Now I've seen it all on Amtrak
 

Couple with screaming infant gets on the Quiet Car at WAS (first stop, so plenty of other cars available). Elderly couple points it out. Parents say tough luck.

Elderly couple mentions it to conductor, and conductor tells them if they don't like it, THEY can move. So these elderly people--the man walking with a cane--are made to get up and move from the last row to the first to get away from the noise.

In the Quiet Car. You have got to be kidding me. Parents show no remorse and refuse to budge, while these old, disabled people are made to move instead of them.

Please file a complaint with Amtrak with all the details so they can get the conductor retrained (maybe there's an LSR position open). If they are not going to enforce the Quiet Car rules, why have one? I do have sympathy for parent with crying children, but when the are accommodations for them, they should use them.

Send a note to Amtrak. Make a point of saying that the Quiet Car is what draws you to the route.

That is absolutely terrible, and agreed you should let Amtrak know. My experience--at least on Acela--is that the conductors would very zealously enforce quiet in the quiet car. (Although I've only been in the First Class car in the last few years.)

He was eventually shamed by a few of us making snarky comments into telling the parents--who again, showed NO remorse--they had to move. This was after two elderly, disabled people had to carry their stuff to the front of a moving train. I looked up and saw the lady carrying something and got up to ask if I could help them carry something, and that's when she told me the conductor had decided to tell the parents to move.

I'm sorry, but they could have sat anywhere. They had many other cars to choose from, as they were given priority boarding status because of the child, and they got on at the first stop. And I'm sure they'll be complaining on social media and to Amtrak that they were victimized. NO. The Quiet Car, like the First Class car, has rules. If you don't follow them--like if you don't have a first-class ticket--you should be asked to leave. You should not have sat there to begin with. You had the rest of the train to choose from except for Business Class.

It was a disgrace to see this conductor make these elderly people move instead of moving the offenders. I'm still angry about it.

This type of thing happens all the time on planes where the noise of the engines is too much for the baby, only they can't change seats. Just wonder how often the OP has experienced *that*.

To me, a quiet car means no boom boxes or cell phones.

Bob H

... or loud talking, drumming on the table/seats, singing to the song on your phone/ipod/etc, or tap dancing in the aisle.

Quiet seems to be the operative word here. WHEN there is an option of other seating, the one making the noise should be the one to move. Not people that are being quiet.

I hope the OP comes back and updates us on reporting this and any response received.

Quiet Car (from nationwide timetable):

"Guests are asked to limit conversation and speak in subdued tones. Phone calls are not allowed and all portable electronic devices must be muted or used with headphones (passengers using headphones must keep the volume low enough so that the audio cannot be heard by other passengers.) Low overhead lighting creates a restful atmosphere for all passengers, but reading lights are available.

Seating in the Quiet Car is on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be reserved. There is no additional charge to sit in the Quiet Car, but passengers are asked to occupy only one seat per person. Please do not use adjacent seat space for personal belongings. Passengers who board trains and find that seats are only available in the Quiet Car must follow the Quiet Car guidelines."

Sounds like a letter with details to Amtrak is in order. Daze

Then don't take the train? If you do take the train and do sit in the quiet car please be quiet. If that simple request is to much to fathom I fully support immediate eviction.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Perhaps Amtrak needs to modify its published Quiet Car guidelines to specify whether babies in general -- or crying babies in particular -- are to be excluded from the Quiet Car. (It's at least arguable that a crying baby does not violate the current published guidelines.)

I can understand why parents traveling with an infant would want to ride in the Quiet Car: the baby might be more likely to fall asleep -- and stop crying -- in a quiet atmosphere.

On Acela, the conductors generally state as part of their PA announcement to the quiet car: "Please maintain a library-like atmosphere." I think if you were in a library with a crying baby, they'd ask you to leave.

Here's my "interesting" quiet car anecdote: Years ago I was in the Acela quiet car on the way to DC, and we stopped in the middle of nowhere in Maryland. The conductors came on the PA and said something about the stabilizers or whatever needing adjustment, and we could be delayed 45-60 minutes. So everyone is maintaining the quiet atmosphere, and this one woman whips out her cell phone and starts shouting into it to whomever was on the other end about the delay, and what arrangements need to be made, etc. So someone goes, "Excuse me. This is the quiet car. Could you please go in the vestibule to talk on the phone?" She started to try to argue, and then tons of people in the car started "SHHHHH! SHHHHH!" shushing her. She went back to the vestibule. I guess the IRROPS gave her the idea that all rules were suspended!

I reached out to Amtrak via social media a few times yesterday and they ignored me. And yes... the Quiet Car rules most definitely exclude screaming, no matter who's doing it. If you can't talk even quietly on a cellphone, you certainly can't scream.

It's like any other kind of noise--if you need to make it and just can't help it, fine. It happens, Just don't sit in the Quiet Car. That is not a difficult concept to grasp. They were given priority boarding. They had their choice of every other car with the exception of the first one. They chose the car with rules they could not abide by, while elderly, disabled people following those rules were made to move so the rule breakers could continue to break the rules and disturb the entire car. There is no way in the world to twist this to make the rule breakers the victims.

If you don't like or for some reason can't follow the rules of the car you're sitting in, don't sit there. It couldn't be more simple than that.

Don't wait for the social media team to step up. Send an email to Amtrak with the specifics and let them know. The social media team is a marketing department and cherry pick the issues they want to address.

This is actually pretty great.

http://fortune.com/2014/09/17/amtrak-quiet-car/

The quiet car is usually hit or miss on NE Corridor! The conductor may make announcements but rarely enforces the rules. To me it's more of a honor system where the responsibility lies with the patrons.

In this case the parents have to blame...again a reminder that there will always be annoying folks you meet everyday.

My guess is that although the conductor could have asked them to leave and if they refused call the police at the next station, he preferred to just stay quiet for the kid situation. Unfortunately the elderly folks had to bear the inconvenience. A complete lose-lose situation due to the attitude of the parents.

If the conductors are not going to enforce the rules, then Amtrak should stop purporting the feature exists and customer expectations can be set appropriately. Each failure should be reported so Amtrak can choose what they want to do.

The conductor did eventually concede and ask the offenders to move. He apologized to the elderly couple and blamed the redcap for putting the parents in the Quiet Car. BUT before the train ever left the first station, the parents were made aware that they were in the wrong place, and the conductor told the elderly couple to move instead. This was not a young conductor, either. So I don't think it's a training issue.

Thanks for the update.

Yes, the redcap should have known better. But it sounds like the conductor was taking the easy way out telling the first people complaining to move. Probably took up the cause once more people made comment. Still a service failure on the part of the conductor and reporting it is appropriate.

Amtrak should not rely on paying customers to enforce THEIR rules. We are not Amtrak employees and we don't have the authority, nor are we paid, to enforce Amtrak's rules. Your business, your rules, YOUR JOB. If you want me to do your job for 3 1/2 hours, you can pay me for it.

The flimsy signs way above everyone's heads are not sufficient, nor is the occasional announcement that the second car is the Quiet Car, etc. No one counts cars. They get on whichever car they're closest to when the train pulls in. And they don't crane their necks to read signs above them… they're looking for a seat.

The solution is simple. 1) At EVERY STOP, when the conductor enters the car to collect tickets, he announces that this is the Quiet Car, and if you need to make noise of any description, you need to move. And if you choose to stay, you must be quiet. Or 2) Where the ability exists, the announcement (that I've heard before) is made AT EVERY STOP, after people get on, "If you can hear my voice, that means you're in the Quiet Car…" followed by the rules.

Either way, it must be made clearer to everyone getting on, at every stop, that they are in a car that has rules, and those rules must be followed. If they can do it for First and Business, they can do it for the Quiet Car.

My experience up until a few years ago was that they do this pretty diligently on Acela, although I haven't been in the quiet car in a few years.

It's a little different in cattle class than on the Acela. You pay twice as much, you get treated twice as well. If I could afford the Acela, I'd take it every time. But I can't, which is why I don't count and Amtrak can't be bothered to enforce any rule that doesn't directly benefit themselves (like "you must have a business-class ticket to sit in business class").

You can help them "feel the pain" by repeatedly taking up their agent's time making reports of service failures. Also, by posting those events to their social media accounts (not just FT) may get their attention. Especially if they start seeing a reduction in sales of their upscale services that they don't deliver. It's easy to get lazy on the job if no one notices.

A Quiet Car on Amtrak is essentially a misnomer, a fraud.

It takes more to implememt than Amtrak is willing to do.

I did. More than once. They ignored me. And BTW, I do this every time. Their only response has ever been "Call customer service and complain." I JUST COMPLAINED. Do YOUR job and pass that on to customer service.

The email agents most likely don't report to Amtrak. So many functions are outsourced and/or off-shored these days they don't have the means to get the visibility needed within the company. So unless you have a personal contact within Amtrak (neighbor, relative, friend of a friend) calling and speaking with an agent is the way to get your complaint heard.

Also, understand AGR is NOT Amtrak. It is a marketing department function that works alongside Amtrak managing the loyalty program. They have limited powers to "fix" on-board problems, if at all. One of the toughest problems these days if finding the right group to contact for a particular problem.

Last I knew Amtrak had not outsourced or off-shored anything. That info is current as of February of this year. But one can never tell for sure just where an email gets forwarded. The best bet is to send a letter directly to the President's office. I'm not saying that Mr. Boardman personally reads every letter, but I do know for a fact that he does review some personally. And the rest are handled by staff that do know what to do with them and who to contact.

AGR is entirely Amtrak. Yes, it is a department within Amtrak, but all employees of AGR are Amtrak employees. That said, they have no power to fix any non-AGR issues. However, they can and often do pass on particularly egregious issues to the proper managers to deal with.

But still one's best chance at being heard is to call Amtrak and be connected with the Customer Service department or to write the Office of the President.

Thanks for the corrections Alan. I was trying to drive home the point you can't just drop the problem on the first person you see and expect the world to change. Doing the research to find the right person/department can be challenging in just about any organization.

It wouldn't be very "quiet" if the conductor announces this at every stop now, would it?

Announcements of some kind are made at every stop anyway as people board. And considering most of the stops on the Northeast Regional are at least a half-hour apart, I think people sitting in the Quiet Car wouldn't mind the new arrivals being reminded by someone with the authority to do so that they are in a car that has special rules.

It's certainly a better suggestion than announcing it once at the beginning of the run and expecting people at every stop thereafter to enter the car with the necks craned, at just the right moment, to see one of only two signs posted above their heads.

Noisemakers generally tell fellow passengers to go eff themselves when reminded they're in the Quiet Car, and continue their conversations either with their companion or on the phone. Passengers have no enforcement authority. It has to come from the conductor. I'm a customer, it's not up to me to make sure people follow the rules that Amtrak has set forth. They should either make an effort to enforce the rules, or not have any rules. Again, if they can enforce the rules of the chi-chi cars, they can do the same for the Quiet Car. It's not hard.

I have said twice that I reached out to Amtrak on social media. I didn't say I emailed and I didn't say I contacted AGR.

While it's obviously not a criminal act to be noisy in the Quiet Car (although some Quiet Car aficionados may think it should be), being noisy is a "violation" of Amtrak's policy. Perhaps a reminder that Amtrak Police will enforce Amtrak's policies at the next station stop would convince people to keep quiet.

In the case of phone yappers, who either don't hear shushing or don't care, I've found it especially effective to stand in the aisle slightly in front of them -- that is, fully in their field of vision -- and look at them. No stink eye, just "I'm looking at you with mild disappointment because you are drawing attention to yourself" gazing. We are hardwired to find overt observation unsettling (and then socially conditioned to observe social norms), so it takes an authentic sociopath not to be shamed into compliance.

For the record, if you do this & the offender gives you lip, other pax will back you up. All it takes is for someone to lead.

What is the board's opinion of noise in sleeper cars? My occasional experiences (like once per year) on long-haul sleeper cars is that they should be a place of quiet like the Acela quiet cars. Not absolute silence, but generally quiet.

I just disembarked from the Southwest Chief, and for most of the way from Albuquerque to Kansas City, an adult woman (presumably the grandmother) and a 8-10 year old boy "played" in the corridor and around the staircase. This included a lot of shouting and running. At least three times I had to ask to get around them (they were blocking the access to the dining car or bathrooms), and at 10pm last night I finally said something directly to be quiet, as people were trying to sleep. They were at it again by 6am today.

I talked about it with the sleeper attendant, but she said there was nothing she could do. FWIW, she was of the "passive" attendant school -- my best experiences have been with the more active attendants.

Anyhow, what is the correct etiquette for this situation, and what is Amtrak policy around disruptive passengers?

Correct etiquette is opening the door and throwing them out without slowing down. People need to understand that you shall show at the very least some consideration when you are using public transport.

It will not be absolute quiet and kids will make sounds. But there are limits.

Sleeping Car Noise Levels
 

The Pullman Company used to address this issue in its sleepers, with a poster stating: "Quiet Is Requested For The Benefit Of Those Who Have Retired".

Unfortunately, that is from another era, and if Amtrak put up something similar, a pax would either deface it or tear it into shreds. So much for the generalization of FC travelers being a cut above.

For the sky-high price I pay for sleeping car space on Amtrak, I expect general peace and quiet, although not total silence.

I consistently get terrible customer service on the Crescent. The staff simply does not care about providing good customer service and views passengers as an inconvenience, so I wouldn't expect the staff to do anything about noisy passengers. So I'd confront the noisy passengers myself.

Regarding noisy passengers, especially children. I always ask for a roomette on the lower level, this sometimes puts me next door to the "family room," which has 4 bunks.

A few years ago I got on the train in L.A. and saw there were several children in the family room next to me. I was expecting the worst. Turns out it was a French-Canadian family who had just bicycled (including the 5-year-old) from San Francisco to L.A. They were on their way home.

The parents were in another room upstairs. To my great surprise the 4 children were extremely quiet, very polite, and I never heard ANYTHING from the adjacent room. I happened to look in the room the next morning (door was open) and it looked like an explosion in a toy factory, but the kids were practically silent for the entire trip. The parents came down a few times to check on them and asked me if they were making noise. This experience certainly gave me a great impression of French-Canadian kids.

I'm with everyone else on this thread, noise makers should be forced to move from any Quiet Car. That redcap certainly never should have put people with a crying baby in a Quiet Car. And the conductor was a wimp.

It is amazing not only how selfish people are but how stupid they can go about it. When I drove a tour bus in Alaska there was one passenger who was talking with someone on his speaker phone while the tour guide was giving a talk. :rolleyes:

I think, at the very least, "quiet car rules" should apply to public areas of sleeper cars (and any rooms with doors open) from the start of dinner service through the end of breakfast. Sleeper cars are called that for a reason.

Can the eviction at least wait until the train reaches a station and stops. Otherwise it seems a little harsh. Maybe.