AmTrak at Seattle require coach pax to check in to get a BP. Makes the coach line go faster when the boarding gates open, I guess, over pax taking out tckets, fnding tix on cell phones an having to scan to get pass the door.

New one (in March) was that someone in a room or roomette had to be in the room when the conductor comes around shortly after departure from originating station to scan tickets again to confirm occupancy, otherwise the rooms may be old for UGs (their announcement).

Yes, I've taken Amtrak from Seattle. If you go along with the "make-work" requirement, then check-in is required. But Amtrak's own internal employee rulebook says that if the train is about to leave, then this isn't required.

If you get on at the next station, it isn't required. Or if you find a way to just board the train, it isn't required. It's just make-work. If you don't go along with it, there are no consequences. It's ridiculous.

Amtrak check-in applies only in some situations at some stations. And it only applies to passengers who don't refuse. Ridiculous.

As far as I know, European railroads don't require check-in (other than stamping your ticket before boarding, in France, and the like, if my 1980s and 1990s recollections are still valid).

I take it you didn't study operations management/logistics? Minimises queue processing time when there's a large rush/surge of pax. Knowing travellers, can you imagine if there's 100-200 pax and they have to show the QR code or whatever for scanning (which may no work as smoothly as expected)? I'd be surprised if it didn't take at least 2x as long. Better to check the masses in and give a physical BP ahead of time so it's quicker to get the masses through the gate.

Not so important at smaller, downstream stations perhaps as there are fewer pax to deal with. I didn't observe what the situation is like at larger downstream stations such as Portland Union Stn.

No they don't/didn't (though British Rail had ticket collectors at the entrances to platforms in the '70s and most likely earlier), but they also don't restrict passengers going to the platform ahead of time so there's no rush.

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.

There's no reason why Amtrak can't do like lots of other railroads and...simply let passengers board the train without lining up beforehand. 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 without lining up beforehand.

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.

When Amtrak shares a station with other railroads with much higher passenger volumes, such as NYP and Grand Central (from time to time), those other railroads simply open up access to the platforms and let people board. Amtrak, conversely, makes people line up at some stations, which simply creates congestion. When Amtrak uses Grand Central from time to time, it places a ticket checker at the south entrance to the platform, making people line up (and with the ticket checker screaming at people); at the north entrance to the platform, conversely, you can simply board the train without having to line up, which shows the insanity of Amtrak's "line up for no reason" boarding procedures. And you can board an Amtrak train without lining up beforehand at Newark, but at Charlotte, with much smaller passenger volumes, you have to line up first; if Newark can handle normal passenger boarding, why can't Charlotte, for example?

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.

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.

Amtrak’s employee manual requires ticket scanning only by the relevant employee once passengers are on board. Tickets are not scanned before boarding. (Sometimes Amtrak staff does anyway, as people enter the train, but that’s not standard practice, and only certain employees are allowed to scan tickets.) At most, tickets are visually checked before boarding. But that could be done by people stationed at car entrances; it’s not necessary to have yet another line at the entrance to the platform of that is the reason.

There’s no need to hypothesize about why Amtrak makes passengers line up before boarding. Amtrak has given a range of inconsistent and illogical reasons why it requires that.

And if preventing homeless access to trains is the reason for requiring passengers to line up before boarding, why doesn’t Amtrak require it in places such as Newark, a rough area? And why does Amtrak place an employee at only one end of the platform at Grand Central but not the other? It’s a make-work policy, period.

Probably something informal setup by local staff to deal with a problem not addressed in a systemwide manual.

Hate to ask but is Amtrak back at Grand Central? Last time I checked/rode to/from NYC, NYP was the only stop in NYC.

As for Newark, never stepped off the train there so don't know the station setup. Fewer boarding pax perhaps? Is there a vagrancy problem or how else do they keep the undesirables out?

Also didn't observe the boarding/platform access control process at LA Union as we got the redcap shuttle.

Newark is one of Amtrak’s top-10 (or maybe even top-5) stations. It’s located in a kind of rough area. No lining up before boarding.

Amtrak uses Grand Central from time to time, typically when track work is being done on the line to Penn Station.

Making people who approach the platform from the south line up for tickets to be checked, but not doing anything to people who approach the platform from the north, shows the insanity of Amtrak’s “line up for no valid reason” procedures.

I guess Amtrak no longer operates out of the old new version of NYP where you could access all platforms unimpeded from the LIRR mezzanine level?

Or was that the NJ Transit mezzanine level?

Regardless, I guess that neat trick has gone away.

You do for the auto train.
Pull up, show the auto loaders your ticket, turn over car to them.
Go inside station, go to check-in counter, again your ticket is scanned, then you are given a boarding pass with your assigned car number and seat number, and meal information.

The armed (transit?) police standing near the top of the staircases down to the train level will definitely stop you at PHL. I've seen it happen several times.

It still works; I always use that method.

At PHL, you can also board straight from the Metropolitan Lounge and your ticket isn’t checked.

Ha ha. Remember those days when coupons used to to pulled from the ticket book for each segment flown. The only thing that was worse than having to call to reconfirm was, after they had done with it, the airlines used to call to tell me that there is no need to reconfirm. My heart always missed a beat when my operator used to let me know the airline had called.

Part of the check in process to issue a boarding pass is to confirm you have a valid ticket for flights you are booked on (for most airlines which use tickets). Lots of cases where people don’t have proper e-tickets

Even today, Orbitz confirmation emails say "Your reservation is booked and confirmed. No need to call us to reconfirm this reservation."

I wonder if people still try to call and reconfirm, or if this is just legacy text that was never removed.

There are likely seniors amongst us who, based on what they were taught to do in a different era, continue to do things like call to reconfirm.

Some/many of them probably have printed itineraries, print each and every reservation, get printed copies of their boarding passes, etc.

Davist