Amtrak is looking to hire individuals who will restore agent staffing at 15 stations in 12 states, responding to a congressional mandate to do so.
The passenger railroad says in a statement that “These uniformed workers will be trained to assist our customers with booking and boarding trains, including helping with unaccompanied minors, carry-on baggage and providing information on the status of arriving and departing services. These employees will be scheduled to meet customers for all trains.
“Applications for these Customer Service Representative positions will be available online at jobs.Amtrak.com. We will work to fill these jobs as quickly as possible, first by posting them internally.”
The stations to regain agents are Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Texarkana, Ark.; Maricopa, Ariz.; Fort Madison and Ottumwa, Iowa; Garden City and Topeka, Kan.; Hammond, La.; Meridian, Miss.; Havre and Shelby, Mont.; Lamy, N.M.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Marshall, Texas, and Charleston, W.Va. Because of the train times involved, stations in Garden City, Topeka, and Cincinnati will not offer the services Amtrak requires to carry minors ages 13-15 traveling on their own, which it only allows under certain conditions outlined here.
The return of the station agents is in response to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 which was passed by Congress and became law in December 2019; among its provisions was one requiring Amtrak to provide a ticket agent at every station that had agent positions eliminated in fiscal 2018.
Glad to see the agents coming back. Ticket machines are ok, but there are still people who travel who need people to assist them. Don’t you just hate being in telephone menu hell when you really need to talk to someone to get your business taken care of? Human to human contact is every bit as important today as it was before we had computers and mobile phones. Maybe we’re just relearning that. It’s a lesson we need.
Anna, I’d say that I’m following Hunter’s comments. Getting to that worn out point. Had an interesting life in places many would not go to today, including me. And a good bit of that at government expense. And into places that most are not allowed, unescorted. I’d hate to look at my FBI file as it is only one day younger than I am. Seen much of the US by air, rail, and motor vehicle and even by a stern wheel towboat. You need to write a book on your life as George Pins suggests.
Given that nobody wants to be packed like like sardines on an aircraft right now (and can you believe a carrier who shall not be named is insisting in middle seats being used), this might make an excellent case for the resurgance of passenger rail. At least, one can hope, in a small way. The usual rant against Trains, the usual disclaimer, and torpedo juice is made of three parts pineapple juice and two parts ethyl alcohol.
Anna – Re Edith Piaf – Agreed; Piaf has been one of my lifelong favorites since I first heard “La Vie En Rose” as a teenager. I’ve seriously considered for many years inserting a codicil in my will requiring that “Je Ne Regrette Rien” by played at my funeral. Now to say something relevant to Trains Newswire. Let’s see…….I know ….. If we can increase the national debt by multi-trillions in one year for whatever purpose, we can hire a few station agents. It’s what the Speaker of the House would call “crumbs.”
Mister Landey. While the details differ that is a pretty fair description of my younger days. There was once, for example the apocyrphal story of flying into Burbank with several pounds of oregano in my carry-on, trying to not too loudly hum a certain Arlo Guthrie song … but of course I would never have done anything like that … The point is, kids these days are too closely monitored to be able to be wild and free the way we were. The world is the poorer for that, it is of such things that memories – and character – are born. And in the day I might well have been driving that diesel, though I haven’t been behind the wheel of a big rig for (ahem) a couple of years now …never give up, never give the b*****ds an inch, if you gotta die, be sure to die with your boots on …
ANNA – Every time I read one of your posts, here’s where my mind goes — you and Bobby McGee busted flat in Baton Rouge, your hair as ragged as your jeans, Bobby flagged a diesel down, in the pouring rain, rode it all the way to New Orleans.
Gentlemen – and Mister Landey: We each have wild stories to tell. If you don’t, you haven’t really lived. It may have been hard but it has been fun. And I have seen my Interpol file. At the time it was as thick as the Manhattan telephone directory. And all this for a housewife in a small whitebread podunk mesugganah redneck mountain town in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah, Anna, no one can match your adventures, but here’s one I’ve had you haven’t had: me riding to college and back each semester on the New Haven Railroad in the years after its bankruptcy and before it was merged into Penn Central. Have you ever ridden a train with rain water sloshing betrween the inner and outer panes of a broken window? I did, plenty of times. That is until I gave up and started flying Eastern Airlines, the New Haven Of the Skies. And D Nichols, speaking of FBI files, I’m just about the only one in my family without one.
ANNA – I like like totally, awesomely, completely welcome full airplanes as the first sign of Spring in a re-awakened America. You know, if you’re on an airplane is makes, like awesomely totally absolutely zero difference if the middle seat is occupied or not. BTW if you want an empty middle seat, there’s a veryvery simple way to arrange it: buy the seat! PARAGRAPH – Same issue on trains which you advocate — full loads cover a portion their costs, less than full loads cover nothing.
Charles Landey – Memories of the dying days of the New Haven – Some of that desperately-maintained equipment you recall went right through to Washington on The Senator or The Colonial. The NH manager of special movements at the time was Charlie Walker. All of his transportation notices for group movements, eo cars, etc. said that the windows were to be “crystal clear.” When NH was folded into PC, Charlie went to the former PRR special movement bureau in Philadelphia, but was ever known as “Crystal Clear Walker.” I rode the Shore Line frequently in those days. Even in the end, many of the NH trains (“Merchant’s Limited,” “Yankee Clipper”) carried parlor cars, and it was cheap, as I recall, to upgrade from coach. Perhaps you can be more precise. In the days before it would be racist to do so, the parlor car porter, if you had a jacket on, would brush you off with his whiskbroom as you prepared to detrain. Got him a good tip, made me feel like a million bucks.
I’m glad to see the agent positions brought back. I would hope that the jobs would be offered to the individuals who were let go or transferred in 2018.
Mister Pins: Pretty much … and also to quote Edith Piaf, via an organization I was once (but very briefly and not officially) associated with, “Non, je ne regrette rein.”. Or, to quote more directly Hunter S. Thompson, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”. And I’m still here, you b*****ds.
Anna – And to quote Hank Snow, “I’ve been everywhere, man.”
Mister Pins: Life has not been easy for me but I have had one heck of a good time. I wouldn’t have missed any of it for the world. And, to quote Papillon, “I’m still here, you b—–ds.”.
Anna Harding – A compendium of your posts over the years, as they made autobiographical references, would weave a thread best enjoyed after a night of adult beverages.
Looks as if some of Richard Anderson’s streamlining measures are being reversed. I suspect Anderson found it impossible to run an enterprise with a 535-member Board of Directors and an “Advisory Board” composed of a thousand vocal, well-meaning and thoughtful folks who, nevertheless, loved the 1950s and were opposed to any change. Period.
How times have changed. We read accounts of unaccompanied minors who traveled before Amtrak came into being. When I was fifteen, my sixteen year old brother and I took a 1700 mile trip which involved 3 nights and 3 changes. Twice, an adult (a brother and an uncle) were there when we boarded and once an adult (an uncle) was there when we detrained. I recall one question by a conductor–as we were going to the diner for breakfast one morning, we were asked, “You two twins?” We also had two 50 mile bus trips, one to get to the first train, and the other to get home (though I stopped off 10 miles short for a dental appointment and then, after that was taken care of, hitchhiked home).
Amtrak a failure? Last time I checked they wee still running, as they have been for almost half a century..
When I was fifteen I broke out of a childrens’ prison in Los Angeles County, rode freights until I was three states away, and ended up (magically ageing three years overnight) working for a railroad. You certainly could not do anything like that these days.
My father bought me an adult ticket when I was ten Y O . No questions asked. Also took subway to GCT alone, and city bus at destination.
This congressional meddling is the reason Amtrak will always be a failure.
Not opposed to any changes, opposed to stupid changes.