Have been taking Amtrak for years and you won't find a ruder, more incompetent staff than the one at 30th St Station in Philadelphia. No explanation for late trains, false information when they do talk to you but most of the time they act too busy to answer questions and there is no semblance of any leadership in the station. This station needs some serious turnover. Just had a comical experience where they were herding the passengers up and down the stairs like cattle, incorrectly boarding customers and causing serious delays to the whole Amtrak operations. Take a bus to NYC or DC instead read more

I made a reservation on Amtrak from California to go to New York from 30th Street station. The bad part is that if you come in by subway you have to go to street level and can't go in underground as before years ago. the automatic ticket machine printed out the two tickets for NY and the return. Everything went fine, we were surprised to see that there is a quiet car for non cell phone users. The trip was on time, the conductors were fine, cars clean and modern. The return trip was just as good leaving Penn station, all on time. The bad part again is that you have to leave the station and go out on Market St. and then go down to the subway to ride to 15th and Market to our hotel. The train station is a great monument to old time travel when I used steam engines to ride to D.C. However, the public address system is still horrible with the announcers sounding like they are in their 80's and eating peanut butter sandwiches while talking. Thank God for the central sign board which is constantly updated. I'll take east coast Amtrak any day. Anybody considering Amtrak should always go to their website and read all the information before making any reservations. read more

I have been in and out of the 30th st station for years but I think they have just hit an all time low pertaining to the bathroom facilities in this establishment. When did the management decide to remove toilet seat covers in the old bathrooms when street people frequent these rooms all day long and contaminations are at an all time high ! On top of that they renovated the bathrooms in the food court but close them right after the food court closes ! What I would like to see is renovated old bathrooms and better monitoring of these bathrooms as a whole ! Thank you ! read more

Both my husband I rode Amtrak for the first time from New York's Penn Station to Philadelphia. Penn Station was just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. The ride was only 1.5 hours. Since it was an early morning train ride, we had a whole section to ourselves. There were outlets by the windows that kept our phones charged. The Wifi wasn't that great. It was spotty and later I just switched to using my data to watch YouTube videos. It was easy to book tickets on the iPhone app. For the return trip to New York, I easily changed my tickets three times because on that Sunday we attended the Pope's Mass in Philly so I made changes based on when the Mass actually ended and then on the long walk back to the train station we changed our tickets again to catch an earlier train back to New York. We didn't need to print out tickets, we just showed our phone to scan. Taking the Amtrak train was a pretty pleasant experience for us and if we ever make it back to the East Coast, I'm sure we'll take another trip on the Amtrak. read more

expensive but book 2 weeks in advance and get much higher discounts than the student advantage 15% off that requires at least 3-day advance booking. the refund/exchange policies are also reasonable. with the addition of wifi, i'm very happy (i only travel the northeast corridor--DC Union Station all the way to Boston South Station), but whatever happened to them promising they'd fix the tracks? so they know the rides are absurdly bumpy, to the point that passengers get nauseous and spill their coffee everywhere! i'd wish they'd clean the bathrooms more often too. i've taken the bullet trains in japan and korea, so we def need to get on that. even if they charge a lot, amtrak is painfully slow and delayed sometimes (note: they will not give you a voucher for late trains unless it is at least AN HOUR LATE). read more

My husband and I accessed the Amtrak Philadelphia Station on the morning of Friday July 1, 2016 and the evening of Monday July 4th 2016 as a transfer station point on the way of him visiting his mother (my mother in law) in Williamsport Pennsylvania. Going to there the transfer had to be made in 10 minutes. However, going back to the Washington D.C. area on July 4th our time in the Philadelphia Amtrak station was longer because there was over an hour layover before we headed back to catch the Washington D.C. Union station Amtrak. This Amtrak has a foodcourt (Au Bon Pain, Auntie Anne's etc.) and a magazine/bookstore area which still gives options yet the only caveat is that a person coming from the Amtrak Union station in Washington D.C. will notice that the place is slightly smaller. The Auntie Anne's inside the foodcourt of the Philadelphia Amtrak station was of good quality. I had an almond pretzel with some caramel sauce and lemonade while my husband got some of their pretzel hotdogs. One of the employees even went out of their way to come to the nearby table I was sitting at to politely ask me a question about my order. There was a slight delay of the Amtrak on July 4th at this Amtrak station yet I understand that it probably more had to do with the evening timeframe that my husband and I were heading back to the Washington D.C. area especially because the line of people waiting to leave out of the Philadelphia Amtrak the same timeframe and train as my husband and I consisted of many people. My husband even talked to someone who was scheduled to do some work with the Smithsonian. The seating in the Amtrak station is ok and the only caveat is that there was obviously only a very short time to get downstairs to reach the train once it did arrive after the slight approximately ten minute delay (give or take a few minutes). read more

Traveling today on the northeast regional train 172 and retuning train 193. Without a doubt the restrooms were beyond disgusting. The smell was awful. What is going on??????? The tickets are way too expensive for this!!!! read more

If I could give less I would. Disgustingly rude workers. Amtrak themselves run a horrible business..think I'll start paying more and fly from now on read more

Have always had excellent experience with Amtrak in Trenton. Today my kids (13) traveled for the first time alone to visit their grandmother in Massachusetts. The staff was so accommodating and friendly, it really put my mind at ease. They have a wonderfully comprehensive policy for unaccompanied minors that the whole group there at Amtrak understood and helped us with. It must be a good company to keep such quality people. read more

I used to love riding the train often to Boston or NYC but this time I took it to Philadelphia for a business trip and when I returned home I had a family emergency and called to request to leave on an earlier train the same day. The representative on the telephone told me that it would be $60 to change the ticket to the earlier trip because I purchased the original ticket over a month ago when the fare was cheaper. However, the current ticket price for the train I was going on and the current ticket price for the train I wanted to go on was the same exact cost which means that switching wouldn't result in Amtrak losing any money at all. I explained this to the representative and she was rude, didn't appear sympathetic to my situation and wasn't willing to transfer me to her supervisor to see if someone else could help me with this situation. I used to take the train once every few months for travel but from now on I will just stick to flying. read more

My trip was absolutely HORRIBLE. I took a train from Philadelphia to Boston and my first train had numerous delays and we had to switch to another train which was already full. We were given the option to either stand or wait for another which which was over an hour later.. So with the train being overly filled, I had to stand. With all of our delays and extra stops and waiting, I was over 3 hours past my original arrival time... The trip I was on was to see my family and I can only see them once a year so my time is valuable when it comes to all aspects of seeing them, especially the travel. This was an absolutely horrible experience. Perhaps their conductors should also avoid telling their passengers to make the best out of a bad situation when WE have to suffer the frustration and annoyance of their service problems as well. Then when I sent in a complaint, it took weeks to get a response and I was offered a voucher to take another train! What am I supposed to do with that? Why would I ever want to use the service after all of those issues? Between the terrible train ride and terrible responses from the CSAs, I will never use Amtrak again. read more

I think I might have gotten spoiled by friendly employees of Amtrak in California thus was completely unprepared for the "customer service" experience in Philly. I would gladly forgo any interactions with the staff but the electronic ticket booths refused to scan my ticket. Women at the ticket kiosk and the receptionist at the customer service office were super nice to each other but extremely rude to me. When I talked to them, they rolled their eyes and snapped at me, looking like they were doing me a huge favor by being present at their jobs. I understand they may have no motivation to help customers, but they definitively are ready and eager to be mean and harass customers for no reason. I give two stars, but these two stars are only for the great work of the manager Richie (Richy?) who was extremely polite and professional and was able to solve my problem in 10 minutes after me trying to discuss it with other employees for at least two hours. Thank you, Richie,you by yourself deserve more than 5 stars. read more

I'm a frequent Amtrak user and I was absolutely disgusted at how I was treated by the ticket information woman this morning. She had short straight black hair and she was accompanied by a woman with shaved blonde hair. When I arrived at 7:45 for an 8:05 train, I overheard someone saying the train to NY had been cancelled. I walked closer towards the information woman at the center of the station and asked her when the next train to NY would be and if our tickets would be honored. She rolled her eyes at me and said she had already said all of these things and why wasn't anyone listening - MEANWHILE, an entire group of people had just walked into the station! I said I was asking because I had missed what she said earlier and she snapped and yelled at me and said "IM NOT SPEAKING TO YOU". Her behavior was DISGUSTING, she was the RUDEST person I have ever encountered. GOD FORBID she do her job!!!!! I don't pay THOUSANDS of dollars a year to travel on a service where the people employed are ANGRY at customers and won't offer the assistance that we PAY FOR. I hope she loses her job as she clearly is not meant to be working in ANY CAPACITY with other people. The grossest excuse for a person, let alone a customer service employee. read more