I hope you can get through anyway. Good luck, my friend. And if you're on the Cal Zephyr, and it happens, enjoy it! It's a glorious train.- 6,119
I hope you can get through anyway. Good luck, my friend. And if you're on the Cal Zephyr, and it happens, enjoy it! It's a glorious train.
Chicago to south bend. Capitol Limited. I am/was excited for my upper deck seat! Even though it will be night time.symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Sep 13, 2022
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Ugh, would rather have the reverse.quincunx wrote: ↑Sep 13, 2022The aisle is really wide and seats narrower.
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^^Ah, so not the Salt Lake trip. Sorry. Confused. Still, sounds like fun just the same. 
Oh no. Flying for that one.symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Sep 14, 2022^^Ah, so not the Salt Lake trip. Sorry. Confused. Still, sounds like fun just the same.
This one is planes, hopefully trains, and automobiles. Fly to midway, train to south bend, one way car rental home.
That said I want to do Oakland to Denver on the train in winter sometime.
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^Every trip has its charms. I certainly can't knock flying, and I have a fondness for Enterprise. But I do hope you get the change to enjoy the very not-at-all high speed train from Oakland to Denver. And winter should be great.
The seat width isn't bad. It's the lack of recline I'm angry about. Reclining seats is one of the best advantages of Amtrak and they basically threw it out the window. Something about "reclining is selfish and if you recline it should only take from your own space" which is a complete load of garbage of a take.
After being on a few Amfleets in the northeast recently, I've noticed how much more they rattle than the Ventures. Like, I was annoyed by the sounds of shaking plastic panels. I was all ready to be an Amfleet cheerleader because of the seats but honestly I hate them both now. Also got to take the Acela for the first time recently, those things are old and falling apart too. I think I'm just grumpy.
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I guess I should preface my opinion that I stopped riding coach years ago and exclusively have ridden business class, so my concerns about the seats are probably not applicable to myself anyway. Plus, I haven't ridden an Amtrak service that wasn't the River Runner in ~15 years or so either. The Superliner top level lounges are always pretty comfy though.
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Honestly, that's the best news we could read, far beyond the impact within this thread. A full railroad workers strike would have effectively torpedoed the economy; destroyed what remains of our nation's supply chains into the holiday shopping season; would have taken weeks or months to correct scheduling once any post-strike deal would have been made; and been a major spur to prolonged inflation all by itself. We dodged a GDMF bullet, y'all.jshank83 wrote: ↑Sep 15, 2022Sounds like the strike has been avoided.
I think the better word might be is the strike has been postponed for now. Agreement made but still has to be ratified by members. Believe a two week extension of the cool off period was agreed upon as part of the tentative agreement was included so unions could go back for member ratification.jshank83 wrote: ↑Sep 15, 2022Sounds like the strike has been avoided.
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^Both are right. The terms of acceptance have been agreed upon by union leaderships, and they will go back to their constituents for final passage.
The major terms - retroactive pay increases and new sick leave considerations - are now approved on both sides.
Otherwise, we'd have seen 7,000 trains stopped; 60,000 workers on strike; months to weeks of schedule reorganization once a strike finally ended; average costs of $2BB/day to the US economy; and a new spur of inflation maybe as high as 1%+ all on its own.
This could've been truly awful. Instead, it's a solid negotiation, ostensibly by all sides.
The major terms - retroactive pay increases and new sick leave considerations - are now approved on both sides.
Otherwise, we'd have seen 7,000 trains stopped; 60,000 workers on strike; months to weeks of schedule reorganization once a strike finally ended; average costs of $2BB/day to the US economy; and a new spur of inflation maybe as high as 1%+ all on its own.
This could've been truly awful. Instead, it's a solid negotiation, ostensibly by all sides.
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My read of the deal is that, on the priority topic of quality-of-life, the carriers added one personal day and an agreement to a limited number of days missed for medical needs (i.e. if you are hospitalized you won't be fired on day 1). Keep in mind that many rail workers get 30 days off call per year, to be scheduled in advance (hope your daughter doesn't invite you to an October wedding in March or you're SOL, not to mention funerals etc.), most people get at least 104 for weekends.dredger wrote: ↑Sep 15, 2022I think the better word might be is the strike has been postponed for now. Agreement made but still has to be ratified by members. Believe a two week extension of the cool off period was agreed upon as part of the tentative agreement was included so unions could go back for member ratification.jshank83 wrote: ↑Sep 15, 2022Sounds like the strike has been avoided.
This deal (still no paid sick time during a pandemic?!?) feels like the admin is daring workers to strike. I wouldn't be surprised by anything from a wildcat strike to a narrow ratification followed by continuing worker shortages as frustrated train drivers just quit even faster than they already are. (The latter case will be sold as a "success" by politicians while our infrastructure crumbles.)
Not to derail the thread, but a UPS drivers strike is looming in the Spring.
I think it is likely that a significant number of the unions rank and file vote down the "deal". It is totally inadequate and there will not be a better opportunity to press for a better quality of life. One additional personal day is really just an insult.
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Yeah the new contract is super mediocre. Wouldn't be surprised if there actually is a strike - better stock up on stuff now while the going's good.
River Runner will be latest corridor service to take a hit due to Amtrak's equipment and labor force issues. Dumbfounded on how Amtrak has this huge pot of forthcoming infrastructure funding and they are struggling on maintaining their current service levels
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ral-weeks/
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ral-weeks/
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It's not as though Amtrak is the only company struggling with staffing and supplies.dredger wrote: ↑Oct 17, 2022River Runner will be latest corridor service to take a hit due to Amtrak's equipment and labor force issues. Dumbfounded on how Amtrak has this huge pot of forthcoming infrastructure funding and they are struggling on maintaining their current service levels
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... ral-weeks/
(Maybe killing and disabling millions of Americans is bad for the economy?)
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^Would this be a good time to suggest they build out my NIMBY Rails pipe dream? 
Interesting. Thank you for the heads up!
Interesting. Thank you for the heads up!I've wondered how much this affected the psyche of STL in regards to taking the lead in railroad building.
StlToday - Nov. 1, 1855 • A bridge disaster derails St. Louis dream for a transcontinental railroad
https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/ ... 31d54.html
StlToday - Nov. 1, 1855 • A bridge disaster derails St. Louis dream for a transcontinental railroad
https://www.stltoday.com/news/archives/ ... 31d54.html
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^Not too much, I'd guess. We had plenty of new railroads with transcontinental ambitions even after that. The bigger problem was the Civil War shifting people and industry north, and the sheer unavoidable barrier the Mississippi makes this far south. One big bridge still doesn't have the capacity of ten small ones, even if you build it quicker, and no matter how much we might wish otherwise the straightest line between the northeast and the southtwest will always be well north of us.