Railworks America

Hey y'all!

Amtrak is definitely a thing here in my town of Macomb; 2 different trains (the Illinois Zephyr and the Carl Sandburg) come through here twice a day and a lot of the students here are either from Chicago, from a suburb of Chicago, or are foreign students who fly in through Chicago and then take the train here. Amtrak's even got posters and stuff all over the school. To say that Amtrak is a staple here would be an understatement,

Oddly enough Amtrak became a topic of discussion in my health class. The professor asked if any of us had special plans for the 3-day weekend and she mentioned that she originally was going to go home to Milwaukee but due to the train ticket being $200 she decided to stay in Macomb, which resulted in a wave of students saying stuff like "Amtrak sucks!" and "You can get a discount...if you book like 6 months ahead of time".

I've never ridden an Amtrak train (in fact the only passenger trains I've ever had the chance to ride on were several sleeper trains which I rode while staying in Siberia from 2010-2012 - look like they're straight out of WWII but still decently comfortable even if not first class).

I was wondering if anybody here has had similar headaches with Amtrak, whether it be with jacked up prices, bad schedules, equipment failures, etc.

I have never rode Amtrak purely as a means of getting anywhere, so my view is likely skewed a bit. I have rode on 4 different Amtrak routes, and never been on a train that was 'on schedule'. That said, each time this happened it was a good thing for me, as it generally meant that I was seeing more of the scenery in daylight as opposed to darkness.

As far as the pricing goes, for the Cascades service at least I feel it is quite reasonable.

Back when I was in college I might not have felt that way about the price, but hey, it's 1000x better than riding the Greyhound.

There are no tickets available but if they were they were only $66.00. Look up the Amtrak schedule.

BoostedFridge wrote:I have never rode Amtrak purely as a means of getting anywhere, so my view is likely skewed a bit. I have rode on 4 different Amtrak routes, and never been on a train that was 'on schedule'. That said, each time this happened it was a good thing for me, as it generally meant that I was seeing more of the scenery in daylight as opposed to darkness.

As far as the pricing goes, for the Cascades service at least I feel it is quite reasonable.

Back when I was in college I might not have felt that way about the price, but hey, it's 1000x better than riding the Greyhound.

AMEN my brother! I used to get so peeved when I had to be put on a bus back in Siberia because any city I needed to go to honestly I could have gotten there by train. Never riding one of those again unless I'm going somewhere in-city.

The Empire Builder can be cheaper than driving even... just slow! My last trip was delayed 9 hours eastbound, and 6 westbound.
But it's about $90 for a coach ticket to get me to Chicago, versus $95 in gas to drive (I get ~20 MPG HWY).
2 hour drive and ~100 to fly though. With a layover that's about a 6 hour day for me versus 16 to 25.

The most important thing about Amtrak (esp. the Empire Builder) is that you should plan to get anywhere 3 to 7 hours later than scheduled.
Maybe when they upgrade some trackage from single to double. Heck in Grand Forks, they finally got a proper yard lead last year - no more fouling the main!

Every time I've ridden the Texas Eagle though, it's been late too.
It's an experience worth having though, blasting through the countryside at 5 to 90 mph.

I do miss the old Pullman cars. Together, you had a house on wheels. All the sofas, beds, etc. Everything on Amtrak today is designed to be mass-produced, good for travel, and moderately comfortable.

I can't say that I hate their service, but I do miss all the local trains.

Every time I've ridden the Texas Eagle though, it's been late too.
It's an experience worth having though, blasting through the countryside at 5 to 90 mph

The wife and I are going to Austin, TX in a few weeks. The only way to travel is to get a roomette. (if you have the bucks) Miss the good scenery as you move through the night.
We've taken about 10 Amtrak trips in the last several years. As you mentioned, Don't expect on time service.

dejoh wrote:As you mentioned, Don't expect on time service.

I can't remember which train it was, but either the Coast Starlight or the Empire Builder was 8 hours late last year. German railroads apologize if the trains are 5 minutes late! XD

Why is it that we don't follow Europe's mastered railways?

As long as Amtrak has to use other railroad's tracks for their long haul trains, they are almost guaranteed to run late.

I've been on Amtrak twice. The first time was one way from Altoona, PA to Johnstown, PA on the Pennsylvanian (train 43). That was about 5 minutes late at the most.

The second was a round trip from Trinidad, CO to Las Vegas, NM on the Southwest Chief (trains 3 and 4) for train day. The outbound train (3) was running about 15 minutes late. The inbound train (4) was about 30 minutes late.

Thought I'd jump in on this.

I've ridden Amtrak on a few occasions, and have had nothing but good (overall) experiences each time.

I've ridden the Silver Meteor and Capitol Limited twice (once was a down to the destination trip). The Capitol Limited seemed to run on time that time around, and may have even pulled in early at Washington DC. The Silver Meteor also seemed to run on time to that destination. The trip down that time had been by Coach on the Capitol Limited, and Roomette on the Silver Meteor. one thing of mention is that the Superliners seem to have a smoother and higher quality ride to them than the Viewliners do.

The second trip on the Capitol Limited and Silver Meteor allowed me to check into the sleeping accommodations on both runs. The Roomette's on the viewliner's have a bit more space and amenities than the Superliner Roomettes do, but once more, I will point out the ride quality was far superior on the Superliner. Both legs of the trip ran on time. The Silver Meteor pulled into DC about five or ten minutes earlier than scheduled, allowing me a chance to see the private car Dover Harbor being switched into a train. Neat!

My only gripe was about luggage storage during my long layover at Washington DC. having two decent sized bags stored by Amtrak for a few hours easily cost $50 ( ).

When boarding the Capitol for my point B destination, there was some confusion as the attendant seemed to be catching only part of my question and preceeded to keep trying to route me to a reserved coach seat (I'd taken a roomette here too). Walking further down and talking to a different attendant placed me directly where I needed to be. With that part done, the rest of the trip went smoothly, and I was greeted with an early return to my destination (I think we pulled in there a half hour early or better.)

I am almost sure the Capitol Limited and Silver Meteor are running on CSX-owned trackage.

I travelled from St. Louis to Springfield, IL last weekend for $15. Bought the ticket on the day of travel, missed the 3pm departure & switched my ticket to a 5:30pm departure at no additional charge. It was a smooth trip. We lost about 15 min over the two hour trip. Amtrak is ok.

I'm sure some of you have horror stories of varying degrees with Amtrak. I came home for Christmas about 5 years ago, traveling from Rochester, NY, through Chicago to Bloomington, IL. The Lake Shore was a couple of hours late into Chicago but that was no matter because of my 10 hr layover. Having time to burn in Chicago, I decided to hop a Metra train out to somewhere & back (I think it was Harvard?). The Metra was about 20 minutes late getting back and I was biting my nails about missing my Amtrak train home. Upon returning to Union Station, I learned that my 7pm train was CANCELLED! Amtrak was quick to get me on the late train (9:30) south. It was a snowy winters night & Amtrak was having equipment difficulties as a result. I called my ride home from Bloomington & regretfully explained the situation. As 9:30 rolled around, the schedule was again delayed indefinitely.
Around 10:30 PM, Amtrak announced that they had a train & that I was going home! They had cobbled together a mix of 15 single-level cars with 2 GE units up front & we left Chicago shortly thereafter.
The ride south was a wild one. There was an issue with the drawbar or truck on my coach. Whenever we would cross a grade crossing or switch, something would pop underneath the car with thunderous results. All the baggage in the racks would jump in the air everytime the car "popped". That's slightly unnerving at 79mph. I decided to walk back to the snack car. The coach behind mine had the pneumatic door stuck open on the leading end of the car, and snow was piling up & drifting over the baggage racks & first few seats. This car was full of passengers, flying along at 80 & roughly 20 degrees inside. I felt so bad for those folks.
Amtrak got me to Bloomington. I was 5 hours late in the middle of the night but thankfully my ride home was accommodating. I didn't ride Amtrak for several years after that.

Tyler