Comment by woodruffw

You would think so (and so would I), but my experience with Amtrak is that the conductors and engineers exercise a lot of individual discretion.

(I think it "helps" that Amtrak covers a very large area, most of which only sees a train once or twice a day at the most. So the practical reality is that there are a lot of stops where you pretty much exit the train right off onto the rails.)