Travel Reference
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mean you'll leave the train and make a trip to a local hospital.
Whatever the circumstance, take comfort in the knowledge that a
passenger's becoming ill is not an unusual occurrence for Amtrak
crews. You'll find them concerned, sympathetic, and capable.
Missed Connections, Everyone's Number-One Problem
Trains running behind schedule are the single biggest recurring
headache Amtrak has to deal with, at least in terms of their day-
to-day operations. Trains can be late for any number of rea-
sons—bad weather or equipment problems, for example—but
the most common cause is freight traffic. Amtrak's long-distance
trains operate over track owned by one of the freight railroads,
and the dispatchers for those railroads often give priority to their
freight trains at Amtrak's expense.
When trains run late, passengers miss connections. Then it
becomes Amtrak's responsibility to make things right. Unfortu-
nately, it's almost a certain lose-lose situation for Amtrak. Missed
connections, or “misconnects” as they're called, cost the railroad
a lot of money—the most recent figure I heard was $130 million
a year. No matter what kind of a solution is worked out, the
affected passengers will not be happy.
Regular riders, and people who understand the unique com-
plexities of a long-distance railroad operation, are usually much
more tolerant of delays than the infrequent or first-time traveler.
Veteran rail travelers also take the likelihood of delays into con-
sideration when they make their travel plans, allowing plenty of
time between connecting trains. When working out a rail itiner-
ary, my rule of thumb is to figure that the train could be as much
as three hours late for each night I'm aboard and to schedule my
connections accordingly. For example, if I'm traveling between
New York and Chicago (one night onboard), I make sure the
second train departs at least three hours after my scheduled
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