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Home > Archives > Downeaster conductor scanning eTickets, 2016.

Downeaster conductor scanning eTickets, 2016.

Color digital image showing a conductor scanning eTickets on a Downeaster (Boston-Brunswick) train; image dates to December 16, 2016.

<i>Downeaster</i> conductor scanning eTickets, 2016.

Conductor Rory O'Connor scans eTickets aboard the Downeaster and greets customers. The conductor is responsible for the safe movement and operation of the train, the collection and protection of Amtrak ticket revenue, the conduct of the operating and on-board service crews, the boarding and detraining of passengers and the assignment of passenger accommodations.

Amtrak launched an eTicketing pilot program on the Downeaster in 2011; based on its success, eTicketing spread across the national system the next year. It allows passengers to print their tickets at their convenience or use a smartphone to show the eTicket to the conductor, thereby resulting in shorter ticket lines at stations, fewer tickets sold onboard trains and a decrease in the number of lost tickets. The eTicket program also provides Amtrak with accurate real time knowledge of who is on the train, en route reporting of onboard equipment problems and more efficient financial reporting.

The inauguration of the Downeaster on December 15, 2001 was the result of two decades of work by passenger rail advocates; the service was the first to operate between Maine and Boston since 1965.

Photographer: Chuck Gomez for Amtrak. From the Amtrak Corporate Collection.