Again, no problems yesterday boarding 2165 (southbound 4 PM) at NYP's mezzanine level.

There are many high profile DC types and others that take the Acela from NYP, I'd bet that the occasional block on the mezzanine could just be due to the occasional high profile traveler.

Agreed. Yet another data point from last night, when Mr. travelmad478 and I boarded southbound train 123 at 9:05 PM from the mezzanine level with no problems.

I don't buy this explanation for a few reasons:

(1) Whenever I've seen it, it's been on a Boston-bound train, not a DC-bound train.

(2) I've been traveling the Acela for years and years, and the two or three times I've seen this recently are the first two or three times I've ever seen. So no high profile passengers rode the trains before now? (I guess it could, in theory, be a new policy, but see my third point ....)

(3) After never having seen this before, several of us have reported that we've seen it several times, but now, just as quickly, none of us has reported seeing it in a while. So perhaps it was U.N. related, as someone else speculated (although I'm not convinced by that explanation either, since I observed it well in advance of the U.N. session), or perhaps it was done on an experimental basis and now has been abandoned.

In any event, although none of us knows for sure at this point, the evidence I've observed does not point towards it being specific to high profile passengers.

I have had this happen a handful of times (out of dozens of trips) going back to this past spring, on north and southbound Acelas and regionals, at various times throughout the day. Doesn't seem to fit any pattern and I had never seen it before. I thought it had to do with the random security checks but that was just my guess. Haven't seen it in the past few weeks.

They were doing it again this past Sunday...
 

On Sunday (March 17), the trains were exceptionally crowded because of a derailed train between Boston and NYP. Several trains were cancelled or delayed. We were waiting downstairs as usual with about 10 other people to catch the train to DC. The train was delayed over an hour. When it finally arrived, we ran down the stairs and there was an Amtrak guy down there telling us all to go back up and board upstairs. Several people started yelling at him (which never helps) and the guy told them to call the police, but they they would miss the train. As a result, I didn't get to sit with my friend and the train was packed. I certainly hope this is an isolated incident. I've been doing this for at least 10 years and have never been stopped. It didn't happen on my last 2 trips in January and early December. Anyone else experience this recently?

I've occasionally experienced this nonsense but it usually begins with a "where are you headed" and I have usually put and end to it with an answer that suggests I am taking the train that is on or will arrive soon on the adjacent track. Then I proceed down the platform.

My colleague and I boarded the southbound 3 PM Acela out of Penn yesterday (March 18) via the mezzanine, no issues. I am still batting .999 with this method.

Lots of presence today.

Blocking entrance at the Mezzanine level and pulling people out for TSA inspection upstairs. (2165 @ 4:00 pm)

Interesting, I got on 2121 via the mezzanine this afternoon (2 PM) and there were no issues.

Are they trying to kill the joy of train travel like they did for flying?

I really don't see a point of this security when anyone can board from intermediate stations with no security at all. Unless they make all stations secure they are mostly wasting time at NYP, PHL and WAS!

bingo. but there are many people whose jobs depend on continuing the theater. so instead of dealing with real problems at penn station (like homeless people assaulting passengers) they'll choose to deal with real threats like ticketed passengers using multiple stairways. this is all mostly during afternoon and evening hours when staffing allows them to allocate people to stand around. i've rarely seen it in the mornings and not at all at post-rush night when nobody bothers leaving the desk.

saw a new one yesterday though... around 5:30pm, APD was standing at the lower level stairway for tracks 5 and 6. he was having every NJ Transit commuter show a ticket before proceeding. no amtrak train was on either track and it's perfectly legal to board NJT without a ticket and purchase on board. not sure why he took it upon himself to enforce a rule that didn't exist and whether anyone from NJ Transit police was aware.

I saw this a few weeks ago at NYP. I was waiting on the mezzanine level for an NJT train, and an Acela was announced. An Amtrak policeman had positioned himself at the the door to the stairway for the Acela track and blocked anyone wanting to go down.

Amtrak police checking for NJT tickets makes no sense at all. If that kind of thing kept up, it would be worth send a note to NJT. They could add it to their list of Amtrak issues.

Looks like there's another show of force playing out at NYP since yesterday's events in Boston.