Alton - Alton, Illinois

Robin Thurston

Delays!! We planned a trip for the children's museum in Bloomington, IL, and it turned out to be a bust. Our first booking was on Saturday at 8:56 a.m., and we later received notification for a delay at 12:30pm.

That obviously wasn't going to work, so we rescheduled for the following weekend.

Two days later, we received a notification that the train was going to be late again at 10:30 am.

We kept that reservation, thinking surely the train would be on time. No, the train didn't show up until 11:45.

We didn't make Bloomington until nearly 2 pm. We had to wait on numerous stack trains, and Springfield is a slow go with some rough track. We had time for pizza, ice cream, and head right back on the train at 4 pm. We had two disappointed kids who didn't get to enjoy the children's museum.

The train experience went great with a good train crew and well-mannered passengers. We were basically on a long joy ride.

It's nice to have an option to ride a train, but we have a long way to go before this is practical for United Nations Agenda 21.

We own a pre-emission diesel pickup. It is definitely easier to drive up 55 in a pickup truck than deal with a late train. This is not providing a good argument to end climate change. We know better, and we can see the real picture. "They" want our freedom.

We deserve a credit for our bust.
"Whence came you?"

Shannon Knight

The new station is very nice. Lots of indoor and outdoor seating.
Inside many places to charge phones. Nice big screen displaying time.
Our train was on time and was easy to get on from the station.
Restrooms were big and clean.

Kim Granger

Beautiful new station with clean, open spaces. There's nicely created educational readings, too.

Lorna Karcher

The timing of the trains not withstanding (super late, mostly due to heat), this station has amazing customer service. My son’s ticket was for a mid afternoon train that was delayed until late, and the station representative, Steven, proactively called us to see if we would like to change his ticket to the “later” train that was actually on time and leaving almost 2 hours ahead of the delayed train. He recognized us when we walked in to the station before the trip and made sure that my son’s ticket was adjusted accordingly as a minor and tied to his grandfather’s ticket. That type of amazing service is above and beyond, we were so glad to have met and worked with Steven.

Christine Eilers

I think it's it's a problem when train doesn't arrive till 930 pm and the station is closed. You have to wait in the car because it's raining . Prey you don't have to use the bathroom!

Jessica Vargas

Great experience riding Amtrak, highly recommend in lieu of driving St Louis to Chicago.

Sarah Wiszkon

Doors automatically unlock at 5 am, so if you are on train 300 with a 5:22 am departure, don't bother arriving before then.

No free long term parking (under 2 hours is free, though) - the cost is less than St Louis for 24 hours, but it still sucks to have to pay when the old station was free and it had less parking.

The station is airy & clean with plenty of seating, and the platform is broad and long enough to accommodate the whole train (unlike the old station).

Thomas Mcinley

Everyone rates this station 1 star because of the following:
Directions took them to old station.
Late train.
Didn't realize the lobby opens a little later than usual.
WOW!
This station is fancy, new, big, tons of seats, and good parking.
If you take the early train and the station isn't open, there is a bypass area on the left so you can get to the platform. But who pays attention to those little details, right!
The late train reviews are the people's fault, not the station.
The directions are not the fault of the station.
This station is perfectly fine and its the people on google who are the cause of it's low rating.
There is even a little interpretive area inside that shows the history of the area. Too bad people don't pay attention or this station would have a 5 star rating.