One of the best advantages in our push for 21st century American high-speed rail service has been the terrific passenger rail system already operated around the country by Amtrak. To increase speed and reliability, in many corridors we can put Americans to work upgrading the existing Amtrak network. Simply put, Amtrak's hard work makes our work a little easier. And there's no better proof of Amtrak's hard work than the milestone it recently celebrated: its 30 millionth passenger for the Fiscal Year of 2011.
Amtrak's 30.2 million passengers was its highest number ever and its eighth ridership record in the past nine years. And the numbers are up across the nation. Last year, Amtrak broke ridership records for 26 of its 44 services. Since 2000, ridership has climbed an impressive 44 percent.
Lucky number 30,000,000 went to Rochelle Lathan, a suburban St. Louis mother of 5, who travels on Amtrak frequently to Springfield and Chicago. Rochelle received an oversized commemorative Amtrak ticket and two 30-day rail passes.
She describes her regular travel on Amtrak as, “so relaxing and smooth.” And I couldn’t agree more.
Riding the rails with one of Amtrak's other celebrated passengers, Vice President Joe Biden
What makes this a doubly great milestone is that Amtrak is also celebrating its 40th year of service. Amtrak was created in October of 1970 by Congress to “fulfill a vital national transportation need and to connect the nation in ways no other mode of transportation can.”
And there's no doubt in my mind that the folks at Amtrak have done exactly that.
But it is not only outside factors that are affecting Amtrak’s success; Amtrak employs thousands of hard working men and women, who all contribute to their success. As Emmett Fremaux, the head of Amtrak Marketing and Product Development said:
“This is an accomplishment of many hardworking and dedicated people doing what it takes to run a railroad. It is a long list and includes Amtrak employees such as locomotive engineers, conductors and other onboard train crew, station staff, mechanics, track workers, K-9 security teams, and numerous other behind-the-scenes employees who work at Amtrak and at our local, state and federal partners.”
Congratulations to Amtrak on this accomplishment, and keep up the good work!
Just to give you a brief summery. We are professional business people who travel to New York every month to meet our customers in our showroom. We were thrown off an Amtrak train by a vindictive conductor in the middle of no where at 10pm directly onto the rail tracks. Because we were not at a station there was no platform. I suffered an injury to my knee while being forced off the train. The doctor said I need an MRI. Also I have been suffering with chest pains since the incident and was in the emergency room last Monday and left against doctor’s advice. I searched the web and there are many complaints out there against the employees of Amtrak, apparently this is not the first time by any means that an Amtrak conductor has done this and the public needs to know what is going on. Below I have written the story exactly as it unfolded and included our photos and contact information at the bottom.
Subject: AMTRAK PASSENGER ABUSE STORY AS IT UNFOLDED
My mother and I boarded Amtrak train #97 at New York Penn Station
travelling back home to Hollywood, FL on the evening of November 10th
2011 with intentions of paying for an upgrade to a cabin after the
Washington D.C. stop as my mother had done so many times before. We
confirmed this would be possible, as it usually is, with the conductor
on duty at the time we boarded.
After leaving the Washington, D.C. stop, my mother and I let our
desire to upgrade our seats to a roomette cabin be known to the new
conductor that boarded at this stop. At this time she notified us in
an abrasive tone that she would not move us until we had left
Richmond, VA. We found this to be unusual as my mother is a frequent
Amtrak member traveler and always pays for an upgrade after leaving
Washington, D.C.except for one time with the same conductor Melissa
Rose where she did the same thing, all other conductors upgrade after
Washington. Also, we both couldn’t help but to notice her attitude
right away and my mother remarked to me, once the conductor passed,
that it would be best to be patient and pleasant because this
conductor is vindictive. Other than that, my mother had nothing but
good things to say about her experience with Amtrak staff and
conductors. In fact, this was my first trip to NYC via Amtrak. My
mother had been trying to convince me that it was less frustrating
than flying and so I went to try it out and keep her company.
My mother told me that on her previous trip Melissa Rose kept her
sitting on purpose in the cafe car for over an hour completely
ignoring her as she carried on chatting with her friends and joking
with her co-workers. My mother waited patiently for the conductor to
reluctantly allow her to get her room. By the time my mother got to
the cabin she was already in tears and felt victimized. She didn’t
report it at the time because she felt that perhaps Melissa Rose may
have had a personal reason for being so objectionable and nasty.
On this occasion, we certainly would have waited until Richmond had
the conductor not been confrontational and dismissive once again. Her
bad attitude left us with a very uneasy feeling and we were concerned
that she would not provide us with proper service. We decided that it
would be best to be patient, keep our opinion of her demeanor to
ourselves and grab a bite to eat in the dining car.
When making an attempt to enter the car with my carry-on laptop bag, I
was approached by Melissa Rose and told that I would not be allowed to
enter with it. I was uncomfortable with leaving my livelihood in a
train full of people unattended and explained that perhaps we could do
the upgrade now so that I could put my possessions in a secure cabin.
She of course refused which left me with only two options; leave my
bag unsecured or stay with it and skip dinner. Fortunately, an
extremely nice cabin attendant overheard the encounter and offered to
take my bags to his personal cabin until after dinner so that I could
join my mother in the dining car. This simple solution visibly upset
Melissa Rose. She then began to berate him in front of us for over
stepping his bounds by being courteous and professional.
When passing through the dining car to drop off my bags in the
attendant’s room, the wait staff in the dining car let me know that
putting my bag under the table would not be a problem at all. Over
dinner my mother and I discussed our fears regarding the conductor’s
intentions.My mother said she feared Melissa Rose would say their were
no rooms. We of course did not want to jeopardize our chances of
getting a cabin because we were quite exhausted from our long work
week in New York. Despite our best efforts to be compliant and
patient, we sensed that Melissa Rose’s abrasive temperament would
impede a reasonable resolution to this simple situation.
While still at dinner, Melissa Rose passed through the dining car
escorting another passenger along with luggage to the sleeping car.
This appeared to be an upgrade as they were coming from the coach car
and we were not at a station at the time. When she returned to pass
back through the dining car, I approached her to let her know that I
would sooner skip dinner rather than lose the opportunity of getting a
cabin. Melissa Rose turned her back on me, waved me off dismissively
and said to come to her when I was done with dinner. Later we found
out that she had gone back to the attendant’s cabin to continue
verbally abusing him in his cabin uninterrupted. As my mother and I
were now completely stressed out and could not stomach dinner.
My mother was now complaining of pains in her chest. I asked her to
remain in the dining car while I went to find Melissa Rose to sort out
the cabin. I found her in the cafe car doing paper work and chatting
with her friends. I thought it would be best to be patient and sit at
a table nearby and wait until she was ready for me rather than provoke
her unwarranted attitude. After she had clearly completed her
paperwork, she continued to chat with her friends knowing full well
that I was sitting there waiting for her attention. I was receiving
the same treatment as my mother had on her previous trip with Melissa
Rose but again, I was patient. My mother called me on my cell phone
while I was sitting there waiting and asked if she was completely
ignoring and chatting with her friends. I said of course. After
approximately 30 minutes, she got up and walked out of the cafe car
leaving me there ignored. Again, I was patient. I waited in the cafe
car assuming that there was no way she would leave me there knowing
full well I was waiting for her. She must be coming back soon I
thought to myself. Eventually, I gave up and made my way back to the
dining car.
In the hallway leading up to it I found her chatting to a co-worker
and watching a YouTube video of a rap song on his mobile device. I
walked up to them expecting them to let me pass but they were so
fixated on this music video that they did not. Again, I was
patient…but my patience was now wearing thin. My mother called me on
my cell wondering where I was all this time and I let her know that I
was stuck in human traffic. Having overheard me, Melissa Rose then
stepped out of the way. I sat back down at the dinner table and
explained the situation.
During the time I was gone, my mother had been discussing cabin
availability with the cabin crew and confirmed that there were indeed
cabins still available. They were extremely helpful and even
volunteered phone numbers of Amtrak managers on a napkin to discuss
Melissa Rose’s discourteous, shameful, and unprofessional behavior.
Soon after, Melissa Rose, along with the assistant conductor, entered
the dining car. We sensed as she approached that she meant to cause
trouble. My mother said to me quietly, “I bet she is going to tell us
there are no rooms.”
As soon as she sat down, she began to make accusations of
inappropriate language used while criticizing her during our dinner
conversation. I was shocked that we were being eavesdropped upon. She
attempted to quote portions of our private dinner talk but was so far
off that we simply explained that she was incorrect about the nature
of our conversation. She would not hear it. We then asked her if we
could just get the room and get some rest to which she lied straight
to our faces and aggressively told us there were no rooms available.
Up until this point, our side of interactions with Melissa Rose had
been calm and polite despite her lack of reciprocation. My mother told
her we knew she was going to say that. I let her know that we were
fully aware that she just lied directly to us and that the cabin
attendants even gave us the room numbers that were still open. Having
had all I could stand, I made a comment regarding a pink slip and
apparently that was all she needed to call the police and have us
escorted of the train. She stood up, said “You’re gone” and stormed
off while requesting police and our immediate disembarkation over her
walkie-talkie. I followed her to try and reason with her but she had
been beyond reason for some time. We weren’t getting upgraded, we were
getting degraded.
As I was now waiting for the police to remove me and my diabetic 63
year old mother who just recovered from a major surgery, I reached my
limit and became extremely upset. I let her know my opinion of her,
specifically about her abrasive personality and shameful behavior in a
tone that certainly did not help my case. She stood there staring at
me in a smug way knowing that she had all the power, waiting for me to
make a mistake so that she could escalate the situation and have me
arrested. Knowing her intentions, I chose my words very carefully. I
exclaimed that I just wanted to go to sleep to which she replied in a
sarcastic and venomous tone, “Oh! You’ll get some sleep!” So, I
continued to express my poor opinion of her personality and
professionalism. I am not proud of my outburst. I suffer from an
anxiety disorder and take medication to control it. However, Melissa
Rose’s attitude and extreme passive aggressiveness was more than I
could handle. This woman should not hold a job dealing with the
public. She is nasty, cold, unprofessional, and has an unfortunate
demeanor more suited for prison guard duty in a maximum security
prison.
Seeing that I was not taking the encounter to the next level, she gave
up and had her staff get between us and usher me back to the dining
car where my mother was attempting to get hold of Amtrak customer
service on her cell phone. After calming down, I sat quietly and
waited to be removed from the train. When Sergeant Menzies and Officer
Sturnman arrived they asked us kindly to let them escort us off.
Having a moderate understanding of our rights in this situation, my
mother and I agreed to leave without further incident. It was then
that we realized that we were not even at a train stop and about to be
herded off like cattle; my mothers reward for being a frequent travel
rewards member.
We were in the middle of Ashland, VA at East Francis and South Center
Street with no platform and a sizable drop down (for my mother). I
explained to Sergeant Menzies that she would not be able to make the
jump. The police relayed this information to the conductor and had the
train moved back to a position where my mother could be helped down
while the Amtrak staff retrieved our checked in luggage to leave them
with us on the side of the tracks. Getting my mother down from the
train proved to be complicated and she twisted her knee painfully
during the humiliating process. Officer Sturnman assisted my mother
across the railroad tracks explaining that they had to hurry because
another train was about to come through very soon. Once we were all
clear, Melissa Rose hung out the vestibule compartment doorway as the
train departed and stared us down as the police, my mother and I
watched the train, which we had fully paid for already, roll away
leaving us stranded in the November cold and dark in an area unknown
to us with no platform, no facilities, no prospects and six pieces of
luggage. I still don’t know what her problem is. I just know that it
must be addressed.
Fortunately, the police were extremely sympathetic to our situation
and offered us a ride as well as hotel recommendations. As we had too
many bags, they called a security guard, John Edmonton, who had a
pick-up truck at the local college to give us a ride to a hotel. As
John was such a decent person, we attempted to give him a tip for his
efforts but he would not accept it. Instead he just wished us a
pleasant stay in, as he put it, “Our itty-bitty town.” During the wait
for John to pick us up, the officers explained to us that train
removals are not uncommon but usually the offenders are drunk and
disorderly. They were pleasantly surprised to find that we were quite
well mannered and graciously thanked us for our cooperation. We in
turn expressed how grateful we were for their assistance and
professional courtesy. If there is an upside to this story it is the
kindness of John Edmonton, Sergeant Menzies and Officer Sturnman. We
found the Ashland police to be among the best we have encountered. The
down side is my mother couldn't sleep last night with chest pains and
an aching knee. She is severely traumatized and we now have to figure
out how we are going to get home ASAP so that she can see her
cardiologist and have her knee examined as a result of this outrageous
incident.
Best regards,
Josephine & Gregory
Omni Sales Inc.
sales@omnicatalog.com
888.512.6664
Tel: 954.247.8823
Fax: 954.919.6386
www.omnicatalog.com
Posted by: JOSEPHINE SAVIR | November 26, 2011 at 09:08 AM