Anyone Travel Often on Amtrak?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I used to take the train pretty frequently between LA and San Diego back in the '80’s, but nothing since then. With all the time, trouble, and expense involved with flying anywhere, Amtrak prices and schedules are starting to look pretty good. I’d like to hear Doper Amtrak tales.

Do the trains run mostly on time?
Is the food good?
Are the roomettes comfortable?
What is the shower situation if you don’t have a regular room?

I thought a trip to Denver and back might be a good test. Get on the train in the evening, reach Denver the next morning.

2

I’m on the other side of the river but Amtrak I’m sure is the same everywhere.
Yes they are meticulously ontime.
We brought our food so I don’t know.
Yes they are comfortable, actually, the first time I was in one was with my then girlfriend and now wife. They are very comfortable. :smiley:
Bedrooms are better becsause they have a bathroom right in the room.
I didn’t use the public bathroom so I don’t know about showers the shower arrangements.

3

I only used Amtrak in the northeast (between Harrisburg, Philadelphia and NYC) so no overnights. Those trains generally did run on time. When food was offered it was edible, nothing more. I would hope they’d raise their game a bit for a captive market on long trips.

4

I take the Amtrak between L.A. and San Diego often. It’s almost always on time to the minute. If I don’t need a car in San Diego, it’s much preferable to driving though the morass of Orange County. The food is overpriced, but not bad, and you can bring your own if you want.

The best thing about that particular line is that the southern half of the route has a great view of the ocean. Just make sure you get on the western side of the train.

This line doesn’t have roomettes or showers, obviously.

5

In August I took a trip from Houston up to New York, so I might be able to help some.

  1. The train from Houston to Chicago was waaaay behind, but the Texas Eagle is notorious for that. Lots of traffic on the tracks, and Amtrak is at the bottom of the list as far as Union Pacific is concerned. We arrived in Chicago a good 3-4 hours late. Amtrak knows how late this train is though, so a delay was built into the connecting train schedules.

  2. The food was actually not bad, around the same caliber as the average Chilis or other generic chain restaurant. They seat you with other passengers riding in a roomette, and it is nice to chat and meet others from around the US.

  3. Roomette was small but pretty nice. The movement of the train actually rocks you to sleep, and you really do not notice the bumps or noise. The windows are big and great to see scenery.

  4. If you have a roomette, there are 2 showers on the first floor of the train (superliner) or 1 on the viewliner. Its a small dressing room and a small shower, similar to whats seen in a gym. It can be exciting during bumpy rides, but there were never lines and rarely a wait. Im not sure about the situation in coach, I rode in a roomette the entire time.

My SO and I really loved Amtrak, its very laid back and relaxing. If you can, avoid the Viewliner trains (when you have a roomette) since they have a toilet in the room. Really rather disgusting, personally, and smelly.

6

My Amtrak tale? Pull up a chair . . .

Back in the early 90s, I was taking Amtrak down to New York City from Albany. It’s actually a very pleasant trip – the Hudson River is on your right and you can watch it as you go by.

Anyway, as we’re pulling into Rhinecliff (about an hour south of Albany), the lights in the train went off. Then nothing. Nothing at all. Finally, we get word from the conductor: the engine – newly in service from GE – is no longer working. There is no way to proceed. But there is a later train and it will be there in an hour. They gave us vouchers for free travel and we waited. We couldn’t wait on the train – there were no lights and there were liability issues – so we went out onto the Rhinebeck station, which consisted of a platform. Luckily, there was a roof, since by then it’s raining heavily.

An hour trudges by. Finally, I see the light of the train behind us. But it’s stopped. It remains stopped for ten minutes. No sign of motion.

The conductor comes out. It turns out the rain has put the switch out of commission. They train can’t switch over to the other track.

Luckily, there is a manual switch. But the problem was that the switch was Conrail property. No one on Amtrak has the key. They called Conrail, and someone was bringing the key.

In an hour and a half.

To stave off mutiny, Amtrak offered to get pizza for everyone on the train (it was well past dinner by now). So we spent an hour and a half on the wet, drippy cold station, waiting for the Conrail key. The passengers ever offered to pay for a new lock if they used a bit of bolt cutters, but no dice. They toyed with the idea of pushing our train with the second train, but saner heads prevailed.

Finally, they got the key and the told us we could ge on the train. At that point, the pizza arrived, and everyone on the train insisted on their pizza.

The train arrived in NYC about four hours late.

I wouldn’t say that was typical – I’ve enjoyed the trip both before and after this – but it was memorable.

7

Thanks for the great answers so far - it tells me what I was hoping to hear. My job gives me a generous amount of PTO and I am hoping to actually use some next year. Flying has been so horrendous these last few years and I used to love the LA to San Diego trip. I was surprised at how reasonable the cost is as well - RT to Denver with a roomette is about half the cost of flying at the moment and way easier than driving.

8

I have never had the pleasure of taking Amtrak. I wanted to while I was in college, but they closed the station closest to me.

My brother, however, on a recent excursion to NYC (and in a fit of spontaneity), decided to forego the airlines and take the train. The trip from Cinicinnati to NY - Penn Station was 18 hours and, in his words, “absolutely miserable.” That being said, in his frugality, he chose to forgo the roomette and bedroom options, so I imagine it was the land-based equivalent of a transpacific flight which is certainly not a pleasant experience, but not exactly a hellish one, either.

9

I have never ridden Amtrak, but I have done overnight trips on VIA Rail, in Canada. Given that much of VIA’s longhaul equipment (mostly Budd cars of varying kinds, made in Pennsylvania) is probably not that different from Amtrak’s, I think I can offer a few opinions.

Roomettes are nice. You have a bed that folds out/pulls out, pillows and blankets, and a reading light. There is a small sink in there as well, and a mirror, and there might even be a toilet (covered). The cover doubles as a footstool, so when the bed is folded up, you can sit back in a huge chair and put your feet up while you watch the world go by.

Sleeping was great. In a roomette, you’re aligned with the rails, so the train literally rocks you to sleep. I cannot sleep on an aircraft, but I had no problems stretching out in a bed on the train, which just rocked me to sleep.

Showers are as described upthread: one or two shower booths per car, with a small and lockable “dry room” to change in just outside the shower proper. While you want to be modest, I don’t know if I’d want to go for a shower fully dressed–I wore sweat pants and a t-shirt to go down the corridor, and there was just enough room (and wall hooks) to slip off the sweats and shirt and hang them up. Remember to take your towel and soap and shampoo.

Food was very nice. If your train has a dining car, the car will have a kitchen, so meals can actually be prepared, rather than just being premade and heated or microwaved, as on an aircraft. And you get to meet others on your train–I remember many great conversations among strangers sharing a dining car table.

Have a great trip, and let us know about it!

10

I did Oakland to New York in coach (4 days) and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever done. It wasn’t super comfortable or anything, but the people I met and the memories I have are well worth it.

11

I’ve taken Amtrak quite a few times, and nearly all my trips have been in the Northeast corridor, between Washington, DC and Boston.

For the trip between Baltimore and New York, which is the specific leg that i did most often, Amtrak beat flying hands down. It’s comfortable, and takes just under three hours. Not only that, but in both places you’re dropped off right in the city, rather than having to deal with a long trip to and from the airport. If you count travel time to the airports, waiting time, security lines, etc., i’ll bet that 99% of the time Amtrak will get you from downtown Baltimore to Manhattan faster than flying.

Of course, if your New York destination is outer Queens, flying might make more sense, because that where LaGuardia is.

One thing about on-time travel, though: make sure you book on the right trains.

The trains that start and finish at Washington DC on the south end, and at New York or Boston on the north end, are generally on time. Even if they’re late, it’s usually not by more than a few minutes.

But if you’re heading north from DC, make sure you don’t book your seat on one of the trains that come from points further south. There’s a train called the Carolinian that starts, appropriately enough, in Charlotte, NC. And there’s another one, called the Silver Service/Palmetto, that starts all the way down in Miami. Both of these trains, at least in my experience, often run late.

I caught the Carolinian once, from Durham to Baltimore, and it was about two hours late. I’ve also been at the station on other occasions and seen that it was running late. And i don’t know what the hell happens with the train from Miami, but it seems that every time i was ever at Washington Union Station or Baltimore Penn Station, the train from Florida was running hours late. The worst i ever saw was 9 hours.

12

I’ve taken Amtrak about 30 times, mostly between Santa Barbara and L.A. or Orange County. It’s not particularly reliable and is often delayed. I wouldn’t take it if I had an important appointment to make. The last time I took it was during the L.A. Phillies playoff game in. L.A. There was a big fire going on in Chatsworth (unbeknownst to me), and the train kept on getting delayed. There is some sort of bizarre policy that NO AMTRAK EMPLOYEE can discuss the status of the train. Fuck that, the train did not end up leaving for something like 18 hours. It would have been easy to say, “Hey, there is a huge forest fire in Chatsworth, and chances are, we won’t run another train until tomorrow morning”.

Nevertheless, the train is awesome. Seriously though, there are many things that cause delays, many of which are not Amtrak’s fault.

13

One thing i’ve noticed about Amtrak since i moved to SoCal is how much cheaper it is out here. I was pricing a trip from LA to San Diego for a friend the other day, and the 2h 40m trip, in Coach, was $29 each way.

Baltimore to New York takes about 2h 50m, and is about $80 each way. That Northeast corridor, with its high demand (especially for business people) and consequent higher prices, probably subsidizes half the Amtrak network.

14

My parents took my daughter and my niece to Santa Barbara on Amtrak this past Friday, and returned Saturday night. Dad says the train to Santa Barbara was a bit late, but they enjoyed the trip and found the train comfortable. The Princess said the trip was boring, but my mom says she was fascinated by the train bathroom and kept looking for excuses to visit the facilities. They would like to take another train trip next year, and I plan to go with them, since I’ve never been on an Amtrak train before.

15

My mom had some not so good trips in the distant past, but we took a short trip from Vancouver, BC down to Seattle a while ago and it was much better orgainzed. For some reason, we ended up an hour late, but by that time it was 9PM and the last route of the night anyway. Everyone had tickets and assigned seatings which had caused problems on my mother’s previous train rides.

Now grown up, my sister rides the train quite a bit.

16

After my first experience with Amtrak, I wouldn’t go again if you put a gun to my head.

My son and I went from Oakland Ca., to San Antonio, Tx. We did not have a sleeper berthing, so we sat the whole way. I had an inkling that the trip would be interesting when we arrived at the terminal, and found out that our train to Los Angeles had been cancelled. Another train was found, which involved getting all new tickets along with a bus pass. We had to overnight in LA, then take a bus to the next train. Bus trip was 3 hours; I forget where we started from at this point. Bakersfield?

I thought the scenery would be a highlight of the trip, but I was mistaken. If you’re facinated by miles and miles of abandoned tires and rusting farm machinery, then this trip would have been your ultimate fantasy. Not to mention not seeing a single living creature. No crows, sheep, lizards, long horned cattle, coyotes, lions, tigers or bears (oh my).

We tried the Dining car once, but there was too much movement to enjoy the meal. So we ate mostly from the Bar Car. One highlight was the attendent getting a glow on, and announcing to the passengers, “Come on down to the Bar Car, and vist Bud, The World’s Lonliest Bartender”.

The public toilets were filthy, the seats were uncomfortable, but the best part was the non-functioning switch that was supposed to keep the doors between the cars shut. It failed the first night at about 2:00 clock in the morning, making sleep impossible. I finally learned how to manually override the switch by watching one of the Conductors do it.

As for delays, let me be the first to tell you that Amtrak is at the bottom of the food chain. Many times we’d finally be getting up to a full head of steam, only to pull on to a side track, and wait another hour for a freight train to roll on past us.

We were almost 12 hours behind schedule, so I asked a Condutor if I could borrow a cell phone, to call our friend who was picking us up. “Sure, just wait until we get underway; the porters have to get everyone on board first”.

I waited until the train was moving, then tried my fellow passengers for a loaner phone. No such luck. I then went through the Dining car, and found a couple of porters rolling up napkins. They didn’t have a cell phone themselves, but they directed me to try in the kitchen. Never try this yourselves. If you do, you’ll find yourself being chased through the Dining car by a foreign guy wearing a chef’s apron, who will then try to have you put off of the train in the middle of the fucking desert.

We finally were approaching our final stop, but had to wait for a travelling circus that was going the other way that had priorty. The other passengers started threatening the Conductor, who fled for the back end of the train. The porters stopped coming through as well; by this time all the train personnel had completely dissapeared.

We finally arrived, 10 hours late. When I got home a week later, (we flew back), there was a message from Amtrak, informing me (after I’d already arrived in Oakland) that my train was cancelled.

Never again.

17

Traveling the Northeast Corridor (Boston, NYC, Philly, DC), I find Amtrak far superior to flying. Less hassle with baggage and fewer delays. The NY Penn Station stop is also convenient for me.

Funny story. I was taking the Amtrak from DC to NYC for a training thing with a bunch of coworkers. One guy “accidently” booked First Class tickets for our team us while the girls (who worked on a separate team) accidently stuck themselves in a “quiet car”. So we’re in First Class with the endless complementary champaign and deserts and food chatting with interesting fellow travelers ( Joe Biden was sitting in front of us). While the girls are texting me how some crazy lady keeps “shushing” them so they can’t even talk.

18

What route was that? I’ve traveled business class on the regional trains on that route, and it certainly wasn’t like that.

19

It was probably the Acela Express service.

There is no Coach class on the Acela. Business is the minimum, and you can pay a bunch more for First Class. I believe that even the Business Class on Acela is better than Business Class on the regular regional trains, largely because the trains are much newer.

I just went to Amtrak’s website and priced a First Class seat on the Acela from Washington to New York at 6.00am this Wednesday (pretty much rush hour for business travelers). It was $321, one way! For that price, complimentary drinks and food should be a minimum; i’d be expecting massages and foot rubs.

I paid to upgrade from Coach to Business once on a trip from Durham, NC, to Baltimore, and while it was pretty cheap upgrade (about $20), the quality of the Business Class was also pretty cheap. If i’d known it was going to be so mediocre, i would have kept the 20 bucks in my pocket.

20

Nearly all my Amtrak usage is in the Northeast Corridor, which is the most reliable portion. The latest I’ve gotten into New York from Philadelphia was an hour late, and that was during a March snowstorm. I stopped grumbling when I got to the convention and heard the tales from the people who’d driven; they wished they’d only been an hour late.

You can check on-time performance of individual lines through Amtrak’s web site. Use the “train status” form on the home page to check the train you’re interested in, then follow the link to on-time performance stats (along with info on track ownership and reasons for delays). I’m not sure how useful the information is, though; it doesn’t tell you the length of the average delay, or the range of delay lengths, or anything like that. To me, the existence of a delay is a lot less important than its length; 15 minutes late on a 15-hour trip isn’t “on time”, but I’m not anal enough to give a fat damn.

The site also doesn’t say if arriving early is counted as not “on time”. Yes, Amtrak does arrive early sometimes; there are even warnings in some schedules that trains may leave some stops ahead of schedule. I took the Crescent to and from Atlanta last year, and arrived early at both ends.

The Crescent trip was overnight in coach, the super-cheap way (I’ve also gone to and from Chicago in a sleeper; cozy but pricey). If you can stand long airline flights, you’ll find a long Amtrak coach trip to be at least no worse, and in many ways better–bigger seats, more foot room, the kid in back of you can’t reach your seat to kick it (kids seem less fractious on Amtrak than in planes anyway, IME. Those big windows hypnotize like a TV set.), you can get up anytime to rummage your luggage, and so on. Do bring a blanket or throw, though, and perhaps a small back pillow–or bring your bed pillow from home and a comforter; some people do.

Amtrak food ranges from meh to good in snack/cafe cars, to pretty good (and more expensive) in dining cars. You can bring your own food, and probably should if you have special diet needs.

The train bathrooms can get pretty nasty by the end of a long trip, I should warn you. They’re unisex, and men have aim problems when the train’s swaying a lot; keep your shoes on. Also, when the waste tank gets full, the flap thing at the bottom of the toilet may stop sealing properly.