Amtrak cut to remove a line.

[captainmidnight]

Originally Posted by gg

Probably a good idea to cut it. It is pretty lousy service for sure. Buses are cheaper and way shorter and flying is much faster. I wanted to take trains out of Pittsburgh a few times, but they suck out of here anyway. Just cut them already.

I did a quick price quote for roundtrip, nonstop flights from PIT to MDW and ORD at the end of April and the pricing was in the $320-400 range. NYC is even more expensive than that. Same time period for PIT to CHI via Amtrak and it was $171 round trip, and that is a non-discounted fare. Flying will always be faster but you pay for it. I just wish there was more than one departure time a day to choose from for the PIT-CHI route and PIT-NYC. If you have to be in Chicago for 9AM Monday morning business meeting and can't leave until Sunday afternoon, yeah you gotta fly. Megabus and Greyhound will also be cheaper, but I'd rather take Amtrak or fly.

Anyway, the budget is just a wishlist for the President. Its up to Congress to fund these things so I think most of these Amtrak routes will stay.

[Geeo]

Air travel is such a hassle these days, and I wish there was more train service for those routes less than 500 miles, where it makes the most sense. The flight from here to New York is only an hour, but add the trip to the airport, time getting through security, getting to the gate early enough, boarding, flight, landing and waiting to get off the plane, through the terminal and into New York from the airport, it becomes at least a four-hour chore (if you're lucky). If there is a wait to land or you're stuck on the runway in New York waiting for a slot, it can drag to a five-hour torture. You can drive to New York in six.

[that412]

Originally Posted by Geeo

The reason the eastern PA stations have more passengers is because Amtrak owns the track between Harrisburg and Philadelphia and they run 15 trains a day between the cities (including Lancaster). West of Harrisburg, Amtrak has to share tracks with the freight railroads that own the tracks and they only run a couple trains a day. If we had 15 trains a day to Philadelphia and Chicago, ridership would be a lot higher.

I know many people who want to get to NY from western PA will drive to Harrisburg and then take the train from there because of how frequent and relatively quick it is. IIRC you can park for free at the Harrisburg transit center and it saves a great amount of effort/tolls/the pain of parking in NYC.