The Great Ballpark Tour - Day 9

Add comment July 3rd, 2008

Greetings from Cincy.

Slept in after a late-night Amtrak from D.C. Not nearly as pleasant an experience as the Pittsburgh-D.C. trip, but word from Amtrak staffers is the Cardinal route is in for some upgrades. Good, they need it:

Train: The Cardinal, train 51

Departed: Washington, D.C., approximately 11:15 a.m. (ontime)

Arrived: Cincinatti, OH, approximately 1:30 a.m. (scheduled 1 a.m.)

Positives: 

• Again, the staff was hardworking and courteous. The train was sold out, and they had to split pairs like us up, but still we got on in D.C. surprisingly fast. Whenever there were hiccups in sevice - especially in the overwhelmed dining car - the employees were very nice.
• Only being about a half hour late is great given how much time we seemed to be stopped for signals and freight traffic.
• Got more time at Washington’s stellar Union Station, as well as an arrival at Cincy’s classy revived Union Terminal, which doubles as a museum center. The city’s done a great job here.
• Man, I’m gonna miss that legroom when we’re on Megabus tomorrow.

Negatives:

• I’m glad the train was sold out, but the staff was overwhelmed at times, especially in the cafe and dining car, where long delays and decreasing selection were the norm as the night went on. As far as I could tell, there were three people working the whole operation, and one guy pretty much handling the serving and preparation of the dining car food. I was told they could be in line for an expanded dining car with a chef, and they definitely need it.
• It’s sad that such a pretty route couldn’t have Superliner service, with a second deck and a siteseeing lounge like the Capitol Limited. I totally understand that it’s a matter of limited Amtrak funding and resources … I just hope they can get the resources to give this route the service it deserves. Good to see people using it though, apparently it’s sold out frequently.
•  Talked to a gentleman at Union Station who missed a connection the day before because of a delayed train from Chicago. When he called customer service, the person he talked to bluntly said Amtrak is not responsible for connections - which is true, they say that up front - and couldn’t do anything for him. I understand that, but he was particularly upset because of the attitude he got … really, what he wanted was someone to listen to him and offer some kind of suggestion for help, not an immediate scapegoating. My wife, who used to work in customer service, said the first thing you’re taught is to just listen. That said, yesterday this gentleman reached a very nice person at Union Station who helped him out, and he asked for her name so he could recommend her. That’s great - if you have a mixed-bag experience with customer service, make sure to tell the company who helped and who didn’t help, so they know what they’re doing right and wrong, not just what they’re doing wrong.

Bottom line, I still love traveling by Amtrak, but this leg showed how much it can improve if given the resources. We’ll see if high fuel prices and increased demand for mass transit lead to changes in Washington.

Time for ice cream in Cincy. More later.