My wife and I live in FL and we LOVE taking the train (we do not like to fly). We also like to travel when we take our work vacations and we take the train whenever we can.
We would love to be able to go out west, but we are frustrated by the lack of (shorter) Amtrak routes to get there.
For example--to get from FL to Los Angeles, we'd have to first go up to Chicago and then go to L.A.. A trip like this would take 80-90 hours one-way, and a good part of that time seems to be spent just getting to Chicago as that is the nearest "hub". This makes it impossible to take a vacation out west by train because the train time alone would use up such a huge portion of our vacation days.
I know that there are probably financial considerations that keep a southern hub from being profitable, but if we were able to take a train to Jacksonville or Atlanta or somewhere in the southeast (instead of having to go to Chicago), that would cut-out a huge chunk of travel time and make it more possible.
New Orleans is another example...I'd love to be able to take a train from FL to New Orleans, but going by Amtrak would be almost a 75-80 hour trip (one-way) having to first go to Chicago, which seems silly compared to a nine-hour drive. I like taking the train, but in this case the time difference it so lopsided in favor of the drive that it's just not even worth considering.
I'm sure there are massive logistical and fiscal issues that prevent a southern hub from being put into place, but having any kind of southeastern hub would make a train trip out west possible for those of us who have limited time for these kind of trips.
Has Amtrak ever had a hub in the southeast? Does anyone think there will ever be one?
(And in my calculations of travel times I am also including "layover" times).
We would love to be able to go out west, but we are frustrated by the lack of (shorter) Amtrak routes to get there.
For example--to get from FL to Los Angeles, we'd have to first go up to Chicago and then go to L.A.. A trip like this would take 80-90 hours one-way, and a good part of that time seems to be spent just getting to Chicago as that is the nearest "hub". This makes it impossible to take a vacation out west by train because the train time alone would use up such a huge portion of our vacation days.
I know that there are probably financial considerations that keep a southern hub from being profitable, but if we were able to take a train to Jacksonville or Atlanta or somewhere in the southeast (instead of having to go to Chicago), that would cut-out a huge chunk of travel time and make it more possible.
New Orleans is another example...I'd love to be able to take a train from FL to New Orleans, but going by Amtrak would be almost a 75-80 hour trip (one-way) having to first go to Chicago, which seems silly compared to a nine-hour drive. I like taking the train, but in this case the time difference it so lopsided in favor of the drive that it's just not even worth considering.
I'm sure there are massive logistical and fiscal issues that prevent a southern hub from being put into place, but having any kind of southeastern hub would make a train trip out west possible for those of us who have limited time for these kind of trips.
Has Amtrak ever had a hub in the southeast? Does anyone think there will ever be one?
(And in my calculations of travel times I am also including "layover" times).