Amtrak

Laura M.
1 review
Send Message | Add to Friends

Amtrak Southwest Chief

I have just had one of my most unpleased travel experiences and I have traveled all over the world. I always thought a wonderful way to see the country would be from an Amtrak cross country sleeper car. On Friday afternoon I set out on a cross country trek from Washington DC to San Diego California, by Amtrak train. The trip from Washington DC to Los Angeles was by Amtrak sleeper car. I was going to spend 3 nights in an Amtrak sleeper car. One night from DC to Chicago, change trains in Chicago for a two night trip to Los Angeles. Change train in Los Angeles for a 2.5 hour train ride to San Diego.

The trip from DC to Chicago was uneventful. The bulk of the traveling was done at night so I was a little disappointed about not seeing lots of scenery. The upper bunk did NOT have a window so my images of falling asleep while the landscape passed were thwarted. We arrived in Chicago Saturday morning with a 6 hour layover before boarding the Southwest Chief for Los Angeles. After sightseeing in Chicago, we boarded the Southwest Chief sleeper car. Before we left the station in Chicago a fowl smell overtook the sleeper cabin. It smelled like sewage. It lingered then passed after a few minutes. Soon the train took off and the adventure was underway. Soon after leaving the station the smell of sewage appeared again, lingered a few minutes then passed. I assumed it had something to do with the area the train was travelling. Unfortunately it soon became a pattern every 15 minutes or so the entire sleeper car would be overcome with the smell of sewage. The smell would linger and then pass. The smell was coming from the vents. Yes, the vents were emitting the smell of sewage again and again. It soon became unbearable. We entered the lounge car to get away from the smell. We had paid for an expensive sleeper car, but were unable to use it because the smell of sewage was being vented into the room on a regular basis.

Cris Bisch
448 reviews
Send Message | Add to Friends

Traveling by Amtrak, Traveling by Train

Traveling by train, is a great way to get from one location to another. I recently took Amtrak from Eugene to Seattle and back again... such a great solution: its cost effective, takes one car off the road, its relaxing, gives me time to catch up on some reading, I can nap, and I especially enjoy taking in the sights. Train tracks often run along scenic routes that you miss entirely traveling by car.

I have a fond memory of taking Amtrak from Seattle to Portland on one snowy winter day... everything outside was glistening and white... like the Polar Express.

When traveling from Amsterdam to Rosendahl, our journey by train, to pick our French camping truckette for the trip, was convenient and cost effective true, but it was also about the experience, people watching and visiting with other passengers. While we kept our eyes on our packs and camping gear, we took in what we could of the views along the route, especially since it would be our only view of that particular Dutch countryside we would see during our month long trip through Holland, Belgium and France.

Cris' keywords: train train travel travel alternative travel train tracks train routes Amtrak transportation

Adam W.
209 reviews
Send Message | Add to Friends

Trains are Greener

I loved taking trains while traveling through Europe, and almost everyone i know who traveled Europe (which is almost everyone i know) loved it just as much. There is a great sense of community on trains, plus it is so nice not to have to go through the rigmarole of waiting in line at the airport and taking off my shoes and putting all of my liquids in tiny little disposable bottles and sealing them in plastic bags - air travel is a nightmare! Now that all the major airlines are canceling flights like they have nothing better to do, maybe we will all finally start taking trains more.

Oh, did I mention that in addition to all of those perks, riding trains is almost 8 times better for the environment than driving a car, and like a million times (OK, not that much, but a lot) better than flying. One trans-Atlantic flight can be the equivalent to many peoples car emissions for an entire year! And while we can't take a train across the Atlantic (not yet anyway...) we can certainly take them to plenty of places here in America. Let's get on this people!

Adam's keywords: locomotive commute energy efficient travel

Kate C.
4 reviews
Send Message | Add to Friends

Back to the Future

I grew up riding the train - to Chicago and the west coast and LOVED it. I was so sad to see train travel diminish as I grew into adulthood, but now I am a grandmother and have just taken a train trip with a grandson to Chicago and it's even better than it was when I was a kid. The seats are big - way more room than an airplane, the cars are quiet, there is still a "dome" car - now the lounge car, there are electrical outlets for computers or other electronic equipment and you can move around easily - plus you still have that great sense of being in a funhouse when you cross from one car to the other and have the floor moving and rails clacking beneath you. My hope and dream is that rail travel will continue to grow and my grandchildren will know that wonderful sense of traveling across our country and really seeing it all - backyards, small towns, mountains, farmland, industrial parts of our cities. As a people we need to invest in this form of transportation.

Kate's keywords: transportation grandchildren

Ken O.
115 reviews
Send Message | Add to Friends

The New Hotness

where to begin?

i took the capitol corridor train today from oakland to sacramento and it was about 80% bliss. the other 20% i'll get to later. blissful: walking around, being able to stretch, crowding the snack bar for sausages, french toast and chatting with fellow travellers; relaxing by myself with a huge table and window; seeing all parts of california between the two cities; not having to drive.

(the info they'd prefer me to put on this review: taking trains instead of planes for medium-distance travel reduces your greenhouse gas pollution contribution by a factor of 10! see http://www.eurostar.com/UK/us/leisure/about_eurostar/environment/tread_lightly.jsp)

the 20%: diesel, not bullet train-smoove. the train leans side-to-side because of its high center of gravity, shared track w/ freighters and less track and train finesse than japanese trains... might make some people sea(?)sick but you get used to it. still, loved it! i'm going to take more amtrak trips. two so far.

Ken's keywords: smoove transit non-bullet train amtrak rail capitol corridor public transportation

Jeff D.
1 review
Send Message | Add to Friends

Amtrak

Amtrak offers the only scheduled intercity and transcontinental passenger rail service in the United States. Rail is the most energy efficient way by far to move heavy loads and a great way to see and, if you wish, "meet" America.

Unfortunately, the only track Amtrak owns is between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Mass. In that corridor, service is frequent and good. In other parts of the USA, Amtrak runs on tracks owned by freight railroads. Service ranges from several trips a week on some routes to several times a day. The tracks are not optimized for passenger trains, and Amtrak off the Norteast corridor is usually no faster than driving. But it is still greener and more relaxing than other powered alternatives.

Jeff's keywords: travel transportation alternatives to driving