I traveled from Chicago to Washington on Southwest Airlines to start my trip for the Christmas/New Years holidays, as booking coach on the Capitol Limited is a fool's errand if you're not drastically far in advance. Tickets were nearly twice the cost of my flight when I booked it (got a good sale fare). My goal has been to travel by train for sustainability purposes.
My Northeast Regional trip from WAS-NYP, en route to Croton-Harmon, was perfectly fine. The train was clean inside and out, the staff was friendly and announcements were made in a timely fashion. The train was about half full until Philadelphia, and then was pretty much sold out to NY Penn Station.
Through diligent checking of the Amtrak app, I was able to snag a sale fare for this trip. But outside of a short sale period, fares were astronomically high. As the NER train was sold out, I guess Amtrak does know what it's doing, but it pains me to see flights priced cheaper than an electrified intercity rail route - literally the entire point of moving to sustainable travel.
The route from WAS to NYP is bleak in terms of scenery, as most here probably know. I find it rather amusing for the "premiere" passenger rail route in the nation.
Penn Station (non-Moynihan version) is just as bleak as it always has been, but I only had a 30 minute layover.
As a Midwest/Chicago resident, it is a bit jarring to see how many coach cars are on NER trains while we're scraping for any functional equipment on Amtrak Midwest routes and long distance routes out of Chicago.
My train from CRT to ROC was a smooth journey and on time. The train was very full to Albany, and about half full thereafter. This was my first time on Empire Service trains; the Amfleet II seats on these trains feel a lot softer than some of the Lake Shore Limited trains I have taken.
This journey illustrated the need/benefit of a seat reservation system for Amtrak's system. The OBS for this train, at my boarding in Croton, were busy assisting a passenger with a disability to board and to board her luggage. That's all fine, but it left me and a few other boarding passengers to wander a mostly full train looking for an empty seat. In particular, some passengers had laid claim to two seats with their luggage occupying a second seat - I didn't feel like broaching that subject. Eventually I found a seat two cars forward from the boarding car, but the process could be a heck of a lot easier with some simple tech.
My LSL train from ROC to CHI on the night of Jan. 1 was sold out from Cleveland to Chicago. I took this exact same train on Jan. 1, 2023. That train already had the reduced winter consist for the LSL, which felt ridiculous since Jan. 1 is clearly the end of the holiday period - but still the holiday period. So it was good to see a full LSL consist for this year's journey - 4 sleepers, diner, cafe, 5 coach, baggage, 2 locos.
The coach cars were almost unfathomably filthy on the outside. At the ROC platform, it was actually hard to look in to the cars once the train reached the station. The interior was clean, though the bathrooms are a hopeless cause due to inadequate facilities (small sink, minuscule garbage cans, old toilets, etc.). The cars were very cold.
For all the blustering about Siemens Venture seats, I have to say I find the LSL Amfleet II seats to be rather uncomfortable. I cannot find an ergonomic way to fit in the seats, especially to sleep. Looking forward to whatever comes next.
As is usually the case on the LSL westbound, the cafe car closed an hour before arrival in Chicago. Disappointingly, this included an announcement that passengers must leave the cafe tables a full hour before arrival.
The train arrived 25 minutes early into Chicago.
My Northeast Regional trip from WAS-NYP, en route to Croton-Harmon, was perfectly fine. The train was clean inside and out, the staff was friendly and announcements were made in a timely fashion. The train was about half full until Philadelphia, and then was pretty much sold out to NY Penn Station.
Through diligent checking of the Amtrak app, I was able to snag a sale fare for this trip. But outside of a short sale period, fares were astronomically high. As the NER train was sold out, I guess Amtrak does know what it's doing, but it pains me to see flights priced cheaper than an electrified intercity rail route - literally the entire point of moving to sustainable travel.
The route from WAS to NYP is bleak in terms of scenery, as most here probably know. I find it rather amusing for the "premiere" passenger rail route in the nation.
Penn Station (non-Moynihan version) is just as bleak as it always has been, but I only had a 30 minute layover.
As a Midwest/Chicago resident, it is a bit jarring to see how many coach cars are on NER trains while we're scraping for any functional equipment on Amtrak Midwest routes and long distance routes out of Chicago.
My train from CRT to ROC was a smooth journey and on time. The train was very full to Albany, and about half full thereafter. This was my first time on Empire Service trains; the Amfleet II seats on these trains feel a lot softer than some of the Lake Shore Limited trains I have taken.
This journey illustrated the need/benefit of a seat reservation system for Amtrak's system. The OBS for this train, at my boarding in Croton, were busy assisting a passenger with a disability to board and to board her luggage. That's all fine, but it left me and a few other boarding passengers to wander a mostly full train looking for an empty seat. In particular, some passengers had laid claim to two seats with their luggage occupying a second seat - I didn't feel like broaching that subject. Eventually I found a seat two cars forward from the boarding car, but the process could be a heck of a lot easier with some simple tech.
My LSL train from ROC to CHI on the night of Jan. 1 was sold out from Cleveland to Chicago. I took this exact same train on Jan. 1, 2023. That train already had the reduced winter consist for the LSL, which felt ridiculous since Jan. 1 is clearly the end of the holiday period - but still the holiday period. So it was good to see a full LSL consist for this year's journey - 4 sleepers, diner, cafe, 5 coach, baggage, 2 locos.
The coach cars were almost unfathomably filthy on the outside. At the ROC platform, it was actually hard to look in to the cars once the train reached the station. The interior was clean, though the bathrooms are a hopeless cause due to inadequate facilities (small sink, minuscule garbage cans, old toilets, etc.). The cars were very cold.
For all the blustering about Siemens Venture seats, I have to say I find the LSL Amfleet II seats to be rather uncomfortable. I cannot find an ergonomic way to fit in the seats, especially to sleep. Looking forward to whatever comes next.
As is usually the case on the LSL westbound, the cafe car closed an hour before arrival in Chicago. Disappointingly, this included an announcement that passengers must leave the cafe tables a full hour before arrival.
The train arrived 25 minutes early into Chicago.
