Amtrak Management Train Wreck

The day before Easter, Saturday, April 11, the Solana Beach train station was crowded with people awaiting the northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner No. 769. A lot of baseball fans, most of them wearing Bosox T-shirts, were headed for Anaheim to see the Angels vs. Red Sox game. Many other train-ticket holders were seemingly there to entrain for Orange and Los Angeles County holiday gatherings.

The train appeared down the line at 10:02, two minutes ahead of schedule. When it stopped and the doors opened, the conductor appeared on the platform and announced that only those with connections to flights from LAX and passengers headed for parts north of Los Angeles would be allowed to board. There was no room on the coaches for anyone else, he declared in frustration.

As some passengers pressed for standing room for the short distance to Orange County destinations, the conductor said, "If a hundred people get killed, I will go to jail." He said “they” didn't give him enough coaches.

Before he reboarded the train, the conductor said there would be another train heading north in 45 minutes. Dozens of grumbling customers turned away, but most were resigned to wait. Then that train, it was announced, would be delayed; it took an hour and a half to make it from downtown San Diego to Solana Beach.

My daughter was a couple innings late for the ballgame. So were the Bosox fans. They could exult later that they went away winners.