Putting "Mute" in Commute; Amtrak's Quiet Car Cult

[marmar]

from MassTransitMag:



Putting "Mute" in Commute; Amtrak's Quiet Car Cult
Updated: May 4, 2011


The offending snacker sheepishly folded the bag away, and his fellow passengers relaxed back into their cozy cloth seats. Silence reigned again.

The Quiet Car on Amtrak, which debuted in 1999 at the request of a group of silence-seeking commuters traveling between Philadelphia and the Big Apple, has achieved cult status. Train conductors are considered heroes for enforcing silence with an iron fist and booting loudmouths from the prized sanctuary. Overworked, overstressed commuters are territorial about their moment of silence and are not afraid to self-police.

"This is the ONLY time the whole week when I can have some peace and quiet!" yelled one passenger awoken from a nap by a cellphone conversation on a recent trip between Washington and New York. The chatterbox folded up his phone in embarrassment.

The cult of quiet has even spawned a Facebook group called "I Love the Quiet Car," where passengers vent about loudmouths breaking the study-hall silence. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/10261866/putting-mute-in-commute-amtraks-quiet-car-cult

[nxylas]

1. They used to have quiet cars on the South Wales to London main line

Sadly, the policy was never enforced, and was abandoned after a couple of years.