on trains

every year i take 2 weeks off to travel, by train across the us.

it's a trip that takes about 36 hours total. one day to get from new york to chicago and 2 more for the rest of the trip to either san francisco or los angeles.

i do have to admit that i am a train buff. i've taken this trip i think 5 times now. my total mileage on the train goes well beyond 15,000. on trains named the southwest chief, coast starlight, california zephyr and lots more. i've also been on the acela train, tgv and eurostar. i find looking out the window at close to 200 miles an hour an exhilarating way to travel. travel by train is a civilized way to travel.

the 3 day trip can be grueling if you don't have a sleeper cabin, essentially forcing you to deal with the shortcomings of homo sapiens for an extended period of time. the only refuge can be the observation car or the dining car. i've had my own room twice now, and for someone who enjoys solitude, like me, it's a slice of heaven on earth. my fondest memory is waking up in the middle of a blizzard somewhere in missouri or something. i looked out the window and could see only white. there was so much snow that you couldn't see anything at all, just white. we were heading full speed through the storm. after a while, for a split second you could make out part of field or some cars. it produced a very odd effect, it took me a while to realize where i was and what was happening.

it can be pricey to get your own cabin, but there is a trick. buy the tickets online several months in advance and have them sent to your house. don't pick them up at the station, have them sent through the postal service to your address. i've done this twice and both times i've gotten a call from amtrak asking me i want a room at a significantly discounted rate. the southwest chief is the least peopled cross-country route and never sells out their cabins, so there is a good chance that you would get this discount on the route.

i've met some really cool and interesting people on the train. a middle aged socialist who owns a junk yard in massachusetts somewhere a. famous film critic from chicago, who is deathly afraid of flying.

i spend my time introspecting, sleeping, eating and playing games on my computer. all the sleepers have electrical outlets, climate control, there is a shower down the hall and all your meals are free. it really is a cool way to travel for someone who isn't always in some sort of rush. if you are one of those people, don't bother.

in fact, this is my only complaint about taking the train. people who do nothing but bitch and moan about how amtrak is always late. if you want to get somewhere fast, fly. period. the train is on a multi-day trip across several thousands of miles on someone else's rails and chances are, you're gonna be late.

here's the deal, amtrak doesn't get jack for money. last year it received 1.3 billion dollars. san diego is going to build an 11 mile extension to it's trolley line for about 1 billion dollars. new york is going to link the lirr to grand central for 2.1 billion dollars. about one and a half times the money for a train to be moved about 10 blocks! for a passenger train service that goes thousands of miles and moved 25.3 million people last year they have done a great job.

the problem is when amtrak was set up, is was supposed to be a to be a for-profit business. the only country in the world that i know of with a privatized passenger train network is england, who has had so many problems with their system that they are considering re-nationalizing parts of it. the countries where passenger rail works are the countries who put money into it.

another major problem is that amtrak doesn't own the vast majority of the rails that their trains travel on. they are at the mercy of csx, union pacific and bnsf(who has a good working relationship with amtrak) and others. if there is a mile long coal train meandering it's way through the rockies at 5 miles an hour, the amtrak train has no choices but to follow at 5 miles an hour, which is why you will be late.

link | rss | share | posted: 2006-04-16 15:07:36