As I have done a couple of other times in the last couple of months for travel, I opted to go Amtrak this time again and take the train down to Charlotte for recent travel overnight. The ride and total experience was again wonderful, I love Amtrak. However I am focusing my review here on the Amtrak station itself in CLT and my couple of brief interactions there on this trip.
The platform itself is nice, a large area for boarding and disembarking. A nice ramp takes you down (or up if leaving the depot) from the platform area to the main depot area itself. It seemed a bit dark down in the area from the ramp to the depot though. The staff, as always, nice and helpful. I have not had problems with service.
The main impression from inside the depot itself is that it does the job. It is a full service depot, as that it is a manned station with staff at the desk. By no means is it run down as in horrible condition, but it seems while it is functional the years have taken a bit of a toll on it. It looks a bit worn and beat up but not run down...maybe it is time for a little revamping or major clean up. There are seats in the waiting area but it appears to be a bit small for serving an area such as CLT. The parking lot is showing its age as well but there appears to be plenty of parking available, a plus.
I noticed there were many people coming down on the train to go to the home Panthers game (I rode down on a Sunday)...what a great idea! They even have a bus ready at the depot for fans to take them to the game area and then back to catch the train out, I think the price for the bus is only around $1.75 a trip, which is a great deal to me and no driving, woot!
In all, the Charlotte Amtrak depot does the job. Maybe it needs a bit of sprucing up, but it certainly is functional. I'm sure I will be seeing it again in the future!