America's Amtrak moment could finally be here

[marmar]

(CNN) — Created in 1971 from the creaking remains of the classic US railroads that helped build modern America, Amtrak has often lived a precarious existence.

Subject to the whims of politicians in Washington D.C. and constantly under pressure from the well-funded and hugely influential oil, automotive and airline industry lobbies, the national passenger rail operator has been threatened with oblivion on several occasions.

But as it celebrates a 50th anniversary that few would have been brave enough to predict, there are signs that Amtrak's moment may finally have arrived.

....(snip)....

President Joe Biden, a long-time rail commuter rejoicing in the nickname "Amtrak Joe," is calling on Congress to invest $80 billion in the rail network.

This massive chunk of change is needed to address Amtrak's repair backlog; modernize the flagship Northeast Corridor; improve existing corridors, create new intercity connections; and enhance grant and loan programs that support passenger and freight rail safety, efficiency and electrification. ..............(more)

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/amtrak-america-moment-50-years/index.html?

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

1. Manchin will block it if it is possible for him to do so. nt

[mopinko]

3. give him a rail car plant.

trouble w joe is he thinks coal jobs are the only kind he can have.

[George II]

25. No he won't. There are 435 Representatives and 100 Senators. Why zero right in on him?????????????

[Withywindle]

46. The Cardinal route through WV is absolutely stunning.

He should take it sometime and appreciate his own state better.

[mopinko]

2. there was an article a month or so ago saying that sleeper cars sell out every trip.

and that you need to book them weeks in advance.

amtrak was talking about adding more sleepers, esp on long runs. that would be a rly great way to build amtrak. american made sleep cars. and next gen ones at that.

i can think of several other kind of special cars that would be great to have back. like rolling offices. heck, what about a library car on commuter trains?

i'm excited about this. i love to travel. i'm old now. taking long train trips would be the perfect vacation to me.

[msfiddlestix]

4. me too.

I've only taken Amtrak a few times in my life, to and from Northern California to Southern California. On more than one occasion, destination was to San Juan Capistrano, my favorite stop off point. Los Angeles Union Station was something to admire at the time as well.

I loved every trip. But it's a bit more expensive than flying and wonder if expansion and money will help with lowering rates. Don't know but the bottom line is that it's a great way to travel, and I don't see why politicians heeded to Big Oil, Freight Industries, and Airlines.

The argument from them was that rail is for freight, not passengers. Well, it's just long past over due.

So thankful President Biden sees it that way too.

[mopinko]

10. it trains get subsidies, but planes dont

or hell, if they both paid an equal share of their own infrastructure, how do trains stack up?

[msfiddlestix]

13. Are you saying Airlines aren't subsidized?

I've been hearing and reading about the subsidies airline industry has enjoyed for decades. I haven't fact checked it, but it would seem odd since it's occasionally mentioned by newscasters, politicians, and Presidents through the years.

[mopinko]

14. just the opposite.

the whole faa is a subsidy for the airlines, as are airports.
train lines run their own shit, and fix their own tracks.

[msfiddlestix]

38. gotcha, i misunderstood.. I think we're in agreement basically.

[Tom Rinaldo]

39. I got an Amtrak credit card so I can earn travel rewards

Use it whenever I can. Saving up for a sleeper car vacation trip cross country. It may take a few years to earn enough for two of us to travel free, but I'm spending that money on bills anyway.

[msfiddlestix]

41. didn't know there was one.

so, use it for other kinds of expenses and you build up travel points, essentially?

[Tom Rinaldo]

44. That's it exactly. Plus some other rewards

Here is a link with more info. I chose the option with no annual fee. A lot of reoccurring bills can be paid with it. I use it to pay my supplemental health insurance plan and my car insurance for example:

https://www.amtrak.com/apply.html

[Trailrider1951]

45. Actually, there are two:

https://www.amtrak.com/apply.html

Both have a sign-on bonus for free points. They do differ in what other perks they offer. I have the no annual fee card, and have found it to be a decent deal. APR isn't too bad (depends on your credit report), and it earns 1 point per dollar for general purchases, and 2 points for Amtrak purchases. And, if you buy your trip during the "Double Days" spring and fall promotions, you get double the points on Amtrak travel, i.e., 4 points per dollar spent. Also, your points never expire as long as your card account is open.

The bad news? It's put out by Bank of America. It's also, if I remember correctly, open only to US and Canadian citizens. Sorry, Europeans.

About two weeks ago, I booked my first Amtrak trip since 2019. From Tacoma to Illinois via Sacramento in coach class. That segment cost me 9300 points instead of $210 cash. Then from Illinois to Los Angeles, another $145 (or 6426 points), again coach class. Final segment: Los Angeles to Tacoma, another $99 (or 4402 points). So, I will pay $244 and 9300 points for a week-long trip around America, on three of the most scenic routes Amtrak offers. Like I said, for me it's a good deal. YMMV.

[msfiddlestix]

47. wow, that's fabulous!

BofA sucks, but the benefits are great. hmm. thanks for the heads up, I'm going to check into it.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

5. We started making plans for a 15 day rail pass trip on the Coast Starlight

yesterday. I have made two rail pass trips across the country and back in the past on coach, and had bad experiences with limited leg room in seating, and breakdowns that caused long delays (20 hrs on one delay in West Virginia) which were extremely uncomfortable for me. I got temporary edema in my feet and lower legs once, never had a problem with that before, or since.

We are not spring chickens anymore, so we are going by sleeper car.

[mopinko]

12. i was about 14 when i took a denver zephyr tour w my mom,

her bf, her daughter and my kid sister. my sister lived in denver, so we stayed there.
didnt realize at the time that my mom was contemplating leaving my da, but....
i have vivid memories of that trip including spending my bday in colo springs w my fave sister.

have taken a couple train trips since then, but yeah, need a sleeper.

[48656c6c6f20]

15. Hm I saw your post about rail pass

And started to think about doing one. Sadly.

Sales of USA Rail Pass are temporarily unavailable. In the meantime, consider a multi-city ticket, multi-ride ticket or the California Rail Pass.

A new and improved rail pass will debut this summer. Be among the first to learn about it by subscribing to Amtrak emails or following us on social media (@Amtrak). For existing USA Rail Pass holders, your pass is still valid. If you need assistance, please see the FAQ section below or reach out to us at 1-800-USA-RAIL.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

51. Thanks. Fortunately, we are planning a late August trip,

so hopefully they will be available by then.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. im a seasoned amtrak first class traveller, try booking a year in advance .

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. They should add auto carriers to all the long routes.

And set up loading areas like the Auto Train in Florida and Virginia.

People like their cars too, and if I could take a train from Florida to say...Seattle, and have my car there when I arrive, it would definitely be a service I would back.

Also they need to reestablish old routes. There is a rail line that parallels I-10, but you can not take a train directly from Jacksonville to New Orleans or Houston. You have to go up to DC and then get a train that direction.

[mopinko]

9. that's a fantastic idea.

shit, you could take a train 1 way, and drive the other.

[DENVERPOPS]

27. I remember reading

about some rail line that travels into Mexico. They cater to large RV's. The people just stay on their own RV and enjoy the view without worrying about driving thru Mexico.......sounds pretty cool.....Of course you need a half million to a million for the Class A Rv and the money to operate it...............

Regarding the idea of paying for a car to travel on a rail car, the length of the country along with you ??????...........you haven't any idea of what they would charge you for that rail car, do you.?????????

[csziggy]

40. Right now I think the only Auto Train on Amtrak is between Florida and Virginia

Sanford, Florida (near Orlando) to Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, DC).

They can carry various types of vehicles with restrictions as to size. You can book coach, roomettes and various types of rooms.

For the regular trip from Orlando to Alexandria VA, the fare for coach is $420 while the auto train is $560.

It would be nice to be able to take your car and not have to lease one - plus since you wouldn't have to cart your luggage on and off the train, travel would be easier.

Fall of 2019 my husband and I traveled in the UK. One part of our trip was a tour on a bus. Since we were traveling for a month before the tour and another month after, we were concerned about all the luggage we had. While we were told that the luggage we didn't need could stay on the bus, that turned out not to be true. Every stop (some were more than one night) we had to get all of our luggage out, then load it back on. It was a PITA and I was pissed that I was lied to about this.

So if there were an auto train going to our destination, I would certainly book that. For years I have been hoping to take a train from Florida to Seattle/Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We plan to stop at some places and drive to places to sightsee, then get back on the train to continue the trip. An auto train would be perfect, but I don't see that option, so I guess it might be car rentals and schlepping our luggage at every place we get off. With clothes, cameras, and other stuff, that is quite a load!

[A HERETIC I AM]

48. If you go to the AMTRAK website, you'll find the fare with car runs about....

$350 traveling coach. I just ran a coach fare from Sanford to Lorton. The fare was $115 and the standard car was another $208.

It’s 855 miles from terminal to terminal, so if you figured it by the mile, 208 / 855 = $0.24 per mile.

The Auto Train rarely runs full, from what I understand, and the fare I ran was for Saturday, May 15th and their booking page says the train is 40% full.

So let’s say you took the trains currently running from DC to Seattle. You have to go DC to Chicago, switch trains and then to Seattle. That’s 593 (DC to Chicago) plus 1730 (Chic. To Seattle) = 2323 X .24 = $557.52. You couldn’t ship a car by truck that distance for five hundred fifty bucks, so that’s not unreasonable.

Of course higher volume means lower prices. Once the car is loaded there is nothing else to it. The labor involved in loading it and unloading it is relatively small (a small crew of maybe 10 people can load or unload a string of “Auto Racks” in fairly short order) and the biggest issues would be locating the facilities to do this. It is ideally done in a yard that has pavement in between the rails, like what is present in the scores of auto ramps already around the country. The types of facilities where new cars are unloaded and then transported away by truck to dealerships.

I think if they really opened it up and started doing this on their long routes, they could get the price way down to less than fifteen cents a mile.

I’ve always wondered why AMTRAK did not offer the Auto Train concept and service on more routes. Many of their routes could use existing auto ramps that are near most major cities.

[DENVERPOPS]

50. Thanks for sharing AHIA NC

[plimsoll]

33. How about more (and cheaper) bike transport?

[A HERETIC I AM]

49. Well, of course!

Why not?

[Retired Engineer Bob]

16. It's a great way to travel

My grandparents took me on two Amtrak trips. First from Milwaukee to Niagara Falls, second from Milwaukee - Seattle - San Diego- Milwaukee. We travelled coach both times.

My hubby and I took a vacation back in ‘98. Milwaukee to Seattle by train, but this time we got the sleeper car. Left Milwaukee around noon on Saturday, arrived in Seattle late Monday morning. I recall going to bed the first night, last thing I heard before zonking out was the train’s whistle. Slept like a rock. Woke the next morning, took a shower then off to the dining car for breakfast, all meals were great. Going through Glacier National Park was a highlight of the journey, met some very nice people. Spent a couple of days in Seattle, then got in a rented Mustang convertible. We drove through the Cascades for a few days, came back to stay several nights at Lake Crescent and touring Olympic National Park (awesome). Returned to Seattle for our flight back.

I love travel by train. Vacation starts the moment you get on board, unlike a flight where things don’t start until you arrive.

I hope Amtrak gets the funding to upgrade the system and keep things rolling.

[bamagal62]

18. I just booked a sleeper car yesterday.

It was for my daughter coming home from college.
She’s not comfortable flying during covid. But, she’ll do the train sleeper car as it seems safer. She did it at Christmas time and it was great. Boards at midnight. Home at 8:00am! She only interacted with the car attendant. That was it. I did book it 3 weeks early because they go fast.

[George II]

28. When I was young the only way we could afford to go to Toronto to see my mother's family....

....was to take a passenger train from Grand Central Station to Union Station. It was a 12-hour ride but we loved it (1950s). The interesting thing was that when we got to Westchester we stopped for about 15-20 minutes to switch from an electric locomotive to diesel for the rest of the trip.

We also couldn't afford a sleeper back then.

Passenger trains are surprisingly efficient and for many in cities convenient. Unfortunately for long haul intercity trips train tickets are much more expensive than plane tickets.

[AllaN01Bear]

7. id like to see amtrak set up its own maglev system and say good by to renting tracks .

[Volaris]

35. That's quite a bit more than 80 billion.

I'm with you, but that puts us both in the 'go big or home' camp.

The 80B is needed, but its pocket change compared to what SHOULD be spent on mag rail in this nation.

[tanyev]

11. I sure hope so.

We took Amtrak once from Dallas to St. Louis and loved it. We'd do it a lot more if it went to more places we want to go. Next time we want to try a sleeper car.

[Pinback]

17. Every train trip I've taken has been memorable and wonderful.

A major boost to the Amtrak system would be a great thing for many reasons. Now that air travel has degraded to the point where it’s a nightmare for most passengers — and with so many older Americans like me able to take long train trips — it’s the perfect time to strengthen the country’s passenger rail system.

[DFW]

19. Living in Europe, we have done a lot of traveling by train

In earlier times, when we had more time, we used to take the train up to Norway or the Swedish Lapland, down to Spain, and down to the Balkans for vacations. Even today, when I have to run over to Holland, Belgium or France, or over to Berlin, or down to Bavaria or Switzerland, I usually take the train. In North America, we always take the train between Washington and New York, but just don't have the time when doing long hauls.

For decades, as "the poorest man in the Senate," Joe Biden would commute from Wilmington, Delaware to Washington DC and back. The hour and a half each way on the train may seem long to some, but I am used to traveling between three to six hours each way to get to my work, usually in a different country each day, so a 90 minute commute on a train twice a day would have been a luxury reduction in commuting time to me.

[KPN]

22. Wow. That's a lot of commuting time. But

sounds like a really interesting life!

[DFW]

31. I kind of painted myself into a corner

When I was recruited, it was 1975, and I was 23. I had just met the woman who was to become my wife (I hoped, but wasn't sure yet she would go for it) a year before. She was German and not done yet with her studies to become a social worker. She had been proposed for modeling, but found the job "too boring." Let's hear it for country girls!

Anyway, I was bold enough to ask for extra vacation time (before even starting!) in order to visit her in Germany. My outfit was liberal enough to say, OK, but try to make yourself useful while you're over there. I already had learned German, French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Swedish and Russian, so I had a head start for Europe. Within 10 years, I was station chief for Europe, and could take all the vacation time I wanted, though work made sure that wasn't much more than I had already.

Work became something that brought me to a different country practically every day, so there was no alternative to travel. I thus was forced to have a lot of plane and train schedules in my head, in case I had to race off somewhere in a hurry, which was nearly always. Trains were (usually!) the most reliable and frequent form of travel, especially after the Europeans got around to building high-speed lines on routes where it made the most sense. Obviously, if I suddenly have something to do in Madrid or Barcelona, I have to fly, but if it's Paris or Zürich, the pros and cons usually weigh in on the side of taking the train. Zürich is a little more complicated, as there is no direct high-speed route, and the flight is only 50 minutes. But even then, if I have stuff to do there, I'll take a 7:00 morning flight down, be in town by 8:30, and take an afternoon train back to Düsseldorf, changing in Basel, Mannheim and Köln if I have to. It's between 6 and 6½ hours, but I get some paperwork done, do some crossword puzzles, etc. As for Madrid and Barcelona, if I have work in both cities, I can fly down to Madrid in the morning, and then get a seat on the superfast train to Barcelona. When I lived in Spain, the train trip between Madrid and Barcelona was 8 hours. Now there are non-stop high speed trains that make the trip nonstop in 2½ hours! You lose more time by flying, due to both airports being relatively far out of town.

[kimbutgar]

24. We took a train from Venice to Zurich in 2016

I was hooked on trains after that. Someday I hope to travel though Europe on trains. It is such a great experience.

[DFW]

32. If you ever get the chance

Take the train from Luzern to Interlaken on a clear day.

That the Swiss even were able to build the tracks seems like an engineering miracle. The scenery makes most postcards seem dull.

[wryter2000]

20. I hope so!

I took the California Zephyr from Emeryville to Denver. I had a "roomette." It was truly wonderful.

Just the day trip to Reno is awesome.

[jmowreader]

29. Take it again in the other direction

You pass through the best parts of the trip at night when you go eastbound.

[wryter2000]

36. That would be fun

We saw amazing things going eastbound. The most dramatic was coming out of a tunnel to descend from the Rockies. The mountains were off to one side, and the great plains were spread out on the other with Denver in the distance like the Emerald City.

[BobTheSubgenius]

21. A good decision, in my opinion.

It just needs to be used much more than it is. The true aspiration would be a rail network that rivals all the newest and fastest in the world. The cost of that would be astronomical, but it would still be a great thing to aspire to.

How many more people would use train travel if it could manage that kind of speed? The average top cruising speed of a passenger plane is 575 MPH, while the fastest train is almost exactly 200MPH slower. BUT...no 3 hour layovers twice in a cross-country trip. Hypothetically, that train could manage most of the trip from NYC to LA while the jet was on the ground, so to speak.

Also, the complete fusterclucks in air travel are rare in rail travel. An airline that shall remain nameless (US Air) once flew me from Bellingham WA to Buffalo NY. Between those two places, the logical stops are Las Vegas and Charlotte, right? Small potatoes, though.

From the time I left my hotel room in WA to the time I set my feet on the ground in NY, 32 1/2 hours had elapsed. A high speed train could get you from Bellingham to Bolivia in that time.*



*Not really, for more than one or two reasons. I just like alliteration.

[wryter2000]

37. I so agree

I don't mind flying, but there's so much time getting to the airport, going through security, perhaps changing planes, waiting for your luggage, and getting to your destination. And it's all pretty stressful.

It takes from 9:00 to 4:30 on the Zephyr to get from Emeryville to Reno, but there's no stress at the train station at either end. And the journey on the train is wonderful, complete with a nice lunch in the diner.

[BobTheSubgenius]

42. Sounds like a nice, unhurried day...with a nice, leisurely lunch instead of those damned food courts

I bet there are no direct flights from Emeryville to Reno, so I don't imagine flying would be a lot faster, but what do I know?

[wryter2000]

43. Emeryville is next to Oakland

There are tons of flights from there to Reno.

There are always delays going back because he train comes all the way from Chicago I usually take the train to Reno and fly back.

[BobTheSubgenius]

52. Ahhhh. Of course.

I'd never heard of Emeryville before. Sorry.

My wife has taken the train to and from WNY. She loves the trip. Even made a friend on one of her travels.

[kimbutgar]

23. The science channel has a show called if we built it today and one episode was about the

Transcontinental railway. Fascinating look if we built a new train infrastructure. So many new jobs, increased tourism and lower carbon emissions would benefit our country.

But unfortunately the dinosaurs in the repuplikkklan would not allow it to happen.

[malthaussen]

26. Yeah, I made a point of taking Amtrac from Philly to Pgh when I moved to KY...

... but after that it was all busses, because the L&N no longer exists even though its tracks are used for freight and had an old station right outside the whistle-stop where I moved. Unless one is taking a major route, trains don't go anywhere anymore.

Hell, probably the only reason I got to take the old Pennsy tracks to Pittsburgh was because it's on the way to Chicago.

-- Mal

[tblue37]

30. I'd love to be able to travel by train again. We did that a lot when I was a child.

[Hekate]

34. Kicking this great thread! Thank you all, & I'd love to hear more!