Communication Breakdown

By Joe Aiello, Director of Community Engagement & Organizing

Credit: Charles Bonnay/Getty Images

I want to get this out of the way right up top: I really hate repeating myself. I honestly do. But, sadly, I feel that it’s time to write what is now the “third in a series.”

First it was cold weather issues.

Then it was warm weather issues.

Now it’s equipment failures, availability issues, and a sinkhole.

But there is, much to many passengers’ frustration, a single thread that connects them all: a communication breakdown.

[I doubt Robert Plant had to deal with stuff like this. Well, at least not in transportation options.]

Last weekend, Trains Magazine’s remarkable reporter, Bob Johnston, covered the rash of delays, cancellations, and overall disruptions to Amtrak’s service in the recent weeks -- ranging from disabled freight trains, broken down Chargers, track work, and service suspended simply because they don't have enough equipment to go around. A couple of these situations, like a rash of bad weather and a sinkhole in NY, are truly out of anyone’s control -- but even when things are out of Amtrak's control, there are things Amtrak can do better when that happens (we will get to that in a second).

This isn’t just a handful of instances over the last few weeks. This seems to happen All. The. Time. Check any number of threads on the Amtrak Reddit page or on the Amtrak Fans Facebook page. Users posting in real-time from the broken down train they were stranded on. Almost like clockwork, the “passenger in peril” will comment -- “no one knows what the hell is going on.” And even when the on-board staff is working their tails off to help the passengers, they are left in the proverbial dark by their managers.

Why is it that Amtrak's social media team can come up with a number of clever, viral-worthy, Gen Z styled posts on Instagram -- but passengers can't get a clear answer on why their train was cancelled or delayed?

We aren’t talking about state secrets here. Due to the sinkhole, for example, Amtrak is shutting down the Boston leg of the Lake Shore Limited until AT LEAST January and busing customers between Boston South Station and Rensselaer Station in NY. The question I and a number of folks online have, is why doesn't Amtrak run equipment between Boston and Springfield and THEN use a bus bridge for passengers to Albany? Or, at the very least, bring back the second bus that Amtrak ran last month. A bus can carry 45 passengers, at best. Two buses would make a big dent in the inconvenience we're now seeing. It’s the same question I have when an entire line gets canceled (say, the Southwest Chief) because there is some type of disruption in the middle.

Isn’t that what former CEO Richard Anderson wanted to do to the Southwest Chief in the first place? (Side note: we did successfully fight that plan, so don’t get any ideas.)

Why do passengers on both ends get screwed when trains could run to a designated stop, bus to the other side, and then get back on the train?

Maybe Amtrak DOES have an answer to the above. Maybe there is a perfectly rational engineering or equipment reason that would calm any “they don’t want to run trains” conspiracy. BUT WHAT IS THAT ANSWER? The best we get is “Service is canceled due to XYZ. No alternative transportation will be provided.” Again, we aren't asking for KFC’s 11 herbs and spices. We just want better communication on what is happening. The same goes for when an engine breaks down (are the Chargers okay?) and passengers are sitting for hours. Let customers know, in real time, what info you have. Don’t, quite literally at times, leave them in the dark.

This is why we see or hear the phrase “never again” a lot when it comes to riding Amtrak.

I saw a comment in reference to the kick-off of Mardi Gras service by someone on Facebook who bought tickets for the first weekend -- "I got my ticket, no confidence that there will be a train." Kinda can't blame them.

If you listen to some of the darker corners of the online passenger rail world, you would think we are sitting on our hands the entire time and only broadcasting the good news. My blogs and thoughts aside, we applaud Amtrak when it is appropriate, but we also take them to task for “penny wise, pound foolish” ideas. We warned Amtrak (and the Senate Commerce Committee) in 2020 that mothballing equipment, furloughing employees, and moving to a 3x a week schedule during the pandemic would come back to haunt them (it did). Five years later, we called Amtrak leadership out for reports (which were true) of mass firings due to a foolish (and not at all mandated) goal of “achieving operational profitability” which have only led to more confusion and finger-pointing when problems arise. All the more reason we have been pushing for a Passenger Bill of Rights to protect passengers and make sure they are getting all the information they deserve when it comes to delays, cancellations, etc.

That’s a whole lot of NOT doing nothing. And these are just a few examples.

Let’s celebrate the success of the Borealis. Let’s commemorate the launch of the new Airo trainsets. Let’s pop a bottle for the start of the Mardi Gras service along the Gulf Coast.

But, as advocates and passengers, let’s make sure that Amtrak is talking to us along the way.

I hope to see you on board, and on schedule?

Take it away, boys.