North American Trains
I have really tried hard to avoid writing about this. If I look at the draft articles I have written for this blog and kept in draft, no less than three in the last eight months, touch on the subject I am going to breech today. I wanted to avoid the subject, as I tell two of the guys I regular commute with, because I really wanted to believe in the train system and support it. I did not want to whine about it. Today, unfortunately, I just can't hold back and I will be hitting publish on this article - an amalgam of the drafts.
Let me sum it up very simply....trains in North America are terrible. Unreliable and aging they trudge along their lines achingly. Some recent examples from the last ten days...yes only in the last ten days:
A week or so ago I went to Toronto. Rather than drive or fly, I thought I'd try the VIA Rail train that runs between Montreal and Toronto. I arrived at the station thirty minutes prior to boarding, as recommended. At the designated time of departure we got notice that the train was delayed by twenty minutes. Twenty minutes later we were told that it would be another twenty minutes. This was repeated a third time so that we were now one hour late. Finally we were advised that the train had mechanical problems and that it was being pulled out of the yards and would be at the station in twenty or so minutes. Finally we left, approximately two hours late. Mechanical problems.
The same day my wife and children were leaving, via the Amtrak service, for New York City. It is bad enough that this trip normally takes eleven hours (driving takes seven - you really have to want to take the train from Montreal to New York). This particular trip took sixteen. Twice shortly after departure the train had to reverse to, first, go around another broken down train, second, for some unspecified reason. They were one hour late leaving. Then about ten hours into their journey they were advised that the train had hit a fallen tree and that it would have to be towed back to Albany, New York where all passengers were to transfer to another New York City bound train. Mecahnical problems and track maintenance.
Example three. On my ride home from the above mentioned weekend in Toronto I was seated in car 9. This car was the first behind the locomotive. From there the numbers dropped off to one which was, presumably, the last car of the train. (I would have reversed the numbering scheme....but that's just me!) One lady boarded the train with her mother, an elderly woman, and asked where car 10, the car indicated on her ticket, was. Good question! She was informed that car 10 was - get this - a bus!!! Yessir. She was justifiably flabbergasted by this response and told the attendant that she was not leaving the train as her mother was seated in car 9 and, having booked two train tickets for her mother and herself, she did not intend to leave her mother alone while she took a bus to Montreal. Terrible logistics and customer service.
Example four. Today it snowed in Montreal. Yes, it snowed a fair bit (about 15 cm or so) but this is not unusual given the location of the city in Canada. It snows here OK? Let's just say that trains have been running in these conditions, in this country, for well over a century - they have had time to perfect the system. My twenty kilometre commute took two hours. Another mechanical problem was to blame - this time a switch. This switch problem seems to be a recurring issue on these commuter lines as I have had numerous delays caused by frozen, defective switches.
So listen to me. I have really tried to avoid bitching about the reliability of train service in Canada but I simply could not anymore - not after today's marathon commute. For you doubters, those who are thinking that I am complaining for no good reason, I may just hit publish on one or two more of my drafts. Just to drive the point home.
It is time that some investments be made in decent passenger train service in North America. Let's join the modern age folks.
Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!
Let me sum it up very simply....trains in North America are terrible. Unreliable and aging they trudge along their lines achingly. Some recent examples from the last ten days...yes only in the last ten days:
A week or so ago I went to Toronto. Rather than drive or fly, I thought I'd try the VIA Rail train that runs between Montreal and Toronto. I arrived at the station thirty minutes prior to boarding, as recommended. At the designated time of departure we got notice that the train was delayed by twenty minutes. Twenty minutes later we were told that it would be another twenty minutes. This was repeated a third time so that we were now one hour late. Finally we were advised that the train had mechanical problems and that it was being pulled out of the yards and would be at the station in twenty or so minutes. Finally we left, approximately two hours late. Mechanical problems.
The same day my wife and children were leaving, via the Amtrak service, for New York City. It is bad enough that this trip normally takes eleven hours (driving takes seven - you really have to want to take the train from Montreal to New York). This particular trip took sixteen. Twice shortly after departure the train had to reverse to, first, go around another broken down train, second, for some unspecified reason. They were one hour late leaving. Then about ten hours into their journey they were advised that the train had hit a fallen tree and that it would have to be towed back to Albany, New York where all passengers were to transfer to another New York City bound train. Mecahnical problems and track maintenance.
Example three. On my ride home from the above mentioned weekend in Toronto I was seated in car 9. This car was the first behind the locomotive. From there the numbers dropped off to one which was, presumably, the last car of the train. (I would have reversed the numbering scheme....but that's just me!) One lady boarded the train with her mother, an elderly woman, and asked where car 10, the car indicated on her ticket, was. Good question! She was informed that car 10 was - get this - a bus!!! Yessir. She was justifiably flabbergasted by this response and told the attendant that she was not leaving the train as her mother was seated in car 9 and, having booked two train tickets for her mother and herself, she did not intend to leave her mother alone while she took a bus to Montreal. Terrible logistics and customer service.
Example four. Today it snowed in Montreal. Yes, it snowed a fair bit (about 15 cm or so) but this is not unusual given the location of the city in Canada. It snows here OK? Let's just say that trains have been running in these conditions, in this country, for well over a century - they have had time to perfect the system. My twenty kilometre commute took two hours. Another mechanical problem was to blame - this time a switch. This switch problem seems to be a recurring issue on these commuter lines as I have had numerous delays caused by frozen, defective switches.
So listen to me. I have really tried to avoid bitching about the reliability of train service in Canada but I simply could not anymore - not after today's marathon commute. For you doubters, those who are thinking that I am complaining for no good reason, I may just hit publish on one or two more of my drafts. Just to drive the point home.
It is time that some investments be made in decent passenger train service in North America. Let's join the modern age folks.
Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!
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