Spending the night at an Amtrak station

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Chessie

Chessie

Service Attendant
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Aug 23, 2016
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Is it allowed? If so, anyone has such experiences? If so, which station? How was it?

I have been looking at several possible cross country routes and if we can stay in certain stations overnight that would make the travel much easier for two young, healthy and sturdy adults.

It would be nice if some stations have hotel rooms right on top.
 
Policies in different Amtrak stations vary. Almost no stations are open 24 hours, even some major ones such as Chicago and Los Angeles are not open 24 hours. In fact the only one I know that is open 24 hours is New York's Penn Station. At Los Angeles, if you have a ticket for one of the late night/early morning Thruway buses, you will be allowed to stay in a secured area.

This is not a workable plan.

Most stations in major cities have hotels close by. Even in many small towns there are frequently motels relatively close. However, in some cases, the stations are somewhat out of the center of town, Jacksonville, Savannah and Richmond (Staples Road) come to mind.
 
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Downtown hotels near the train station tend to be expensive. Look farther afield... sometimes you can save upwards of $100 a night with a pair of $10 cab rides.
 
zephyr17 said:
Policies in different Amtrak stations vary. Almost no stations are open 24 hours, even some major ones such as Chicago and Los Angeles are not open 24 hours. In fact the only one I know that is open 24 hours is New York's Penn Station. At Los Angeles, if you have a ticket for one of the late night/early morning Thruway buses, you will be allowed to stay in a secured area.

This is not a workable plan.

Most stations in major cities have hotels close by. Even in many small towns there are frequently motels relatively close. However, in some cases, the stations are somewhat out of the center of town, Jacksonville, Savannah and Richmond (Staples Road) come to mind.
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Thank you. The NYP is the main one where an overnight stay would be most helpful.
 
Denver has a very expensive hotel on the upper floors.

Besides NYP, I am sure there are several stations "open-all-night"....Newark, NJ comes to mind, and probably several others in the NEC. The ticket office and other station services might not be open, but the waiting room is.

Anywhere that long-haul trains make regular nocturnal station stops usually have stations open....
 
I think you'd have to be truly desperate or out of your mind to want to spend a night at Newark Penn Station. I have once spent quite a bit of a night there having arrived by a late Cardinal and missed the last NJT westbound to Metropark. Finally got on the 67. Phew! Not a very pleasant experience.
 
railiner said:
Denver has a very expensive hotel on the upper floors.

Besides NYP, I am sure there are several stations "open-all-night"....Newark, NJ comes to mind, and probably several others in the NEC. The ticket office and other station services might not be open, but the waiting room is.

Anywhere that long-haul trains make regular nocturnal station stops usually have stations open....
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Charlotte, NC is open 24 hours, presumably to allow connecting passengers between 79/80 and 19/20. I just did 20 to 80 in July.
 
New Orleans will let Amtrak ticketed passengers spend the night in Union Station after it closes, but not Greyhound which shares the Station.

Passengers connecting between #2 and #20 often spend the night there since #2 is often late and #20 leaves early!(7am)

Edited in response to Excela 150's Post.
 
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Philadelphia 30th Street (the Amtrak portion, not the SEPTA portion) is open overnight...my Megabus was late and I missed the last SEPTA of the night, had to wait there until the first one at 4:30am.

NYP is open all night too (the NJT portion is closed)
 
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New York Penn is not somewhere I would enjoy spending a long lay over, much less an overnight. When we were there about 5 years ago, we had difficulty finding a place to sit while waiting for our connecting train. We bought a sandwhich so we could sit in Subway for a few minutes to rest. Subway had a sign limiting the amount of time you sit in their seats to 15 minutes with a purchase.
 
I've actually slept in the Charlotte station before getting off 19 and transferring to a bus, light rail, a taxi, and then my car.
 
Here's a variation, if you're looking for spots along the NEC. Amtrak serves both the Newark and Baltimore airports, each of which are open 24/7 and have shuttles that operate 24/7. Both have a decent selection of landside food options, and would have clean bathrooms, etc.

You could easily "camp" out at either airport and not draw the attention of security, as there are flights arriving and departing nearly around the clock, especially in Newark.
 
Acela150 said:
Train2104 said:
Philadelphia 30th Street (the Amtrak portion, not the SEPTA portion) is open overnight...my Megabus was late and I missed the last SEPTA of the night, had to wait there until the first one at 4:30am.

NYP is open all night too (the NJT portion is closed)
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Who says the Septa portion isn't open 24/7?
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The ticket office shuts down at 10 p.m. (or earlier) depending on the day of the week, but no, I don't think that area of the station specifically shuts down. I doubt someone would want to spend the night on the platforms...and the "concourse" itself is pretty tiny in the SEPTA area. So in any case, it's not much of a factor whether it's open or closed.

Acela150 said:
Bob Dylan said:
#20 leaves early!
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How is that possible Jim? The only train that can leave early is the Auto Train. That's due to it being loaded and boarded at one stop only. LOR or SFA. If the train has the "L" or "D" it can leave early..
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I think he means that it leaves early in the morning.....7 a.m. to be exact. So if #2 is running a few hours late, meaning you get in around midnight, some folks might not find it worthwhile to shell out $$ for a hotel since they have to be back at the station by 6 a.m. or so.
 
Train2104 said:
Philadelphia 30th Street (the Amtrak portion, not the SEPTA portion) is open overnight...my Megabus was late and I missed the last SEPTA of the night, had to wait there until the first one at 4:30am.

NYP is open all night too (the NJT portion is closed)
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The LIRR area is also open, with several lines running all night....
 
I spent the night in the NOL station between #2 and #20 a couple of years ago. It was pretty unpleasant. At that time you could not leave or enter the station between 10 pm and about 6 am - you had to stay in and there was a martinet who kept you out of the Greyhound half as mentioned above. No access to Magnolia Room.
 
If you are permitted to stay in the NOL station overnight, why can't you book a single ticket thru NOL? Is there something with their reservation system that does not allow a transfer over midgnight?
 
Amtrak's web site shows the Sacramento station hours as 4 AM to 11:59 PM.

So if I were to get to the SAC station by car at 2 am I would find the doors locked?

How about if I arrive at the SAC station on the CS (scheduled arrival time 11:59) and have a sleeper booked on the southbound CS or the eastbound CZ in the morning, are they going to make me leave the station and not allow me to use the sleeper pax waiting area? Or will they just lock me in like they did AU member City of Miami a couple years ago at the NOL station?
 
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Yep, you will have to vacate the Station after the Starlight rolls North! ( it's usually Late!)

The Jail is close by,but the Vagabond Motel across the Street is the place to spend the night!

This area of Sacramento is mostly a Ghost Town after Midnight, not a place you want to hang out in.!(sorry Kirk and tp49)
 
Pooh2 said:
New York Penn is not somewhere I would enjoy spending a long lay over, much less an overnight. When we were there about 5 years ago, we had difficulty finding a place to sit while waiting for our connecting train. We bought a sandwhich so we could sit in Subway for a few minutes to rest. Subway had a sign limiting the amount of time you sit in their seats to 15 minutes with a purchase.
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Oh pooh. Penn Station has a large enclosed attended well lit seating area for Amtrak PAX right off the main concourse. You can sit there for as long as you want. I would estimate 200-300 seats or so. See photo. https://www.flickr.com/photos/13200817@N06/4379173101/

About Penn Station itself during a layover, yes, it is crowded, lots of people and three train systems (4 if you count the subway) converge there. But for a layover, you've got 50 fast food restaurants and a couple of nice ones, bars, a drug store, bakery, book store, news stands, Target, Krispy Kreme, Chase Bank, shoe shine, souvenir shops, direct access to Madison Square Garden--and that's all without leaving the station. I've been to some pretty crummy Amtrak stations in my life; this isn't one of them.

As for staying there overnight, I have no idea. I'll leave that to others.
 
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I spent much of the night at the Rochester, NY, Amtrak station in 1982, after a "Fleetwood Mac" concert. At that time, the Lake Shore Limited eastbound and westbound stopped in the middle of the night, so there were passengers waiting for trains. I have also spent the night at Boston and Honolulu airports. I would not recommend this as a travel plan.
 
KmH said:
Amtrak's web site shows the Sacramento station hours as 4 AM to 11:59 PM.

So if I were to get to the SAC station by car at 2 am I would find the doors locked?

How about if I arrive at the SAC station on the CS (scheduled arrival time 11:59) and have a sleeper booked on the southbound CS or the eastbound CZ in the morning, are they going to make me leave the station and not allow me to use the sleeper pax waiting area? Or will they just lock me in like they did AU member City of Miami a couple years ago at the NOL station?
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If the station's closed, it's closed. I doubt if they have employees hanging around after closing time. Would a retail store let you hang around after closing time. I think not.
 
Bob Dylan said:
New Orleans will let Amtrak ticketed passengers spend the night in Union Station after it closes, but not Greyhound which shares the Station.

Passengers connecting between #2 and #20 often spend the night there since #2 is often late and #20 leaves early!(7am)
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Sorry, not true. Even if #2 is late, they will make the pax leave until 6 the next morning. This is from actual experience this summer talking to some who came in on a very late #2.
 
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