MACOMB -- After swearing off Amtrak forever last year, I bit the bullet and decided to ride it this week from Macomb to the Chicago area. The good news: the trains were on time, with no problems.
The bad news: this system is so underfunded that it screams for federal stimulus dollars.
Forget the highways. Fund Amtrak. Three hours from Macomb to the Chicago burbs, versus almost five hours to drive. And that's on the rough, under-maintained tracks today.
Start with a modern reservation system. You can book a trip on-line but only if the trip falls within the narrow categories that must be filled out. Otherwise you must call, then hit 'zero' to overcome the ridiculous voice system that never understands what I'm saying.
The reservationists are nice, but so out of date. They still don't know that Macomb has a station agent! Where you can pay for a ticket. It's become a joke at the ticket window -- guess that agent is better off out of the loop as long as the paycheck arrives.
You can't make a reservation too early for some reason. They want to fed-ex the tickets to your home for a huge fee. (Kickbacks from fed-ex or whatever the company is?) But if you want until a couple of days before the trip you can make the reservation on the phone, and pay for it on the train, or at the invisible station agent's window.
Where the agent must type in your credit card numbers onto a keyboard. Not swipe it, as grocery stores do. Makes for errors, probably.
The ticket is a hoot: it says 'flight.' Must be airline leftovers.
Then the train -- its really dirty, but otherwise OK. There's a plug for a laptop but no wireless access.
On the way back I spoke with a woman who boarded in downtown Chicago. She'd had a problem with her ticket, said there were huge lines and only a couple of agents working, and in very bad moods. Other ticket stations were closed.
Hey Congress -- there are some jobs that could be filled!
And how about people to clean the trains! And install wireless! And fix the rough tracks!
We'll see what Obama does about Amtrak!
-- Elaine Hopkins
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