I do not think that is true. The freight carriers own those tracks. It has been proposed in congress (U.S. Rail Passenger Fairness Act) but I am not sure it was passed.
Some buses make me carsick; especially if I try to read, sometimes even if I don’t. For that matter, I can’t read for more than a few minutes in a car.
I never had any problem at all on trains. I haven’t been on one in a long time; but I used to take several-hour train rides several times a year, and I looked forward to them.
I can read on planes; but even pre-2001, planes were a lot less comfortable than trains. By now, planes are awful.
This is what Amtrak says on the subject;
I’d love to plan a trip for our family of 3 (Me, wife and 17yr-old daughter) and the idea of travelling by rail sounds interesting. I found a few sites that sell tour packages, but that’s probably more than we are looking for. We are in NC, and don’t have a particular destination in mind (Maybe DC, but anywhere reasonable would be fun, we’re a restaurants and museums kind of family). Any suggestions?
I know, things change, airplane travel is quicker and cheaper, get off my lawn…
But back in the day, passenger trains were prestige for railroads. They advertised their passenger service on the side of their freight cars! I wish we still had some of that.
I railwatch. BNSF runs through Flagstaff, and they run a lot of trains through there. Amtrak runs two a day, and they are never on time. If we can put a man on the moon, can’t we schedule trains better?
We can. We just don’t. IIRC there is some saying about being able to know something about a country based on how on-time their trains are. I think Japan wins that one:
This is another factor in my rebellion against air travel. Quite frankly, the airline industry has crossed a line with me, and in protest I am willing to re-imagine my own personal travel. Presumably, if enough people do this it will shift focus to improving rail–freight and passenger. And yeah, it’s slow. But we need to slow the fuck down as a society anyway. And what harm can come of those who have the means to embark on an extended travel, to see how another less fortunate subset of their fellow citizens live? It’d be the opposite of hiding poverty.
ETA: And since I’m here, Thanks to everyone for turning this into an interesting thread.
Sadly, I don’t think it’s possible for long-distance rail to be profitable unless you were to raise prices through the roof and turn it into an ultra-luxe experience for whales. From what I’ve read, the DC-to-Boston corridor is the only part of Amtrak that makes money, and the long-distance and commuter trains elsewhere are subsidized by the state Departments of Transportation in order to break even.
To be fair…one needs to realize a sleeper cabin on a train is a hotel room, restaurant and transport all bundled into one. They are still expensive AF but it becomes a little easier to cope with the cost if you consider all those costs together.
The really nice ones are just stupid expensive though. The Orient Express costs around $4,500/night (at least…that is the cheapest fare).
Indeed. I managed to snag a relatively low price for a roomette ($600) for my trip to Chicago, which was easily comparable to two nights in a hotel plus food and transport.
Dintju know that Montreal smoked should be accompanied by cherry soda?
I have some serious comments. First, I happen to know that the powers-that-be at Amtrak are aware that it was a mistake to stop cooking on the eastern trains and looking to fix that. Like everything else, it is a question of money. My son (who works for Amtrak takes trains often (mostly eastern although he once flew to Seattle to take the Amtrak to Vancouver to check out the customs clearance) and he has always been able to zoom from the train. Recently he was on a “theater car” where he made a presentation from a lectern to a bunch of executives seated facing him.
My other son once took the train with his daughter from Chicago to Seattle and, knowing him, took whatever passes for first class. They loved it.
Over Thanksgiving I took the Adirondack from Montreal to NYC. For some reason, we were held up an extra hour at customs. The result was that we had to wait about 45 minutes on a siding to allow the NB train to pass. Thus we got to NY nearly 2 hours late. One thing Amtrak is exploring is preclearance in Montreal like at airports. Anyway, we then drove with my daughter and family to Boston for Thanksgiving and eventually flew home to Montreal. On the flight home I paid extra for leg room. If that was extra leg room, I can only pity the poor steerage passengers. Although the flight was only an hour, it was just awful. My wife and I can’t figure out which was worse, 13 hours on the train or 2 (counting loading and taxi time) crammed in on the plane.
But the seats on the train were wide and comfortable; I could get up any time and walk the length of the train and there were two outlets at every seat.
Buses used to be decent. There used to be a bus+ between NYC and Montreal that had a cabin attendant and served a box lunch (Okay, a sandwich and an apple) and made it in 6 1/2 hours and the customs agents got on the bus. And the seats were comfortable. All that has disappeared and you have to get off the bus and schlep your bags into the customs house.
I have never been on a “decent” bus personally (all Greyhound in my case…one time I got on, saw the people on the bus and walked off…some literally smelled bad). But, there does seem to be a decent bus that drives from New York City to Washington, D.C. (see below). About four hours one way (give or take) and about $175 one way (give or take).
Apparently there is another bus line called Napaway which has sleeper seats. Never tried them but good to see some are trying to make the bus experience better. While the bus is legit the CEO, Dan Aronov, seems like he is 12 (obviously he is an adult…just feels like 12).
This web site has some options for you. It lists all the Amtrak routes that stop in NC, with schedules. NC By Train | North Carolina Amtrak Services For your purposes, I think it’s a more helpful starting place than Amtrak’s site. The search on the home pages takes you to Amtrak, but the Schedules and Stations lists are NC-centric.
I’ve seen videos of overnight buses in Japan that have beds with a curtain for privacy, but I just don’t see the American market going for such a thing.
Many folks so far have mentioned that airlines have slowly trained them that airlines are not luxurious romantic travel experiences they once were thought to be; instead they think the airlines suck.
Historically busses are thought to suck. Have done for a long time. It’s theoretically possible for a succession of ever nicer bus companies to retrain the American public. Whether any company has the deep pockets and patience to do that retraining is the open question.
I’ve ridden 2-4 hours on darn nice regional bus companies in the US northeast. Overall worse than a narrow body airliner, better than an RJ. And reduced “hassle” for the people who care about that. Net of the homeless encamped at the filthy bus depot.
As a general matter in American culture, only people who have no money are willing to waste time in travel. The problem with a luxo bus with nice sleepers is not that nobody would believe it exists. The problem is that nobody who could afford the high fare would choose to waste the time versus flying. In their mind time is valuable.
They do suck.
I remember flying in the 70s, before de-regulation, and you dressed up to fly (sport coat, slacks and not flip-flops and a wife-beater…yeah, I sat next to that guy once). Flying was fun and nice and a treat instead of a chore. Without a doubt airlines have found ways to cram more people in and reduce service in pursuit of that last nickle.
I think there is a niche here but I agree it needs to re-train people like me who despise busses.
There is that window of too close to fly but too far to drive where trains and busses may make sense.
In theory, sleeping on a bus while it drives is good use of your time. You’d be sleeping anyway. May as well be carried from A → B while you sleep. With less fuss of security and city center to city center a sleeper bus might make sense. The trick is to make it less expensive than flying in a way people will notice.
I did not. Every time I was in Montreal back in the day, I’d hit Ben’s for a Montreal smoked meat sandwich and a beer. The waiters never suggested cherry soda. But now I know, so the next time I’m in Montreal, even though Ben’s is no longer there, I’ll give it a try.
In any event, I don’t think that Via train, from Montreal to Halifax, had any cherry soda. Just regular soft drinks (Coke, Sprite, etc.).
For those, like me, who had no idea what they’re talking about:
Sorta smoky pastrami. Sounds most excellent.
Cherry soda alongside sounds like one of those things one had to grow up that’s now full of nostalgia for one’ bygone youth, but is otherwise simply and objectively disgusting.
I’m in an exurb SE of DC, and my closest friend lives in Pittsburgh. And that fits perfectly into that window, of too close to fly but a real PITA of a drive. Makes me wish we had European-style high-speed rail. Wish they’d build a test track for it somewhere.