Lee's Summit, Missouri — Local services in Lee's Summit

Lee's Summit has such a cute downtown, but I do not understand why Amtrak, or the City Of Lee's Summit, cannot upgrade the "station". Today there was 7" of snow, and it was about 25 degrees when I dropped off my 84 year old parents at the station for their 8:51 train to Kirkwood, Mo. I had to leave at 9:00, the train still was not there. The ONLY place to wait for the train was in the small glass enclosed area with two benches. The temp inside was about 40, the heater worked Intermittently, at best. The train was almost 2 HOURS LATE so there was no where to go nearby in the snow, cold temps , with luggage, to wait for the train. And they had no idea when the train would arrive would arrive. All the open businesses were across the tracks. You can't get across the tracks and back once you hear the train. So, they had to wait in the small, cold, glass hut. PLEASE - Amtrak or City of Lee's Summit, put in a real inside waiting area, in a building, on the west side of the tracks, by the train stop for people to wait in case delay, and/or bad weather. There is an entire empty building 30 yards from the train stop, why can't you have a climate controlled waiting room with several benches and bathroom? Also, the bathroom doors that are located outside the train stop, do not have a handle on the inside to pull the door shut so it does not close! You can do better. If Kirkwood can have a nice station so can...

Visited for the first time! The two benches outside were directly in the sun, and those seeking a reprieve from the summer morning heat tried to go inside the little glass room hoping for a little air conditioning. Unfortunately every person exited after a couple seconds saying it reeked of smoke.

I was nervous about the parking because it’s not really listed anywhere, but it was pretty easy to locate. I’m asking a photo with a little arrow to show you can see the lot from the benches. The parking directly in front of the station is a 2 hour limit, then there’s the bank parking lot, but across from the bank you’ll find the long term public lot.

I got there a bit over the 30 minutes before the train like it suggests on the website, but with no one there to talk to or assist, there was no point. As a first timer, it would have been nice to speak with someone or have a board with estimated times updated in real time like the street car has. There is definitely room for improvement at this station, but it works.

The area is great though, so even if you get there early, there are something like 3 coffee shops within walking distance you could wait at until closer to arrival, checking train status on...

I ride Amtrak to Sedalia twice a month. The staff is super helpfull and they help passengers get on and off the train with their luggage. I save a lot of money compared with driving. It is much safer to ride the train for sure. 50 Highway is dangerous with many sharp curves heading to Sedalia. I agree that there are delays. Most are caused by the Union Pacific freight trains slowing down Amtrak on the single track line. Priority for passenger service should be enforced and the freight railroads should be paying penalties for creating delays. Lastly, more should be done to increase train frequency since ridership has increased steadily for the last few years. Our microscopic local train station shelter needs to be beefed up to accommodate more passengers, especially in bad cold weather. Our State could also do more in investing in the Amtrak service. Lastly, I am very happy they bought the beautiful energy efficient new Siemens locomotives for the Missouri...