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Yes that's true. They try to put private cars at the front or rear of a train, but sometimes they aren't able to. So you may have the public walking through as you eat dinner. Comes with the territory {shrug}. Train crew (conductors) always have the right to walk through the car. If your train goes into Tampa Florida for example, the train has to reverse out of the station to a wye so it can turn around. If you are the end car, the conductor will be there watching for problems, manning the emergency brake, and communicating with the engineer on their radio. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wye_(rail) The new trainsets that Amtrak just ordered from Siemens Mobility come with cab cars, so the crew can use that to control the train and not be out in the weather (and have full gauges, etc.) The cab cars are part economy seating so if your private car is on that train, you will probably end up sandwiched between the cab car and the rest of the train and have people walking through. |
One example that comes to my mind is prisoner transports. I have seen a prisoner car (which cannot be passed through by passengers or crew, it has no doors at the ends) in front of cab car. In that sense, the cab car is being used as a normal passenger car, of course in the rear end of the train.
So, if Amtrak values private cars and privacy in such cars enough I think they can find a solution without people passing through. If the schedules require faster turnarounds, one low-tech solution is not selling tickets to the cab car.