagging the dog?? The system is overcomplex - no wonder some odd things happen Warminster Bus Running Day, 2005 The storm's eye? A disappointing letter Some scenes at Melksham Station Monday morning, Melksham Station Busy train at Melksham Forum Archives available A THOUSAND visitors What does it cost to run a train? Timetable - Melksham to Reading and London Plus a footnote - Melksham to London A bustle before the 17:02 STILL worth writing. To MP, To Dft, to bidders. Keeping the campaign tail up Don't drink and drive - drink and train. Driving customers away? Latest official answer At Temple Meads today Melksham and TransWilts train service - closure by stealth? From the rumour mill A Quandry Santa Claus at Melksham Station Train service fading away too? Greater Western Franchise awarded First Group - First answer on Melksham First specific Melksham rumour ... Virtually no service - or excellent service. Request the latter. Should badgers be culled? Melksham rail traffic up 33% in 3 months Upside Down Every journey has a story New fares from 2nd January 2006 No final decision yet Even new stations don't always survive A comparison across the world Christmas service - unrequired, or just unprovided? Update New year, 2006 Bustitution - buses for trains on Saturdays and Sundays New Sign The Meeting Season Reply from MD of First Great Western Wilts County Council could save the Melksham / Transwilts train What does First pay the government for Greater Western? Railway statistics and Melksham comparisons - how do we stand? Winners and losers in the Devizes constituency First want to hear your aspirations Repeat - PLEASE write in with your aspirations Were they purchasing votes? Current status ... Further threats Keep watching - coming to the boil! Recent Correspondence From my postbag ... Timetable consultation coming up Waiting, with baited breath Meeting with a local MP Today or tomorrow Draft Timetable is here Out with the old users, in with the new On the 05:52 this morning Background and opinion Draft timetables (continued) Three and a half answers out of 4 A week is a long time Roger Jones answers 5 months later! Safer current trains - the 06:56, 07:45 and 18:09 INPUTS NEEDED by 8th March Meetings and Consultation Responses A whole pile of responses Ploughing back OUR money, not theirs. New pages and information On supporting other campaigns ... Not just the TransWilts and Melksham ... Service failure looses more customers The Waiting Game Real time train monitoring Someone can't wait! High emotion UPDATE - new timetables An update - BAD, BAD news for Melksham ... First - transforming travel Constituency Changes Southampton to Westbury RESTORED Friday, 21st, Trowbridge Meeting, Friday 21st Celebrating a closure Meeting, tonight Friday's meeting What SWPTUF says Meeting, 21st - notes Parliamentary Debate, 25th April First back down or buses too. Diary Date - 12th May Waverley RailFuture meeting today RailFuture meeting - some gems First way to get rid of customers? Friday meeting - invite and details It gets worse Every so often, stop and look Bus service costs 25 pounds per passenger to run? Carrying fresh air around? Home soon. Put yourself in their shoes Lies, damned lies and statistics Our battle .... ... is part of a planned war Political pressure - press release How to catch the 18:48 from Chippenham - the DfT suggests Internet connection issues Selling off any possibility of improvement Letter from Derek Twigg Important but not refreshing meeting Welcome for Michael Ancram and Chris Grayling Visit by Chris Grayling and Michael Ancram Friday, 7th July - Melksham Rail future - the First Alternative Pivotal decison - to grow or to strangle? Bad news coming? In praise of estate agents Press Release - Open Access operator negotiations Open Access case strengthened A desire for honesty Flowers for Melksham. Flowers at Melksham. Has our publicity reached the right people? One year on A year on - an empty bank holiday Bus connections to Melksham from Chippenham Is this train used? If its working well, change it so it doesnt. 20% service cut = 40% traffic cut? A difficult choice for voters Consultant's reports recommended a modest INCREASE From Ystrad Mynach Taunton meeting More cancellations Passenger or lemmings Behind the new timetable Is this fare? Returning from their UK course End of term - don't care Current and future summary 2 weeks to go Fading away? Coming to a course in Melksham Last Week - Press Release Fizzle They're gone ... but ... New service - first impressions "Told you so" Christmas, 2006 Welcome to 2007 PLEASE LOBBY - First, Dft, County Council, your MP Key players Keeping the diary rolling End game? Save the Train v More Train, Less Strain Invite letter - 5th March 2007 meeting IMPROVED PUBLIC TRANSPORT LINKS ACROSS WILTSHIRE? Passengers or Customers? A fast-moving story? The traveller, not the train! Report - Monday night's meeting - press brief What is happening? Reply to Petition Petition Response - detail, opinion, context Government pressure to shut up. But let us look forward. Asking for the political and part views Helsinki and Heathrow to Melksham - Saturday Gordon Dodge, Rest in Peace An update The way forward - improved service and improved station A roundup from a MELKSHAM perspective Update being updated! News Roundup - a LOT is happening Diary notes New faces - mayors and chairs. We have another hill to climb Radio - tomorrow morning? Weymouth, Poor Provisional, and Sunday The Ghost Train, Purton How to fill platforms, and railway company coffers too! FSB - North and West Wilts Commitee - Federation of Small Businesses Frustrated but not depairing Front page update Comment on December timetables A First to Stagecoach comparison Does the new man want to play hard? And the week ends with two more cancellations! Comparing a Wiltshire town with a Norfolk one Commutes are longer, and in the west we may know why Campaigning Mantra - Philosophy behind the case 30 late, and a bus not a train .... Staffing-go-round - but the campaigners carry on Rail user groups do NOT represent rail users? Cancellations, Changes and Crass Christmas First Great Western's Melksham service branded "a disgrace" A pile of 160 train tickets for tomorrow Santa Claus spotted at Swindon Station TransWilts trains ceased a year ago. Lets look forward Trains to and from Melksham - Timetable from Dec07 to May08 Happy Christmas everyone! How have trains being doing in the last 48 hours? Asda - an opportunity that can be used or squandered Another slap in the face from First Great Western On truthfully advertising the case Fare Strike Day Comparing a different part of the country Where has our train gone? Want to comment? You're welcome on the forum An unusual journey for me - some observations Milk producers Meeting Season The heart says "public transport", the head forces car Not a Swiss clock railway this morning Senseless service - could become sensible Terminal 5 - a portent for the Olympics? Loss of train - loss of job Population growth, but congested roads Road - busy ... railway - no trains, so no users One long journey ends and another begins Campaign update - news for December 08 / 09 / 10 / 11 ... Preserved Railways - a look forward Spring 2009 Campaign update |
|||
|
|||
Further Information:
Home
Current Summary
Daily update
User forum
Consultation
Service now
Service future
Future Analysis
Recent Statistics
Recent letters
Letter to DfT
Save the train
Presentation
Support us
Other Maps
Station facilities
Station approach
Pictures
Trains diverted
History
About Melksham
Site Map
About this site