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the freight railroads due own the track, but the rest of your statement is not true. at least not around here. The railroads do everything possible to get Amtrak through, even pulling their own trains into siding tracks to let Amtrak by.
I've had to wait on the track for freight trains to get out of the way...both on the Carolinian and the Silver Star. I assume it is because sometimes the freight just CAN'T get out of the way...like it is disabled or there is no siding track in proximity.
Regardless, it does still beat all heck out of getting through that 'semi-permanent' Richmond to DC traffic Jam!
Putting in my 2c...I have ridden Amtrak a few times across the country, and some of the people with kids think the train conductor or other passengers will "take care" of their kids. As long as you don't do that, I see no problem with taking them, it will be an adventure for them and both of you can work together to meet your kids' needs. Train travel is much more relaxing than driving, but then you don't have a car when you arrive. 6 hours is not bad, and when flying there is always the tsa lines, ticket lines, baggage lines, and waiting at the terminal which including the flight would be much longer than the train. I always look forward to my occasional train trip. Having the four of you you will have lots of space to keep the kids corraled in your seating area and maybe play on the floor if you bring an old blanket to cover the dirty floor, it could be that a car playpen might fit in the floorspace, it is roomy.
the freight railroads due own the track, but the rest of your statement is not true. at least not around here. The railroads do everything possible to get Amtrak through, even pulling their own trains into siding tracks to let Amtrak by.
I have to agree 124% with fvncresident04. Freights play second fiddle to Amtrak. I know, I hear them on the scanner constantly planning their track times accordingly to let Amtrak through. I photograph and video trains all the time, it's true. Every once in a while the juice train or a hot intermodal will win out but Amtrak wins out 90% of the time...
We rode the Coast Starlight- Sacramento to Seattle- they put our Amtrak train on the side rail for so long that we were 12 hours late arriving to Seattle! I think it depends upon a lot of factors. That was about 2005 when that happened.
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