I visited the East Lansing station on Tuesday for the arrival and departure of WB Amtrak 365. The consist was P42 #63, 6 coaches, an Amcafe, and Charger #4626. I think that's one extra coach from the "norm."
What a crowd! In atypical form, no one was spread along the length of asphalt platform, rather, there were two lines starting where the concrete sidewalks from the station meet the platform winding their way back to and along each side of the station building. At first I thought this might be a strangely orderly experience brought on by a lot of first-time passengers not understanding how platforms work. But in the end, it was much more orderly, and I wonder if this was intentional. I overheard the station volunteer, asking people where they were heading. It might be that the lines were actually organized in some way. Has anyone boarded recently at LNS?
Chicago destination had the first 2-3 coaches for sure, the other stops were all behind, with cafe and business class at the rear. Seven doors were opened in total. The train arrived early enough that even with this crowd, probably 150-200, were boarded fairly quickly. The platform was amazingly empty after just a few minutes. Three runners showed up after the train whistled and brakes released. Everyone was boarded in the end, but sheesh, people are idiots.
- Amtrak 365 arriving, with a "classic" Genesis on the point.
- The crowd descends in two lines after the train has stopped.
- Platform cleared, 365 is about to depart just to come to a stop for three runners.
MDOT Rail's twitter feed showed some similar photos of 365 arriving at LNS on Wednesday. They estimated 500 people would ride that particular Blue Water run, and 24,000 would take Amtrak in Michigan over the holiday week.
For the record, 370/371 have been running with a single Charger and 4 Superliners most of this week, one more than usual. I saw 370 arrive at Holland on Friday night. Several dozen passengers deboarded here. The train was about 20 minutes late arriving. The platform is only about 3 carlengths long, and only the doors on the first three cars opened.
