sinbad

In the past 5 years I have done 12 R/T's from Chicago- Washington D C - Newport News VA. In all cases of sleeper travel I have been asked for ID on board. In cases of coach travel I have been asked for ID at the gate. At on line stops only a couple of times. I think the NEC is much to busy to do the checks. Station agents have a manifest as does the conductor on LD trains if it becomes a problem. At all originating stations ID is required at the gate. The boarding person in WAS has stoped or gone after persons that try to get past wihtout ID.Last trip in OCT 07 a man went past him and would not stop.He called Amtrak P D to the gate to keep it closed. In about 5 mins. he and Amtrak P D and WAS station security came back with the man in tow. Dont know what happened after that. At Emeryville CA. on the CZ ID is checked on board or as you board. At least for me. Maybe I just fit some kind of profile?

sechs

I really wish they would... the highways would definitely be a safer place.

joey9413

I've been to Chicago twice.
When i took the train to Chicago around jan, nobody check ID on the train.
But when i go again on May, I was checked twice @ the same station
New Rochelle(or somewhere around Buffalo). The guy said he's border control as if someone is gonna climb inside the train from Canada or something.
The first time, the guy checked at me n my boyfriend at midnight! 'Cause we can't fall asleep. The border control guy checked 2, 3 young people. Anyway, he just asked us. When we searched our id in the dark, he's gone already.
The train is actually stopped for at least 1/2 hr on the second time, they pulled 2 people off the train. And when i showed him my college ID, he said you should bring a government id next time. But the fact is, I travelled for amtrak for 3 years and I've been using my same college ID.
I think it's just a waste of time or they need quota or something.

nerd

joey9413, welcome to FlyerTalk!

AlanB

I disagree with how the border inspections are done on Amtrak, since customs is inconveniencing 300 passengers to try to catch one or two people. Customs agents should be put on the train at one stop and taken off at the next stop, rather than holding a train at the station for an hour or more.

However, the reason that they do those inspections is because people slip across the border on foot and then thinking that they have now safely made it into the US, they look for transportation to get where they are going. So surprise inspections within 100 miles of any US border on buses, trains, even cars on highways, does help to catch illegals.

TechOps

Weird. Sounds like flying from a commercial airport was 20 years ago. Can't use your TWA/United/USAir ticket? No problem, just give it to a friend who can.

joey9413

thanks for the warm welcome
i think checking id doesn't really help..... i bet the border control doesn't catch anyone most of the time.
And I think i will be the one of them who probably taking that route to Chicago because the check.

nerd

If you purchase your ticket onboard (e.g. if you buy a ticket last-minute, travelling from an unstaffed station, which I've done 4 times this year) they seem to check ID's 100% of the time.

I believe it's because there's a line on the ticket where they have to write down what form of ID they checked.

ih8airlines

checking IDs?? please don't give these morons another idea, i don't need another govt agency taking naked pics of me

Points Scrounger

This week on the Missouri River Runner I encountered no ID check whatsoever in either direction, period.
Earlier this year, on the Pacific Surfliner, we were informed: "The TSA allows me to pre-select one digit (0 - 9) at random each day, only if the last digit of your ticket number matches, will you be asked for identification - most of you will not need to produce any."
Cascades @ SEA and PDX requires it for mandatory, pre-boarding seat assignment.

ByeByeDelta

Couple years back when I lived in North Carolina, there were a few conductors that would pull the "number of the day" nonsense. Thankfully I knew most of the crews and was never bothered, but there was one young conductor that would greet me by name, take my ticket and ask for my ID when I had the "lucky" number. Sigh.

fairviewroad

Actually, I boarded a Cascades train at PDX on Wednesday evening and there was no ID check or pre-boarding seat assignment. No ID check when the conductor lifted the ticket on-board, either.

Points Scrounger

One of the benefits of a biz ticket has been to avoid the incredibly long coach check-in line. Perhaps they've done away with it on the Cascades now, in favor of first-come, first-served seating (as with the Pacific Surfliner)? Neither SEA nor PDX are great terminals to hang out in for (over) an hour, but I've always gotten there early to get a decent biz seat.

fairviewroad

I think it had more to do with the fact that I was boarding a southbound train out of PDX. There were still doing seat-assignments for the northbound departure leaving at the same time. But to the point of this thread, at no time was my ID asked for, even though I had paid with a cc and picked up my ticket at the QuikTrak machine. (I was asked to sign on the line for the signature however.)