I have a friend who lives in Chicago, IL. I live in Springfield, IL. It’s about 200 miles; a 3-hour drive vs. a 3 1/2 hour train trip.
From now on when I go to his house I’ll be taking Amtrak. It’s $32 round trip; that’s about what I’d spend on gas. Plus, when I get off the train at Union Station, I just walk a few blocks & then pay $2.90 for the commuter train to his neighborhood, where I walk two blocks to his door. No parking hassles, and I get to watch DVD’s on my portable DVD player on the way there, rather than having to drive.
huh - I just checked from here to Portland (also about 200 miles, also about a 3 hour drive). And it’s a $69 ticket, and a 3.5 hour train ride. Which is not cheaper than the gas it would take to drive there.
wonder what’s with the cost difference…
My WAG is that Springfield - Chicago is a more popular route (State of Illinois business, plus its location on the St. Louis - Chicago corridor), so maybe there’s a volume discount in place.
Another neat thing about Amtrak, compared to airplanes, is that a one-way ticket costs half a round-trip ticket. Airplanes usually charge the same or more for a one-way ticket. So when our rusty old car needs replacing, we can take the Chief to the Southwest from Wisconsin, then drive a rust-free old car back home.
A similar situation occurs when we want to visit folks in both Colorado and New Mexico–we take the Zephyr to Colorado from Illinois, then ride a bus to New Mexico and take the Chief back to Illinois. The airlines call this kind of ticket an “open jaw” and will charge over twice the money Amtrak does.
We get on the train in Galesburg, Illinois–plenty of free parking, no traffic. Galesburg is about as convenient to our boondocks farm as any major airport.
On the train, everyone is usually comfortable, often in a party mood–so it is a great way to meet new people.
I can vouch for the Chicago-St Louis trains being way cheaper than similar air travel. It takes about as long as driving, plus the prices don’t go up the closer you get to when you want to take it (availability varies, of course). I definitely prefer it to other travel options, it’s even cheaper than Greyhound usually. And tremendously more comfortable.
Now, if they’d only get around to building that bullet train…
hrm … for a couple hundred bucks (the cost of one adult flying) we can get to NC in a few hours next summer for a vacation, or upgrade to a sleeper cabin for the two adults (and one toddler) for only $100 more than it would cost to fly.
How is it with a toddler on trains? He’ll be nearly two; I think a cabin with a shower might be a nice option than sitting on a seat the whole time …