I wish we had Amtrak over here

[James Turner]

Just a quick note to say that I am fortunate enough to have a job in the UK that gave me a few months off at a time. One of these times, I decided to venture over to the US and have a good look around. Not wanting to drive for miles on end and not wanting to sit in the back of a bus, Amtrak looked the only way to get around this enormous country (I'm from England where a 3 hour drive gets you from one side to the other, so you can guess my initial puzzlement when I found out it took 3 days to complete some routes).

Well what can I say about Amtrak and it's staff!! Brilliant, Fantastic, Amazing, Stunning and, what the hell - Brilliant again

OK, so the trains are not the fastest in the world, some stations have departures at times of the night more suited to an owl and it doesn't get you "everywhere" in the US (Las Vegas anyone..), but I just loved it. In fact, I loved it so much, I went back a further 3 times and have now accumulated a good 6 months "riding them rails". All in all, I can say that I have travelled pretty much most of the network at some point or another and not once was I dissapointed.

I think you guys have a fantastic rail service. There are many times on my way to work in London, where I am stood in an overcrowded and stinking carriage, normally running late, (if at all..) and remember the days of arriving in comfort and style in LA, Washington, Miami, Boston, New York, Whitefish, Montana (fantastic little town) and many others too numerous to mention.

You lucky, lucky things......

 

[City of Miami]

Actually, I agree with James. After 20 yrs of not having been on an Amtrak train, I arrived at much the same conclusion, i.e., the best way for me to travel and see my country was by rail. This was a little over a year ago and since Christmas eve 2003 (my original magical roundtrip through the snowy Sierras from San Francisco to Reno NV and back) I've logged almost 8000 miles and I've not made any of it a really bad experience. I mainly feel so lucky and happy that the network still exists and functions to such a high degree. I feel especially lucky once again to live in CA where there is so much. I intend to cover as much of it as possible as soon as possible, the main limiting factor being vacation time.

In the next 6 months I'll r/t on the Starlight to LA in Feb.; in April the Crescent from Atlanta to NYP then a few days later Metroliner back to DC and after a few days the Capital Limited from Washington to Chicago and then the Zephyr back to San Franciso. In June I'm on the Missouri Mule from St. Louis to Kansas City then Southwest Chief into LA and the Starlight on home. Alas, that just about shoots my vacation for the year! It really is a HUGE country and a LOT of track!!

Lucky us, indeed.

John Andrew

 

[AlanB]

John,

Sounds like a great plan. One question however, why a Metroliner? Why not Amtrak's newest train, the Acela Express? :unsure:

 

[City of Miami]

Alan - Purely because of the expense. It looks to me like the Metroliner is $66 dollars and the Acela is about double that. I know, it's only money; but the Acela is only 20-30 minutes faster. Not that I'm in a hurry, but can the experience be THAT much different?

I was living in NYC in the late sixties when the Metroliners debuted and IIRC they actually sucked the windows out of some adjacent trains as they passed!

John Andrew

 

[PRR 60]

It looks to me like the Metroliner is $66 dollars and the Acela is about double that. I know, it's only money; but the Acela is only 20-30 minutes faster.

You were probably on a Regional, not a Metroliner.

The Metroliners, which use the same cars (more or less) and the same locomotives as the Regionals, operate only about 10 minutes slower than Acela between New York and Washington, and the fares are about 80% of the Acela fares (today's lowest Metroliner fare NYP-WAS is $109 one way). The Regionals are about another 10 minutes or so slower than Metroliner, but the fares are much less. Your $66 fare seems about right for a Regional in 2003.

 

[AlanB]

John,

It sound more like you're talking about the Regional trains and not the Metroliner's. Metroliner's are only about 5 to 10 minutes slower than Acela and typically cost 15 to 20 bucks less than an Acela ticket. I'm not sure that I've seen a Metroliner that only costs 66 bucks in years.

Additionally there are only a few Metroliner runs left on the schedule as most have been replaced with Acela Express trains.

So if the train that you'll be riding is a Regional and cost is an issue, then no Acela may not be worth it, although it is a nice ride. However if you were really riding a Metroliner, then I would highly recommend the extra few bucks for a ride on Acela.

 

[Guest_shanghaiamtrak]

if you are really tight for cash, you can always take the chinatown bus. from nyc to DC it costs 20 dollars one way, or 35.00 roundtrip.

 

[saxman]

Thanks for the compliment about our service. It kinda turns around all our complaining and bickering at how we need much more Amtrak service, yet we should also praise what we do have. It is cool we have cross country service complete with sleeping cars, diners, and lounges. When airlines are cutting service such as meals, I think Amtrak has done a good job at keeping the "first class" service aboard their trains. They know that's is a huge revenue builder and keeps the passengers coming. I doubt many other countries have kept the overnight train concept. How many true over night trains are there in the world?

Any insight?

Chris

 

[Guest_shanghaiamtrak]

i took a real overnight train last year---the trans siberian. 4 days and nights from Mongolia to Moscow. Had a blast.