Washington, DC Union Station | Amtrak — Attraction in Washington

This was my second time traveling via Amtrak Trains from Los Angeles, CA to Newport News, VA. Unfortunately I was extremely disappointed in my travels this. Second trip. Not only were there multiple delays for the trains due to unforeseen rail road works, rail congestion, accidents, and hot temps affecting the railways, but my stop in Washington DC was so stressful and caused me so much anxiety, I’m not sure I will ever travel via Amtrak trains again. First, my train from Chicago arrived so delayed into Washington D.C. that I missed my connecting train to NewportNews, VA by a couple of hours & There were no other trains leaving that night. I will say, the night staff were actually very pleasant and easy to work with. They quickly re-scheduled my train ticket to the next morning and provided accommodations for a beautiful hotel room at the Phoenix Park Hotel across the street. I am 1 woman traveling alone and I have 2 service animals & 3 luggage bags in addition to a carry on and my purse. Please keep in mind my animals are Real service animals. One is for my physical disability and the other my psychiatric disability. Both not to be confused with emotional support animals. So, the night manager and baggage claim staff were so helpful. You see, Washington DC does not offer checked baggage, BUT they offer a Red Cap Service to those individuals with disabilities. The manager placed 2 of my bags on a cart and let me leave them while I took my hotel voucher with my other 2 bags and my service animals over to check into the hotel. I immediately came back for the other 2 bags as promised. (All of this due to me traveling alone and just not having enough arms and hands to take everything at one time). Keep in mind, had my train not been delayed my baggage would have gone straight from the baggage claim carrosel on to a luggage cart to have help loading onto the train by the Red Cap Service. But as such, the manager was accommodating and provided as much assistance as he could. He also reassured me I would have no problems the following morning doing the same thing, making 2 trips, to bring all of my luggage back over to union station from the hotel the next morning. Well, I come over to union station the following morning at 5:45am for a 7:20am departure. The morning manager I request to speak with is extremely rude, ignore my request to leave the 2 bags while I run back to the hotel to get the other 2 and immediately starts questioning my “pets” as he calls them. I explain they are service animals to which he asks, rightfully so, what service they provide for me. I continued on to explain one what service they provide, in detail. The manager was continuously rude stating my “service animals, didn’t have a vest on indicating that they were service animals. So how would he know?” I further replied that per the ADA regulations, I was not required to have any vest or indicator on them nor did they require any documentation stating that they are service animals. And that I had answered his questions regarding the service they provide to me. I asked if we could move on to my initial inquiry about my bags so that I could return to the Phoenix Park Hotel and gather the last of my belongings before my train was ready to depart. The manager went on to state that my bags were “entirely too heavy and well over the weight limit Amtrak has of 50lbs for the larger bags”. I explained that the bags were originally weighed and checked in LoS Angeles, my original boarding train, to which they were almost exactly 50lbs (I was required to remove 10lbs of items as at the time of the original weighing each bag was over the weight limit by 10lbs) So I knew the luggage weight correctly. He goes on to weigh them and then continues to give difficulty regarding my animals. Stating they were not listed any where in my ticket (which I know they were as I had seen them listed on my Amtrak app) so I again have to explain the service they provide to the lady at the desk. I finally get on my train at 10am! Because of...

I booked an Acela, business class trip from Washington, DC to NYC, on a "Quiet Car.” Though the car was supposed to be a quiet car (no talking, no phone calls, no conversations, just zen) the woman seated in front of me in the attached photos suddenly stood up, confronted me over her seat and engaged me with a hostile disposition, demanding to know what I was doing in my own seat that I paid for, on my laptop. She then hovered over my seat to look down at my computer screen for an extended amount of time while my laptop sat in front of me on my tray.

There was not one peep of sound being broadcast from my computer and I was quietly playing a game of solitaire - alone. Quietly entertaining myself. Despite all of the peaceful energy in my seat, this woman visibly agitatedly stood up and loudly confronted me about what it was I was doing, as she then confessed “ I wanted to see!”

I explained to her that her behavior was inappropriate, that we were in public, that we were on a quiet train, and that my seat was not her business. Being shut down in an ice cold way was apparently triggering to her as she then began to get up from her seat several times to walk up and down the aisle following her initial meltdown, seemingly to use the facilities, just walk up and down, or something or another, etc., etc.

I mean, I get it! Some people desperately need to walk it off when they're in a highly agitated, manic state of being, but trapped in a contained space for an extended time. For instance, those from the ages of 3 - 11.

I'm not entirely sure, but in the end I notified Amtrak police about the woman and the scenario surrounding her strange behavior, filing a report and sending photos of the woman who harassed me. Kudos to Amtrak and to Amtrak police for their responsiveness on...

The Northeastern Regional trains between NYC and DC were unreliable this holiday season. Many trains were cancelled. Those not cancelled were delayed, not by minutes, but by hours.

The trains were not only unreliable, they were also filthy and unsanitary. I travel often, mostly by plane. I board early to sanitize and clean my airline seat before I take my seat. I've been doing this long before the pandemic.

Amtrak is no exception. I was horrified to see just how filthy my seat turned out to be. In all the airline seats I've cleaned since the Pandemic (and prior), I have never seen one half as filthy as the seats on Amtrak were. If an airline had the sanitation issue Amtrak has, the FAA would have had them shut down a long time ago. Who polices Amtrak?

Don't take my word for it, check out the pics.

Unreliable. Unsanitary. Oh, but that's not all.

Not economical. Expensive.

The cost of my round-trip ticket was almost $150. For that price, I should have flown to NYC. I would have gotten there faster.

Getting to your train is also expensive. If you drive, the parking garage affixed to the terminal is egregiously unethical in its pricing. I had to pay $75 to park for a little over 48 hours.

Between my train ticket and parking, I would have been better off flying! It would have been cheaper.

It is for this reason this will be the last time I take the train out of DC. IF I take the train, I'll take it out of one of the stops closer to my house where there is free parking. It will probably all wash out in the end.

Who wants to pay more for unreliable, unsanitary and expensive to access...