Are you scared to take the train now?

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junebug

junebug

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Jun 14, 2011
Messages
309
Do you feel safe riding the train during COVID? I have not gotten the vaccine yet. I wish I could say I am comfortable with the thought of traveling, but coach on Amtrak scares me. So does a private room
 
I’m not traveling. If I did travel I would choose first class on an airline over Amtrak as I believe getting to my destination sooner is safer than Amtrak.

I also believe the air is better circulated on an airplane, but that probably varies from plane to plane.

I suppose locking myself away in a bedroom and having all meals delivered would be somewhat safe but that’s not my idea of a fun train ride and once I go to the diner or the lounge where others are eating / drinking without masks what’s the point of even trying?
 
I don't know if scared is the right word, but I am certainly not willing to travel on Amtrak unless I have absolutely no choice.

I also feel that air travel is safer than coach travel on Amtrak. The extremely low humidity of airplane air, the HEPA filtration, and the rapid recirculation of air all cut in favor of air travel with me.

Once I am fully vaccinated I will have no problem returning to travel on Amtrak.
 
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I 've taken a few cross country trips in a roomette. Always masked up and social distanced when not in the room. No qualms riding. I get my first vaccine Sunday. After the second,certainly no problem.
 
I am getting on the train today for a 2 hour ride...did it last week too and a couple of other times since they instituted the 50% booking. On top of that I then get a Business Class ticket so even fewer people in the car. I feel safe and this last time I did a double mask - N95 and one over that with a filter. Conductors are very diligent. Not sure how I'd feel about a trip longer than 2 hours without being in a private sleeper car though.
 
junebug said:
Do you feel safe riding the train during COVID? I have not gotten the vaccine yet. I wish I could say I am comfortable with the thought of traveling, but coach on Amtrak scares me. So does a private room
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Agree with everything you said. At 73 I'm hoping to be vaccinated sometime next summer [maybe and hopefully] because of inequities of distribution; have no plans to do anything beyond simple day trips in my car until then... and double masking.

No, I wouldn't think of getting on any kind of public transport or staying in a hotel room.:oops::confused:
 
I would not be traveling unless it is essential, and I don't see one of those coming up This is not because I could not pull off a trip or two safely, but because collectively it is not the right thing to do to charge off on an otherwise unnecessary trip at this time.

There are measurable metrics and curves that I observe carefully, and there will come a point when they will be trending in a direction that would make it OK for me (and others) to travel. For example, ironically, India has reached that state now, but not the US. It is quite feasible for me to travel to India at present as far as regulations and restrictions (being a US citizen and Indian OCI - no tourist visas allowed yet) in place go, and once there, it is actually safer than in the US, but I will still not be charging off there for the time being, because it really is not essential.
 
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I haven't taken Amtrak during Covid because I don't feel like a trip now is worth it. Go to a place where Covid is taken seriously, and everyone's masked but lots of stuff normally worth seeing is closed or on restricted timed entry. Go to a place where most everything's wide open, and it's generally because Covid isn't taken seriously and the locals aren't big on masking. I'd rather save my AGR points and money to travel when that isn't so.

But I would take Amtrak now if I did have somewhere to go and (as always) Amtrak went there at/in a convenient time. I would travel in a sleeper on an LD train or business class on a corridor train, unless I had to travel on a certain day and that option was sold out, only then I would take coach. On an LD trip, I probably would eat at least one meal in the dining car unless it seemed too full to me.

I have traveled by Metra commuter train a few times during Covid. Each time, the train was significantly less than half-full and nearly everyone was masked throughout. I've been a lot closer to other people in a grocery store (two carts passing in an aisle) than I've been riding Metra during Covid.

Full disclosure: I'm under 50 with no significant underlying health problems. I've eaten indoors in restaurants a few times during periods it was allowed in metropolitan Chicago, but I felt reasonably comfortable doing so because precautions were being taken (mostly preserving distance by keeping 50 or 75 percent of tables closed) and the state has demonstrated its willingness to pull the plug on indoor dining when the numbers got too bad. I don't think I'd eat indoors in a place that wasn't taking Covid as seriously. The few road trips I took out of metro Chicago during Covid were all day trips (no hotels) within Illinois (no Wisconsin or Indiana "wild West") in nicer weather and I ate mostly outdoors.
 
Last fall: 8,000 miles on six trains (bedrooms), 14 hotel nights with restaurant dining and more than a few taxis. Spent 8 days visiting family in Maryland. Took the recommended precautions and did not particularly worry. The trains were clean, social distancing and mask wearing enforced. It was a good trip.

Yes, I would travel Amtrak again any time. Next trip booked for this summer and definitely going. I've received one of the two doses of the vaccination and would do this summers trip regardless. Age 72 here.
 
When my daughter moved back to college in the fall, she had a 14 Hour drive to the East Coast. I was her co-driver, and I took the train back from Boston to Indianapolis.

In the first class lounge in Boston, I think there were three of us in the entire lounge. In Acela first class, I think there may have been three of us in that car.

The balance of the trip was in a roomette on the Crescent, and later on the Cardinal. All meals on board were in my room, I never ventured outside of my room further than the lounge car for a cup of coffee to go.

I felt about as safe as I could be out in public. I would have no qualms in traveling in a LD roomette or in First/Business on the Acela again.

I have also flown several times on business during the pandemic. I feel that Delta is as safe as you’re going to get on an airplane. I was not impressed with either United or American.

Ironically, I caught Covid on a driving trip. Many would say that driving is safer than either flying or the train. My opinion is that if you are out in public, you are at risk. I probably caught it while dining at a restaurant while social distancing, or possibly in the customer’s workplace (again, while social distancing).

When I venture out again soon - believe me, I will not take precautions lightly. I will do everything I can to stay away from others and putting them at risk. When I do venture out, it will likely be in a roomette on my way to a remote area where I can bicycle in a warmer climate for a few days while being completely isolated.
 
AmtrakBlue said:
I had no fear of traveling back in Sept in roomettes. I also have traveled numerous times on the NEC without worry.
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My LD trip was a same day turn around in Denver with layover in Chicago. I met an AUer in Denver to hang out with. The only time we were close to others, who were all masked also, for an extended time was on the new RTD line that had just opened. Restaurants we ate in were set up for social distancing.
In Chicago, thanks to good weather, I took walks during my layover. This was late September just before the # of cases started their fall rise.

My NEC trips have been to Baltimore for doctor's appts. I may do a "joy ride" to NYC to see the new hall and/or some LD trip later this year when the weather is nicer and I don't have things going on
 
I am not "afraid", but my M.O. right now is to assess and balance risks and need before I do anything that might expose me. I am pushing hard on 70, and healthy with no other obvious risk factors. I won't get my first vaccine dose for another three weeks at least. A couple of my younger friends (with no risk factors at all) have had hard cases of Covid - one is just beginning to run again 10 months later, and one is still on oxygen six weeks after. I can't afford even my Medicare-share of a major illness, so my assessment is usually in favor of staying home. I am warm and comfortable here, I get penty of frsh air, exercise and good food, and my "to-do" list is longer than my available time. Can't think of any good reason to risk all of that...
 
For Covid as the cause of fear, I'm not worried. We are careful, wear masks, sanitize around us and, now, are within a week of having vaccine shot #2.

However, I have nightmares about flex dining eating me because my pre-covid experience eating them made me think of Soylent Green and I worry about having eaten former train riders. So unless the trip is short enough to carry a meal on board, I won't go. Carrying multiple meals is, for us, impractical.
 
Our last long-distance Amtrak trip was made in the summer of 2018. (We have family back in Ohio and traveling there is the only way we get to see them.)

Before deciding whether or not it would be safe for us to make this trip in 2021, we first asked ourselves the following questions:
  1. Will the trains and waiting rooms be cleaner and better sanitized than they were in 2018? Most likely yes.
  1. Will there be fewer people traveling this summer than in 2018? Most likely yes.
  1. Will the food we’ll be served on the train be prepared under stricter sanitary conditions than it was in 2018? Most likely yes.
  1. Will the people we encounter while traveling be observing better personal hygiene and social distancing than those in 2018? Most likely yes.
  1. Will we be better prepared to avoid coming in contact any germs or viruses while traveling than we were in 2018? Most definitely yes!
Having satisfied ourselves that, if anything, our travel environment will be cleaner and better sanitized than it was in 2018, we went ahead and made our reservations.

We’re continuing to monitor the comments made by AU members who have recently traveled on long distance trains. Although we are keeping our options open, we fully expect to have a safe and enjoyable train trip next summer.

Eric & Pat
 
Eric in East County said:
We’re continuing to monitor the comments made by AU members who have recently traveled on long distance trains. Although we are keeping our options open, we fully expect to have a safe and enjoyable train trip next summer.

Eric & Pat
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What trip do you intend to do?
 
Eric in East County said:
We’ll be taking the Pacific Surfliner (Business Class) from San Diego to LA, the Southwest Chief from LA to Chicago, and the Capitol Limited (Reserved Coach) from Chicago to Toledo. The return trip will be on these same trains but in reverse order.
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Let me know if you go, may be able to see your train a few minutes after it departs Fullerton as I am along the SB sub.

Of course, I may not go if I don't feel like it..
 

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