Generally no compartments, except perhaps in the rare case of sleepers. (I’m not sure about that: I’ve never ridden in a sleeper in the U.S.) In most cars the seats are arranged in rows of four, two on each side of the center aisle, but in some cars half the seats face forward, half rearward. In some cars there will be one or two adjacent rows in which the seats face each other, with a small table between them.
Hey, I heard that! I ride that train! You calling me a weirdo?
But seriously, although the regional cars are not as modernistic and plush as the Metroliners or the Acela Express, and are frequently more crowded, I wouldn’t call them cramped. There’s at least three times more tush space and leg room in the worst Amtrak seat than in your average airline coach seat. Dirty? Well, the cars are older. But the ticket price is also half that of the Acela.
When I’m spending my own money, I rarely spring for the Acela, because it’s IMHO not twice as clean, spacious, or fast as the regional trains. (The time saving on the Acela between BWI and NYC–my usual trip–is about 40 minutes.)
Yes, the sleepar cars are divided into compartments, at least the ones I’ve been on. Some are quite nice - the “family rooms” on the Amtrak Superliner coaches are more spacious than anything I’ve seen in Europe or Japan. The room extends the full width of the train and have windows on both sides. (These are double decker cars and the family rooms are on the lower level. The corridor runs through the upper level.) With a bathroom/shower, of course.
I’ll ask her for clarification this evening about her train experience. I’m now relating it second-hand four years later, of course.
Anyway, she didn’t fly because, at the time, she was still a bit nervous about flying after 9/11, not to mention the airport security hassles. She also thought that traveling by train would be fun.
IMHO, this is the main reason that I’ve always thought that high speed train travel should be encouraged around large population centers. We should have as many alternate forms of commuting as possible in case we have another 9/11 attack. I think more rails should be built and passenger trains should be given priority over container shipping so that large numbers of people can be emptied from the coasts into the middle of the U.S.
Oh, for goodness sake, if everything is to be considered ‘a target’, this argument negates itself. And have you forgotten the paralysis caused by the shutdown of airspace after 9/11?
It’s already in the bag. Ground has been broken on phase one, and phase II is pretty much a lock. They still need to extend the subway to the beach. If Villaraigosa can get that moving, a lot will be forgiven.
**Antonius Block **has a lot of good information, but what it doesn’t show is the explosive growth in the LA system. We went from 0 miles of rail to the current system in 16 years. There is serious talk about extending the Gold Line to Claremont and even to San Bernadino. It is already being built into east LA. The Orange Line, while not rail, is a dedicated busway in the valley that has had amazing success. They already are planning to extend it from Woodland Hills up to Chatsworth. All in all, by the time they are finished we will have a fair approximation of the late lamented Red Car system. Except it will be better. Red cars often ran on city streets and got stuck in traffic. The cars had no air conditioning, and primitive heating. The system was in poor shape and getting worse. Now we have the beginning of something truly useful, that will last for generations. It was the best thing Tom Bradley ever did.
The neat thing about a rail system, is the more you build, the more value the existing system has. Every station, every mile of track, makes the rest of the system that much more useful. I give the MTA a lot of credit for establishing a very good nucleus. We just need to keep adding onto it.
As far as Amtrak is concerned, I was in Philly and did not rent a car. I wanted to see the B&O museum in Baltimore, and took the Acela down for the day. Everything worked out perfectly.
The thing is, in the West, trains aren’t very good transportation, but they are great for sightseeing. The route between Denver and Salt Lake City is as scenic as you will find anywhere. The Empire Builder is amazing, as is The Coast Starlight. Just bring your own food. You won’t be sorry. Just don’t expect to be on time.
A question about Acela, and the cost of tickets: are there no genuinely cheap tickets, and if so, is there some reason they aren’t operating a yield management system (T&C of federal funding, perhaps)? In Britain, the private train companies have made a lot of use of airline-style cheap offers on underused trains, making it possible to get very cheap tickets indeed as long as you book ahead and don’t want to travel at busy times (I can in theory get from my local station to anywhere in East Anglia for a fiver).
That’s good news. When the trains were going in several years ago, I was surprised that the tracks on the West Side had been taken up in some places. It’s good to see they’re… erm, ‘getting back on track’.
But as always, you’re in the thrall of the steering wheel. You can’t really enjoy the scenery, you have to watch the big rig ahead of you that’s doing 53 MPH. And you have to make gas stops, and bathroom stops, and meal stops–and best make sure you don’t have too much soda or coffee (see previous point).
In my experience the cost of Amtrak varies widely. When we needed to travel from Vancouver B.C. to L.A. following a cruise we found that the combined cost of the two rail legs (Vancouver to Seattle, then Seattle to L.A.) seemed very inexpensive, and even with sleeper accommodations added on it was little more than the cruise line wanted to add a flight home to our package. But going from coast to coast it approaches or exceeds the cost of a first class airline ticket.
L.A. and San Francisco would be a good example of that. Not everyone here, even in California, is as crazy about driving and road trips as we Americans are made out to be. Yet we often do it because there’s no other practical way to do it. Especially with midrange distances like this, the option of flying becomes less and less appealing the longer you have to stand in line at the airport, and the bus basically sucks, so driving is what’s left. It’s work. You have to be careful and pay attention. You can stretch your legs, you can’t really enjoy the view, and worst of all you can’t read.
Does anyone think I have a license plate frame that says, “I’d rather be doing almost anything else”? I’ve actually thought about it.
If you do get a sleeper, the usual sleeping compartment isn’t like what Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant had in North By Northwest, but a narrow space all on one side of the central aisle. The two passengers sit facing each other and leg room can therefore be a problem. The two seats become the lower berth at night, and the upper berth is pulled down from the ceiling, much like the one where Cary Grant had to hide for a spell in the movie. So all in all it’s not nearly as comfortable as seen in movies, but IME still adequate–and you do get all your meals so it’s sort of like a land cruise. In my limited experience train food is far better than plane food any day.
Up until the 1950’s passenger rail was the major way to move large distances. Recall that up until the 1950’s the Interstate highway system didn’t exist and road travel was, um, adverturous at best. Air travel was still just starting, still unproven, and not as efficient as at present.
A lot of people have said a lot of valid things about this. My contribution will be as an American who does travel frequently by rail.
Mostly, I ride a commuter train 45 miles each way to and from work Monday through Friday in the Chicago area (I actually live in Indiana, but I work in the Loop). It costs me a flat rate of $140 per month. This is way cheaper than parking downtown would be (Chicago’s downtown was built before the advent of the automobile so there isn’t a lot of parking anyway). Add in gas and car wear and tear it’s even more of a bargain. Although the train does experience delays from time to time, they are much less frequent (though no less annoying) than traffic jams. During rush hour, the train gets me in and out of Chicago faster than the highway would. Accidents can occur in either mode of transportation, but not only do trains have accidents less frequently, trains usually win in confrontations (although not always). Thus, for me, commuting by train makes much more sense than by car from a standpoint of money, time, and safety. This sort of equation is why close to a half million people per working day take a train or bus into the Chicago Loop.
But, as some have protested, we aren’t really talking about commuter trains (we aren’t?). OK, I’ve done non-commuter rail travel, too. When I actually lived in the city of Chicago I did not bother to own a car - too expensive between parking, insurance, and the aggravation of driving in the city traffic. Leaving aside the train commuting I did then (I’ve been riding the rails to work 20+ years now), when I wanted to go to Detroit to visit my parents I would most often take Amtrak. I had tried going by air a number of times but in the early 80’s getting to either of the big airports was a hassle. Actually, when I started doing this there wasn’t even passenger service at Midway, I had no choice but O’Hare. Which is a cross between a zoo and a riot most days. Getting there required traveling to the end of a train line, then taking a bus. Then security (yes, we had it even back then) and then waiting to board. On the other end, Detroit Metro is not, in fact, in Detroit at all and it was about an hour to ninety minute car ride at the other end - with me being dependent on Dad picking me up. Granted, they did start passenger service at Midway again, and eventually they built rail lines that take you to both airports so it’s a little less hassle than it once was on the Chicago end… but jack has been done on the Detroit side.
Then I had a Bad Aviation Experience that put me off flying for years.
So I looked into Amtrak.
Union station is the terminus for several rail lines in the Chicago area as well as being the Amtrak station. It is easily accessible, being downtown where the commuting bus/rail lines converge. At the time, there were no security procedures in place so basically if I got there 5 minutes before the train left it was all OK (although usually I tried not to push it that close). Seating was more comfortable than the airlines. The food wasn’t much better, but there were more choices. Also, no one ever gave me a hassle for bringing my own lunch. It took about 2 hours longer than by car, but I didn’t have a car so it was a moot point. Best of all, the Amtrak station was about 10-15 minutes drive from where my parents lived, not an hour and a half. Door to door - the train was actually about one to two hours faster that taking an airplane, due to the hassles in getting to and from the airports. At the time, the price was comparable or maybe up to $40 more - BUT there were fewer train/bus fares involved, no cab fares, and much less stress. So, again, it made financial and time sense to take the train. Once upon a time I was on board during a nasty accident, but, again, the train won that confrontation and I was unhurt. (I’ve been in several train accidents - but then most of my travel time is on trains so my “exposure” is greatest there). The train is also the last form of transportation to be stopped by the weather, so during the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year’s-early spring period it actualy was more reliable than the airlines. Even when weather delayed, Amtrak coach seats are far more comfortable than those plastic terminal chairs at the airport, let me tell you. Also, on the train I can sleep, read, knit, play cards in a way I can’t in a car. You can do some of that on an airplane, but you have MUCH less room.
How do I make that trip now? By car. Because it’s about 5 hours door to door and with the gas mileage in my Echo about $20-25 in gas each way. Take an airline? Let’s see… it would be about 2 hours to get to Midway… 2 hours for security/waiting before a flight… about 40 minutes by air… 90 minutes from Detroit Metro to Mom & Dad’s place… The airlines cost more, take longer, and there’s more stress/hassle.
Do you see how this works?
(I actually do have a means to go door-to-door in about 90 minutes to 2 hours between where I live and where my parents do. It would also cost me about $400 round trip, and is subject to much weather interference. So far, I haven’t found a justification for that much speed vs. frugality.)
What it comes down to is that people make these decisions based on what makes sense for them short term. It’s all very well to talk about how rail is more efficient and less polluting - don’t get me wrong, I’m a rail enthusiast myself - but unless rail makes financial and temporal sense folks won’t opt for it. In the US, the systems that evolved favor air and car over rail except in a few areas
I took a chance that the last hot dog in the wiener-warming carousel on the counter in a snack bar at the airport was not spinning around for a year (that’s 7 dog years BTW). Indeed, the fiery pup looked a tad off color and had a somewhat “past its sell-by date” aroma to it, but, I had to eat something before boarding the plane and having no culinary menu choice except typical airline food (e.g. Chicken Cardboard Eww, Souls-buried Steak). On reflection, it was a chance better left not taken. When the effects of food poisoning kicked in at 30,000 feet, a new and alien feeling triggered in my mind: extreme claustrophobia. The once roomy fuselage transmogrified into an airless tube of death approaching the size of a medium size dildo. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. This abrupt affliction of aero-phobia had nothing to do with fearing a crash, in fact I may have welcomed such a reprieve; it had everything to do with the panicked urge to get off the plane, at any cost. I had over an hour of air flight left, and I was certain that I was not going to make it. Something bad was going to happen. Studying the exit and cockpit doors for an exit plan suddenly seemed rational to an irrational mind. Somehow I white-knuckled it until touch down, and remarkably did so without drawing attention to my panic attack. (I would not have relished being the subject of “…after storming the cockpit, the alleged hijacker was tasered, cuffed and orifice-probed—details at 11”). I was a little concerned about boarding the plane on my return flight, but I reasoned: no bacteria-laden wiener, no claustrophobia—no panic attack. That turned out to be faulty reasoning. The return trip was actually worse. This was the last time I flew, or plan to fly. Sequaela: Insidious onset mild agoraphobia. Treatment got rid of the sequaela but not the fear of flying. *[del]Planes[/del] Busses, trains and automobiles * only for me now. I don’t mind Amtrak, I just wish it wasn’t hot dog shaped.
Sorry for the hijack and the flowery prose, but they asked…
I think if you took a look at those existing tracks you would realize that they were in no shape for a commuter line. They would have had to come out regardless. The other light rail runs on smooth concrete ties and is optimized for a nice passenger ride.
At this point, too, it seems that intercity bus travel reached its peak, as the bus companies benefited from the brand new interstates and before most families had more than one car. There seem to have been so many movies or TV shows from the era where the kid heads off to college on a Greyhound.
There should be a potential market. When you have to get to the airport 4 hrs early and risk flight cancellations ,a train trip would be great. Short rides like Detroit to Chicago, New York to Boston, etc should be very appealing. Airlines have set up connections with rental cars etc. That would have to be accomplished.Cost would have to be at least equal.
Is the amount of surveillance on passengers and luggage equivalent or would check on be much faster?
Amtrak surveillance is an order of magnitude lighter than that on the airlines. No TSA checkpoints, no metal detectors, no shoe removal, no inspection of electronics or confiscation of scissors, and nobody cares what liquids you’re lugging. (Plus, the amount of luggage you can “carry on” is far in excess of what airlines let you bring.)
You are supposed to show photo ID, but in my experience this is only requested when buying tickets at the counter, or when presenting a ticket you’ve bought at a kiosk or online but forgotten to sign in the corner.
Do not leave your bags unattended in the station, however. You should also expect to show your ticket before being allowed to board; larger stations won’t even let you onto the platform without a ticket check. Buying tickets on board the train was abolished after 9/11.
As for check-in, Amtrak tells you to show up a half an hour before departure time, more if you have to check bags or need other assistance. On my most recent trip (Philadelphia to DC) I had a brain fart on what time it was and showed up at the station just as the boarding call was being given, less than fifteen minutes before departure time. I joined the end of the line funneling down the stairs, wearing my best “I meant to do this” expression, and boarded with no trouble. I’m not saying this is a good idea (I’ve never done it before and hope I never do again), and it’s a very bad idea if you haven’t bought a ticket in advance.
Just don’t expect to be on time.