Any Amtrak Experience?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My ILs took a long round trip via Amtrak a few years ago.....Central Illiniois to Spokane,Wa. We picked them up and they spent a couple of weeks with us. Then they boarded the train to Denver, via Seattle, Portland, California. They had a sleeper due to their age and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Ed Falis]

I pretty much always take Acela when I need to go to NYC on business. Nice service. Occasional lates, of course, but never seems to be too bad.

[John Shuk]

I've taken Amtrak from NYC to Portland Me. a few times. Nice trip even if it is a bit long.

[Dennis Peacock]

Never been on Amtrak....but I did price roundtrip tickets with sleeper for my 4 kids, the LOML and I to go from Little Rock, AR to Birmingham, AL. The cost was in the THOUSANDS of Dollars and it was FIVE DAYS One Way!!!!

Leave Little Rock, go to Chicago, IL (wait, I want to go east and south buddy!), then go to Washington D.C, then to Atlanta, GA and finally into Birmingham, AL.

We opted to drive......

[Roger Bell]

I have used Amtrak several times in the past few years. This includes several long distance west coast trips (PDX to LA) on the Coast Starlight and well as west coast to midwest trips on the Empire Builder (PDX to Chicago). In addition, I sometimes take the train from Portland to Seattle, because I-5 has become insufferable.

First, this ain't Italy and Mussolini ain't running the show. If you wish to take the train in the US, be advised that timeliness is not their strong suit. Freight pays the bills for the railroad. The freight lines own the tracks and therefore have priority over passenger traffic. In the event of a conflict or a delay, things can get really, really backed up and freight gets priority. And delays and screwups along the line have a notorious way of snowballing. Any experienced train traveller will tell you that.

I have experienced up to twelve hour delays on Coast Starlight. My wife encountered an engine breakdown on the Empire Builder in the Bitterroots and ended up being rousted out of a first class cabin and stuck on a bus in the middle of the night. The lights wouldn't work and she ended up leaving some of her stuff aboard as a result. Worse yet, the bus they put her on was the milk run....stopping at every podunk town from Spokane to Portland. No refund, no nothing....unless you count some BS "discount coupon" on another trip that they sent weeks later after getting a nasty letter.

All that aside, I much prefer train travel over the airlines, and, even at their worst, I would always take the train if time and cost were of lesser importance than they usually are. Train travel is quite civilized and the trip is usually enjoyable as thing in itself. Airplanes are little better than Greyhound busses with wings. No, make that third-world-country busses with wings. This is one area where this country really is well behind the rest of the world and could benefit from an overall overhaul.

So as long as you are travelling for pleasure, the train is great. But don't get any expectations about it arriving on time. Sometimes it does, sometimes it don't.