i take amtrak from chicago to ann arbor when i went to school there. 4 hours ride each way. much better than bus or driving. could be a bit more clean though.
I took Amtrak from Little Rock, AR to Chicago a few years ago. It was okay but excruciatingly slow. There were multiple times were we were at a dead stop letting freight trains have the right of way. Also, the train on this route was pretty run down. I have had people tell me that some of the other trains are nicer.
Get a bed if you have a long trip. I travelled round trip Houston-New York City without a bed and I really regretted it.
Amtrak is pretty solid up north. Any really long distance trips will get boring fast. But if you're running around between cities in the northeast or the midwest, its actually pretty solid.
Conservative or Libertarian-biased (Reason.com) four-page editorial comic strip about Amtrak; too satirical, opinionated and policy-based to be of any value, but based on a real trip the writer took and seems to have some interesting insights. http://www.reason.com/news/show/117944.html
I've never ridden Amtrack, and if it didn't come up in political attacks, I wouldn't even know it existed. I looked to see how much it would cost me and my family to go to Houston and it was more than flying. Less than $300 though for the three of us to go from ATL to NY. That isn't terrible, but I think I would just assume to drive considering that is the cost for one way.
Once you have ridden the trains in Europe, Amtrak seems pedestrian. We need a better train system in the US, but the airlines and their lobbies would never stand for it. DD
Yeah, that's my biggest problem with Amtrak. There doesn't seem to be any real benefit to taking Amtrak over flying or driving. It's usually not cheaper than flying when it comes to long distance trips and it's not usually quicker than driving. It slows things down big time when you have to stop and pick up people and wait for other trains to go by. When I went from Little Rock to Chicago, it took about 2 hours longer than it would by car.
I went from Chicago to St Louis and back. I was excited about seeing some American countryside on the way, like I can taking the train in France. But, it was boring, with hedges or ramparts blocking the view most of the way. The train was nice, but too sterile. Of all the trains I've taken, I liked Italy's the best. They weren't super fast, but ran often enough, went everywhere, and were very cheap.
I just looked up a flight for all 3 of us to NY on AirTran, and it was $89/person. That is relatively the same price as AmTrak and my trip would be 15hrs shorter.
It would be a great way to travel the east coast, if it wasn't for the unreasonably high cost. There is no reason a train ride from NY to Philly should cost $80-$100 each way.
Forreal?? The trains in Canada have wifi, which is pretty sweet. Made the trainride from T.O to Montreal pretty quick.
I usually take the NJT Line from Penn Station to Trenton, then the Riverline to Camden and a bus into center city. It costs like $15 total.
