That was a good article, I am a 80 year old woman who rides the rails when I can. I go solo. I have found that making friends in the lounge makes travel companions on your trip. I have many pen pals over the years. We watch out for each other. Lots of stories there.
Unfortunately, the Amtrak trains are not safe for my immunocompromised partner -- who cannot afford to get another inhaled airborne disease. They're not safe for me either: I can't afford to get an inhaled airborne disease either, because I have to take care of her and I can't risk exposing here.
They are not safe because Amtrak has terrible air quality (yes, I've checked, I have a monitor), even in the private rooms. And there's no respirator masks (N95) on anyone. So the air's full of germs.
Inclusivity needs to include people who can't afford to snort viruses. And we are excluded right now.
SEPTA has extremely high air quality standards in its trains. For comparison. Complete change of fresh air every THREE minutes, and high-MERV-rating filters cleaning out both germs and pollution. SEPTA Regional Rail is safe enough for immunocompromised people.
Amtrak does not have any of this. It's been impossible to even get the air handling information from Amtrak. I actually gave up.
We're a very long way from All Aboard. Everyone I know in the immunocompromised community, most of whom used to take Amtrak before the ONGOING airborne pandemic started, has stopped taking Amtrak and started driving because of the reckless lack of infection control on the trains. They've also stopped going to Rail Passengers Association meetings for the same reason. I have stopped going for this reason.
And after I didn't succeed in making any progress on this for a year, I resigned from the RPA advisory council and dropped my RPA membership entirely.
If you ever decide you're really serious about "All Aboard", let me know. Because right now, it really hasn't been happening. All Aboard means people who can't afford to inhale viruses, too. Right now, we're facing exclusion, both from Amtrak and, despite its nice words, from RPA.
I hope things will get better, I hope we're actually welcomed sometime in the future, but I'm done, I'm moving to another country where the trains are already safe to ride.
I am sorry that you continue to feel excluded, but just because we don't blog or post about everything we do doesn't mean conversations aren't taking place. This topic came up when talking to people at Amtrak about the new Airo cars (and the future LD fleet) a while back, and it was explained to me that the current HVAC systems completely replace the air in the train cars every 5 mins or so, and they can't use higher-end filters because it limits the air needed for temp controls on the current fleet.
It's much easier for subways and commuter rail to have quicker, higher-end systems because they don't have the complexities of a multi-night train car. So you can't compare what BART, SEPTA, Metra, etc are all doing to what Amtrak deals with.
I am not making excuses for them, nor do I work for them. I can only relay the information that is given to me.
Now I don't know what is going to happen in the future, but I would imagine that there will be serious upgrades - which will take advocates from the immunocompromised community to work with us to make sure it happens. You, of all people, should know that this work isn't always direct and takes time to see anything happen - but that it takes a combined effort to hammer these needs home. You can't just throw your hands up and leave it for other folks to deal with.
So yes, I take it very seriously when I talk about ALL aboard.
Labor Today International supports the All Aboard Act (Markey (D-MA.) This bill is what is needed to fully fund AMTRAK. Tell your senators to vote yes on S. 2520 Call them: (202) 224-3121.
That was a good article, I am a 80 year old woman who rides the rails when I can. I go solo. I have found that making friends in the lounge makes travel companions on your trip. I have many pen pals over the years. We watch out for each other. Lots of stories there.
Unfortunately, the Amtrak trains are not safe for my immunocompromised partner -- who cannot afford to get another inhaled airborne disease. They're not safe for me either: I can't afford to get an inhaled airborne disease either, because I have to take care of her and I can't risk exposing here.
They are not safe because Amtrak has terrible air quality (yes, I've checked, I have a monitor), even in the private rooms. And there's no respirator masks (N95) on anyone. So the air's full of germs.
Inclusivity needs to include people who can't afford to snort viruses. And we are excluded right now.
SEPTA has extremely high air quality standards in its trains. For comparison. Complete change of fresh air every THREE minutes, and high-MERV-rating filters cleaning out both germs and pollution. SEPTA Regional Rail is safe enough for immunocompromised people.
Amtrak does not have any of this. It's been impossible to even get the air handling information from Amtrak. I actually gave up.
We're a very long way from All Aboard. Everyone I know in the immunocompromised community, most of whom used to take Amtrak before the ONGOING airborne pandemic started, has stopped taking Amtrak and started driving because of the reckless lack of infection control on the trains. They've also stopped going to Rail Passengers Association meetings for the same reason. I have stopped going for this reason.
And after I didn't succeed in making any progress on this for a year, I resigned from the RPA advisory council and dropped my RPA membership entirely.
If you ever decide you're really serious about "All Aboard", let me know. Because right now, it really hasn't been happening. All Aboard means people who can't afford to inhale viruses, too. Right now, we're facing exclusion, both from Amtrak and, despite its nice words, from RPA.
I hope things will get better, I hope we're actually welcomed sometime in the future, but I'm done, I'm moving to another country where the trains are already safe to ride.
I am sorry that you continue to feel excluded, but just because we don't blog or post about everything we do doesn't mean conversations aren't taking place. This topic came up when talking to people at Amtrak about the new Airo cars (and the future LD fleet) a while back, and it was explained to me that the current HVAC systems completely replace the air in the train cars every 5 mins or so, and they can't use higher-end filters because it limits the air needed for temp controls on the current fleet.
It's much easier for subways and commuter rail to have quicker, higher-end systems because they don't have the complexities of a multi-night train car. So you can't compare what BART, SEPTA, Metra, etc are all doing to what Amtrak deals with.
I am not making excuses for them, nor do I work for them. I can only relay the information that is given to me.
Now I don't know what is going to happen in the future, but I would imagine that there will be serious upgrades - which will take advocates from the immunocompromised community to work with us to make sure it happens. You, of all people, should know that this work isn't always direct and takes time to see anything happen - but that it takes a combined effort to hammer these needs home. You can't just throw your hands up and leave it for other folks to deal with.
So yes, I take it very seriously when I talk about ALL aboard.
Labor Today International supports the All Aboard Act (Markey (D-MA.) This bill is what is needed to fully fund AMTRAK. Tell your senators to vote yes on S. 2520 Call them: (202) 224-3121.