My Amtrak Adventure (cycle, Paris, vacation, airline)
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I decided to go visit my sister. She lives in North Carolina; I live in Mississippi. I flew practically my whole working life until I became a trucker, so I decided to take the train. Beginning of adventure
I booked the Crescent, from Meridian, MS to Greensboro, NC. Leave at 1:30 PM, arrive at 7:20AM. Get a sleeper and take it easy, right? Bring a book, drink coffee and watch the world go by until bed time. (Heh, heh)
Leave Sunday, come back Saturday.
Thursday:
Got automated call. There is an "equipment issue" but I do not have to do anything. "Train will depart as usual". I figured they are doing maintenance I they will bus us around it or there will be a delay. Fine. I'm traveling alone, so I don't care. Got my book, anyway.
Sunday:
Arrive at Amtrak station. Wife drove me there. The train won't be there! The rails have gotten so hot they have become unsafe and wobbly at speeds above 25MPH, so rather than take train, they put me on the bus. To Atlanta. About 6 hours, maybe more. Pick up the regularly scheduled train there.
That's OK. I'm patient, I'll still get to Greensboro at about the right time, and I'll still get my sleeper. It's fine.
Get on the bus.
One hour later:
Another automated call. This call is about the return trip. On Saturday.
It has been cancelled; only goes as far as Atlanta. No arrangements have been made to get me back to Meridian or anywhere else. Just Atlanta. Sorry for the "inconvenience"
15 minutes after that:
Bus pulls in to Tuscaloosa. Have to let someone off.
I bailed out. I travel light for just this reason. So I grabbed my backpack, discussed the matter with the gate agents. I showed them the transcript of my message and even they were aghast!
Got a full refund, called my wife, who had not even made it home yet, and asked if she could drive over to Tuscaloosa and get me.
We laughed it off and went to dinner.
Then Europeans ask us, why don't you use rail more often for transportation?
I am sure there are corridors with few such problems, but away from select corridors, passenger rail is just not practical beyond commuter rail.
I am in Knoxville and I wanted to take the train to San Francisco. The closest Tennessee Amtrak station is 6 hours away in Memphis. So I have to drive 6 hours and then park in some unsafe area where my car may be broken into or stolen outright while I am away. Swell.
The trip is 75 hours on the train, with 2 changes.
Knoxville to Chicago.
Chicago to Los Angles.
Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Priced higher than a first class airline ticket if you book a cheap room.
Tell me again why anybody in their right mind would do this? It makes no sense.
OK, I see an Amtrak station 4 hours away in Georgia. But probably add another change of trains to the above.
Then Europeans ask us, why don't you use rail more often for transportation?
I am sure there are corridors with few such problems, but away from select corridors, passenger rail is just not practical beyond commuter rail.
I am in Knoxville and I wanted to take the train to San Francisco. The closest Tennessee Amtrak station is 6 hours away in Memphis. So I have to drive 6 hours and then park in some unsafe area where my car may be broken into or stolen outright while I am away. Swell.
The trip is 75 hours on the train, with 2 changes.
Knoxville to Chicago.
Chicago to Los Angles.
Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Priced higher than a first class airline ticket if you book a cheap room.
Tell me again why anybody in their right mind would do this? It makes no sense.
OK, I see an Amtrak station 4 hours away in Georgia. But probably add another change of trains to the above.
Distances between major cities in Europe are quite short compared with US.
Your trip from Knoxville to San Francisco is about 2500 miles. The distance between Berlin and Paris is about 600 miles.
Paris to Berne Switzerland is about 360 miles, a little more than travelling from Boston to DC.
Even driving from Copenhagen to Athens is only about 1700 miles.
Distances between major cities in Europe are quite short compared with US.
Your trip from Knoxville to San Francisco is about 2500 miles. The distance between Berlin and Paris is about 600 miles.
Paris to Berne Switzerland is about 360 miles, a little more than travelling from Boston to DC.
Even driving from Copenhagen to Athens is only about 1700 miles.
I think that's the big thing people don't realize. They know it in their head but not their gut so to speak. I was thinking exactly what you said above while reading the other thread on Americans and travel here:
For the heck of it, I looked at Google Maps to see the distance between Paris and Berlin like you mentioned. There are states where the distance across the single state is greater than the distance from Paris to Berlin. For us, just the trip to Grandpa's house involves four states and over 700 miles.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tnff
. For us, just the trip to Grandpa's house involves four states and over 700 miles.
and... the RR tracks that were laid to build and access those many towns in the USA were ripped up 50 yrs ago. There was some 'influence' among politicians for doing so.
Now we are stuck with "Rails to Trails", where we once had an opportunity to re-connect the USA via rail.
Grab your bike, and head out. (might arrive sooner)
For Amtrak to have any chance of success at providing descent rail service, they should concentrate on city-to-city routes that are short enough to be competitive and attract a reasonable number of riders. All the long-haul multi-day routes should be abandoned, which means no more sleeper cars. OK, maybe keep a dining car to sell snacks and beverages. Most of the western US is not suited to slow moving passenger trains.
The Amtrak routes that work reasonably well are like the Northeast Corridor Boston-NYC-DC, NYC-Albany-Buffalo, Seattle-Portland and LA-San Diego (Pacific Surfrider). Concentrate on other areas that are realistic and distances are not too long, such as within the Carolinas, Austin-DFW-Houston, Ohio, FL, Chicago-Indy etc. This is basically the same idea as the city to city routes in Europe, which for the most part have also abandoned long distance sleeper trains.
I had a good experience with Amtrak from Washington, DC to Philadelphia, and my friends were happy having traveled from Salt Lake City to Denver.
Recently I considered one from NYC to Montreal but was frustrated that they had only one route during day hours while I was hoping for an overnight ride. Now I'll either drive up there or fly or if I still decide to ride, I'll do it during a working day so I'll be working full day on the train for not to lose a vacation day. And, honestly, the idea of riding Amtrak up there looks worse to me than both driving and flying. Even worse than this would only be an idea to ride Greyhound
For years I took Amtrak from Chicago to Syracuse because with 5 of us it was cheaper than flying and less dangerous than driving in winter. Only once did we have a bad experience and that was both ways due to weather. When the rails are icy they have to go slowly. But I wouldn’t spend more than one night on a train.
I had a good experience with Amtrak from Washington, DC to Philadelphia, and my friends were happy having traveled from Salt Lake City to Denver.
Recently I considered one from NYC to Montreal but was frustrated that they had only one route during day hours while I was hoping for an overnight ride. Now I'll either drive up there or fly or if I still decide to ride, I'll do it during a working day so I'll be working full day on the train for not to lose a vacation day. And, honestly, the idea of riding Amtrak up there looks worse to me than both driving and flying. Even worse than this would only be an idea to ride Greyhound
Greyhound Express is a little different. There are almost no stops - like, one every 2 hours. And sometimes it shares a facility with Amtrak. That can be handy.
Greyhound Express routes are shown HERE. So far, I have found the busses are better, and they do not stop everywhere like non-express busses do. You even get to reserve your seat.
I'm with the OP, Amtrak can be frustrating. I really want to support rail travel in our country, but it's pretty restricting, especially in the western half of the country. Last year I wanted to take a trip to Fargo, ND by rail but the only arrival time available is 2am. One line per day. I couldn't make it work so decided to take the train somewhere else that didn't arrive in the dead of night. It was just a leisure trip, so no big deal, but if it was an urgent need or for business, it makes the trip more challenging. Some people can't take a flight for various reasons.
There's a lot of Amtrak hate going on nowadays, so I have to add that all the staff I've encountered on the trains in recent years are friendly and professional, like 5 stars if I were to rate them. I'm surprised...are they being paid and treated well? Unlike Greyhound bus drivers who hate their job and it shows.
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