Originally Posted by
WeekendTraveler
I've worked in the passenger rail industry, actually.
You might want to observe trains a bit better. And you might want to learn about other posters' backgrounds before attempting to disparage them.
I have observed, and I do take back the comment. At any rate, my observation/hypothesis about time taken to process a queue stands. The boarding process will take a lot longer if BPs are not issued (either collected or just visually seen) and tickets have to be scanned at boarding.
There's no reason why Amtrak can't do like lots of other railroads and...simply let passengers board the train. Trains have lots of doors and train stations have lots of platforms. Boarding can be quick, with few if any lines. Lots of US railroads, with passenger volumes much higher than Amtrak's...simply let passengers board the train.
Amtrak has been asked why, unlike lots of other railroads, it makes people line up before boarding and it hasn't ever given a valid reason.
Controlled access to platforms at larger stations is my hypothesis, compounded with a vagrancy problem (observing homeless encampments on the train is an eye opener). Access is tightly-controlled for whatever reason (pax safety, security) though I can see the reason for the old NYP (very narrow platforms).
I think other places have more-severe consequences for those boarding w/o tickets, or have authorities willing to deal with them. Also travel distances may be shorter in other place to throw them off at the next stop.
So you know the situation in Seattle (and King Street station). Lots of homeless (by some count over 25,000 street sleepers on a given night) and thus very actively-police patrolled station with dogs. If the latter wasn't there, you can bet that there'd be vagrants in the station (as there are in Los Angeles Union) and if access to platforms wasn't restricted/controlled (so staff know if anyone on the platform is a passenger or not), you'd have street people everywhere (probably in tunnels already) or even getting onto trains.
Rode the LA Metro red line 2x last month where there isn't any semblance of ticket checking or even restricted access to ticketed pax. You should check out what it's like on the platforms and on trains.