Complain about a product or service

Amtrak - Poor Security

Amtrak • Abusive staff • Poor security • Slipshod safety • Late, late, late • Thrown Off • Luggage problems • Express shipping • Just plain bad --- News • House Joins Senate in Boosting Rail Travel • Lone Congressman Can’t Kill Amtrak • Lack of Federal Funding Could Kill Amtrak • Amtrak Attempts a Makeover • Amtrak Delays Leave Passengers to Fend for Themselves

Angela of Stockton CA (2/5/05):
Train stopped in Ontario to pick up passengers, about ten males. They were mostly dressed the same -- white t-shirts, brown kakis, white tennis shoes. Some didn't have luggage, some had their belonging in plastic bags. They were convicts released from Norco Detention Center.

One had 666 tatooed on forhead, a few were doing pushups in the aisle of train, they were drinkin a lot onboard, they were harrassing me and other females.

Jeanne of Wimberley TX (3/22/03):
I should state that this is probably the 10th to 12th (I've lost track, excuse the pun) round-trip adventure that I have taken via Amtrak, so I am well-seasoned in the pros and cons of Amtrak travel. I have been the recipient of several Customer Satisfaction Certificates since that program began.

In my journeys, I have discovered that the Amtrak Employess are discontent, disenchanted and just plain lazy, in some cases. They have lost their penchant for providing good customer service. I have heard them yell at passengers, or answer a reasonable question flippantly. Now, if I were an employer, an employee who was rude to a customer, ESPECIALLY someone who had a legitimate complaint or question, would be out the door. Perhaps the Amtrak Union has prevented the weeding out of poor mannered employees (most of whom are working the Texas Eagle, I have noticed).

I just returned from a long trip out to California on Amtrak. I first had to take the Texas Eagle up to Springfield, IL, then a bus to Galesburg, IL and then the Southwest Chief to CA. On the Texas Eagle, I rode coach this time. Across from me was a schizoprenic man. He carried on conversations with whoever in his head (about Annette Funicello being involved in the Oklahoma City bombings, amongst other things), and also harrassed other passengers, including two young women, for the entire ride.

He asked a Coach Car Attendant named Rhonda to get him some lunch, and she gave him a hard time, finally agreeing to go to the cafe and purchase a pizza for the man. He was apparently reluctant to leave his belongings to go himself, plus may have been paranoid about doing so. She returned just as there was an announcement by the bartender/cafe manager that he was taking a lunch break in 10 minutes, so to come then if anyone wanted anything. The mentally ill man asked Rhonda to go down and get him something else, since they didn't have the pizza he had wanted. She put her hands on her hips and drawled to him "Oh, I could just KILL you!" NOT the most intelligent thing to say to a Schizophrenic!

Later, when going downstairs to get something from my baggage, I found my suitcase buried at the bottom of a precariously placed pile of luggage. I struggled to get it out from under, but Rhonda came down and told me to leave the luggage alone ... she was sure that mine was down there someplace. Well, I wasn't so sure, wanted to know and wanted something out of my bag. She would not help me move the pile and asked me again to leave it alone. I was upset beyond belief but decided to leave it alone for the time being, knowing that a letter to Amtrak was already being developed in my head. Rhonda was already to be mentioned due to her interaction with the mentally ill man.

Getting to Springfield, we passengers connecting through Galesburg to Westbound trains were shuttled 2 hours to Galesburg by a pleasant bus driver. We arrived and all had a while to wait. Getting on the CA bound SW Chief finally, I was pleasantly pleased to find friendly staff who were helpful (helped me with my baggage instead of watching me struggle to get it onboard) and courteous, as well as just plain friendly.

It was a pleasant journey through Colorado and N.M. In Albuquerque, we picked up more passengers and the man who was seated (all seats were assigned) behind me there got on. He looked a bit frightening ... with a hard, leathery face and harder, dark brown eyes set in that face. He had tattoos up both arms. Well, the world is full of all kinds of people and many people who look scary turn out to be terrific, so I didn't think too much until he kept jumping up, reaching in front of the gal across from me to pound on the window. As the train delayed leaving Albuquerque, he kept repeating this nervous behavior.

He was rude, appeared to be intoxicated, and when I glanced at him, he gave me a look that literally scared me to the bottom of my shoes. His face, with the rattlesnake cold eyes, looked like the face one sees on a hardened criminal. Cold, taunting and daring one to do anything about their rude behavior. I decided to ignore him. The train took off, the man put on his head-phones and proceeded to play his cd player at top level, while he alternately moaned and tried singing to the music, getting louder and louder. He finally fell asleep, awakening hours later to ask the coach attendant if he could drink on the train. He went down to the lounge car and came back a while later, complaining of it being too busy and loud.

He then opened up a cooler he had, popped open his beer and proceeded to drink. I fell asleep, periodically awakened by his singing. I had noticed that the man who sat behind the woman across from me appeared to be a bit strange also, but it takes all kinds, and he kept quiet so I assumed him to be okay, despite his odd appearance. At midnight, however, I awoke to a strange, pungent odor. Smoke!!! Coming fully awake, I glanced beside me. The woman across from me had turned around and was telling the man behind her that he could NOT smoke in the coach. He swore at her, said he could and proceeded to do so.

When I glanced back at him, he put out the cigarette, with rude comments. He glanced at the woman in front of him and made a comment about putting his pillow case over her head. Then the guy behind me woke up, and proceeded to play his cd player again, moaning to the music. I finally asked him to stop singing so I could sleep, telling him that he was waking up other people also. He left the coach after apologizing and headed towards the now quiet lounge car. The man across from him appeared to be asleep also, so I assumed that it was safe to try to sleep again.

Less than an hour later I sensed movement next to me and woke up to find the man who was behind the woman across from me ... the one who had been smoking, with his zipper down and his you-know-what aimed at me, to urinate, I assumed. It became quite clear that he, too, was drunk. The odor was pungent. I startled and he backed up, going behind the partition to the top of the stairwell leading down to the bathrooms.

He stumbled around and I thought he would surely tumble down those stairs. Instead, he braced himself with one hand and proceeded to pee all over the landing and the steps. I literally came up out of my seat to tell him to quit. He swore at me, so I went back to my seat and pulled the call button provided. No sound and no response. Others behind me were waking up, seeing what was happening and doing the same. At least 5 call buttons were pulled, with NO reponse.

In the meantime, I took off through the car towards the car in front and then the lounge car and could find no one in the darkened train. It was like a ghost train, with only unsuspecting, still-asleep passengers in the front of our coach, unaware of the actions of the idiot further back in the coach, and then the coach in front was completely dark and asleep. I ran into the lounge car, finding only the drunk with the cd player, sitting alone up there.

Running back, I stepped in urine. I threw my bedroom slippers in the trash and tried the call button again. By now, at least 15 minutes had gone by and the man was STILL standing at the top of the stairs, cussing and allowing now awake passengers who had to get off soon, to get around him to go down the stairs. They were walking in this mans urine, some still unaware of what was going on. The coach attendant, apparently awakened by an AMTRAK employee to let her passengers off at this stop that was soon approaching, appeared and was shocked when she saw the man at the top of the stairs, his zipper still down. I related the incident. She was upset, running up and down the stairs, unsure of what to do.

She needed to let passengers off. Her radio was broken. I asked her why no one had answered the call buttons and was sheepishly told that they didn't work in that car. She yelled at the drunk to wipe up the urine with paper towels she got for him, she let off her passengers, then she disappeared to the front of the train and came back with a man, saying that the two drunks (my friend with the cd player had returned and I had complained about his actions also) should be kicked off.

Too late ... the train had taken off already and due to the fact that BOTH employees' radios were broken, the engineer was not alerted, nor the conductor. The man told both drunks to sit down and shut up, with the one who had urinated yelling that he hated AMTRAK and would never ride it again. He was told by the female coach attendant that he was not the kind of passenger that they wanted either, so that was fine with her.

She apologized to all of us, especially me, and we discussed how Amtrak's lower rates had brought out the creeps who usually only stuck to buses. I sat (in a seat well ahead of the drunks, who now were angry at me) and stewed at the whole scenario. I was really angry when I found out the call buttons did not work. I stopped the male coach attendant, who had come through for a security check a while later, and told him I was very angry. He agreed that I should well be and arranged for me to talk with the Conductor who had come on after the incident but was not apprised of it.

I waited until he could see me, after the dining car was open. He sat with me, and the female coach attendant, and we went over the story. He was upset that the men had been kept on the train. He then related to me that Amtrak has let the equipment go (broken radios, non-working call buttons) and they were not getting support for this from Amtrak. I told him that the entire incident could have been tragic. Without being able to call for help, if either drunk had gotten violent, there could have been real trouble in the coach. The urinating drunk had been cussing and angry. He could have had a weapon, or even physically struck out when challenged.

Also, what if there had been ANY KIND of medical emergency and no one in charge could be alerted. The conductor looked at me evenly, but with obvious apathy, and told me to contact Mr. Gunn (Amtrak's CEO), even if I had to call and talk to him directly. He also advised me to contact customer service when I arrived in CA and see if I could get an upgrade on the way home. He could no longer help me with that as that priviledge had been removed from his control also. He did tell me that BOTH men should have been put off the train, and had he been responsible, it would have happened.

As we were speaking, the male coach attendent came up and told the conductor that two people had not gotten off at the previous stop. When asked why, he blamed it on those passengers, saying that they had said that they were at the door, waiting, but no one was there. I was inclined to believe the passengers. Amtrak no longer has one attendant per coach due to budget cuts and I had seen them forget to let others off on other trips. The conductor said that they would get off at the next stop (mine) but if they were dumb enough to miss getting off, they would have to find their own transportation back to the previous stop.

I didn't say anything, but felt strongly that the coach attendant had NOT been there to let the passengers off. He was clearly lying to my observation ... his eyes shifted away when telling the conductor what had happened and he was evasive. I called customer service when I got to my motel and they did manage to get me in the lower level on the way home for a week later. That trip was without incident for the most part.

However, on the Texas Eagle, on the second leg of my journey home, I found out that my schizophrenic friend was onboard. He had been sitting down in lower level but had been escorted upstairs after harrassing a woman down there. I knew it was the same man when the other passengers and the coach attendant told me about him. Then I saw him and knew for sure. I was relieved when I saw that he was upstair and out of range ... that is until the coach attendant informed us that he was upstairs, threating to bomb the train. I wondered if anyone went through the baggage ... the same baggage he had guarded so carefully a week earlier.

I sat through the rest of my ride, wondering if he had been kicked off, or if he was still upstairs, chattering away to no one any of us could see, and talking about bombing the train. Amtrak doesn't seem to have security measures in place, and it would not shock me if something tragic, from a drunk getting violent to a nut case bombing the train, doesn't happen someday. Amtrak needs to take care of their passengers who board the train, fully expecting to have a pleasant, incident free trip.

I, for one, was so angry, and actually extremely reluctant to take the trip back from California. Having someone try to urinate on you does have that effect. I am a strong woman, but was basically traumatized by this incident, and also fearful due to Amtracks lack of security measures being in place.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.