Amtrak Travel

The seating is plenty of room compared to airplane.. airplane is very tight and not much legroom. You can recline easily without worry about someone in front of you reclining on your leg or knees. That's a plus in Amtrak.

Restroom is not bad, quite more space than the airplane lavatory.

Foxrac said:
How big is space and seating in Amtrak, compare to airplane?

Restroom is big or small?
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Yup, and wider.

If your smart Amtrak traveler, you would go to lounge car during night time and sleep on bench. I have done that. They got plenty of benches to sleep on. Or you could bring few friends who rides with you go under the lounge car where you can play board games or card games with snack bar.

Basically, Amtrak is the most comfortable method of traveling which is fact. The only couple disadvantage Amtrak has was, its limited route. Its not available everywhere, secondly their schedule is extremely limited which makes it difficult to decide between being so comfortable traveling as long as I wait for the next available schedule and not far from the train stop with Plane and bus. Bus is pretty much everywhere, they got somewhat better schedule than Amtrak has to offer but darn uncomfortable to ride yet very cheap, verses plane which is also uncomfortable but it gets there faster yet halfa to pay more.

I WILL ride on Amtrak again to the West eventually, and would look forward to that.

Calvin said:
The seating is plenty of room compared to airplane.. airplane is very tight and not much legroom. You can recline easily without worry about someone in front of you reclining on your leg or knees. That's a plus in Amtrak.

Restroom is not bad, quite more space than the airplane lavatory.
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Amtrak coach seat...

 
Calvin said:
The seating is plenty of room compared to airplane.. airplane is very tight and not much legroom. You can recline easily without worry about someone in front of you reclining on your leg or knees. That's a plus in Amtrak.

Restroom is not bad, quite more space than the airplane lavatory.
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That's very nice.

I made error - Amtrak will take 17 hours from DC to Birmingham, but with 1 hour skip due to different time zone (eastern time zone and central time zone).

I will definitely pick Amtrak as my next trip for spring break next year.

:ty: for answer my question.
 
diehardbiker said:
Yup, and wider.

If your smart Amtrak traveler, you would go to lounge car during night time and sleep on bench. I have done that. They got plenty of benches to sleep on. Or you could bring few friends who rides with you go under the lounge car where you can play board games or card games with snack bar.

Basically, Amtrak is the most comfortable method of traveling which is fact. The only couple disadvantage Amtrak has was, its limited route. Its not available everywhere, secondly their schedule is extremely limited which makes it difficult to decide between being so comfortable traveling as long as I wait for the next available schedule and not far from the train stop with Plane and bus. Bus is pretty much everywhere, they got somewhat better schedule than Amtrak has to offer but darn uncomfortable to ride yet very cheap, verses plane which is also uncomfortable but it gets there faster yet halfa to pay more.

I WILL ride on Amtrak again to the West eventually, and would look forward to that.
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Yes, that's true about limited schedule.

In Crescent route (New Orleans, Birmingham, Atlanta, DC, Baltimore, Philly, New York), there is only one schedule per day.

Is it true about budget cut by the congress caused to narrower the Amtrak schedule?
 
For those comparing the time it takes to travel on the train vs on the plane, remember to calculate the travel time to/from the airport/train station and how early you have to arrive at the airport to check bags & go through the screening.
At train stations you generally have to check your bag by 30-45 mins before departure (check the station you're using) and there's no TSA to deal with.

Some stations do not have checked baggage so you need to make sure your departure AND arrival stations have it. You can carry more in a train than on a plane.

And in a train you're free to get up & walk around whenever you want. And at some station stops you can get out for some fresh air...but stay close to the train so as to know when to get back on before it departs.

There's no smoking allowed on the train, but there are "smoke stops" at some stations.
 
Yes and no, we used to have hundreds of passenger train companies, they were struggling to make ends met, and every passengers could have as many as 10 tickets from 10 different train companies. Too confusing with scheduling. If one train company arrives late, your just basically screwed. Thats until President Nixon signed to consolidate all passenger train companies into one which is known as North America Passenger Railway (I think), they named them into "Amtrak. This is to ensure that no passenger gets lost in between if one company screws up, because of turning it into one huge sized company, its difficult to offer multiple schedule times. So they have to compromise what they have to offer.

Government actually tried to kill the passenger railroad business during 70's but failed to defeat them. It is because Government thinks there won't be much return in investment and don't see value in it when there is airline boom going on.

Foxrac said:
Is it true about budget cut by the congress caused to narrower the Amtrak schedule?
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Clearly, I want a private bedroom with someone. Not public bed on couch or whatever it is. Pretty expensive. I'm sure it's worth by have unique view what highway may not have access.
 
Remember meals are included for all allowed people in a room(ette). Just something to consider when figuring out the cost. Of course this makes it a better deal if there are two in the roomette than if there is only one in the roomette (no, you can't have two steaks if you're traveling alone).
 
Right, for you better with a woman. ;)

Done that, and it was one of best travel I ever been on. LOL

PowerON said:
Clearly, I want a private bedroom with someone. Not public bed on couch or whatever it is. Pretty expensive. I'm sure it's worth by have unique view what highway may not have access.
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Amtrak is clearly cheaper than flying. It costs about $700 round trip on Amtrak for a family of 5 compared to over $2,000+ for a family of 5.
 
Yes, that's correct. So if you want go faster, pay more, but if you go slowly pay less.

sequoias said:
Amtrak is clearly cheaper than flying. It costs about $700 round trip on Amtrak for a family of 5 compared to over $2,000+ for a family of 5.
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LoveBlue said:
For those comparing the time it takes to travel on the train vs on the plane, remember to calculate the travel time to/from the airport/train station and how early you have to arrive at the airport to check bags & go through the screening.
At train stations you generally have to check your bag by 30-45 mins before departure (check the station you're using) and there's no TSA to deal with.

Some stations do not have checked baggage so you need to make sure your departure AND arrival stations have it. You can carry more in a train than on a plane.

And in a train you're free to get up & walk around whenever you want. And at some station stops you can get out for some fresh air...but stay close to the train so as to know when to get back on before it departs.

There's no smoking allowed on the train, but there are "smoke stops" at some stations.
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What does "checked baggage" mean, exactly. Maybe it won't make any difference if I am getting a roomette?
 
Amtrak have a "baggage car" that people check in large bags or stuffs to load in. The "baggage car" is just behind the locomotive in long distance routes.



Tousi said:
What does "checked baggage" mean, exactly. Maybe it won't make any difference if I am getting a roomette?
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On the superliners, the two level trains, there is a luggage rack on the lower level where you can store your larger luggage (there are restrictions to the size & weight of luggage) that you may want access to during the trip or if one of your stations does not have checked baggage. The roomettes are small & if there are two in the room you won't have room for larger bags.

When my daughter & I traveled to Provo, UT, we could not check any bags so we kept the wheeled bags downstairs & used a duffle bag for our change of clothes on the train. We also had our smaller overnight bags in the roomette.

A single traveler could keep his/her bags on the 2nd seat or on the partly lowered bunk bed.

The single level trains in the east coast, I believe, are a little roomier as far as storing luggage in the roomette, but I think it has to be the smaller roller bags.
 
Caz, on the long distance trains (one's with rooms) you have to book. Used to be you could buy a ticket on board if there were seats available, but don't think so now. I could be wrong. You can buy tickets last minute at the train station, or even online (now that Amtrak has e-tickets).

The Amtrak commuter trains on the east coast you can buy 10-day & monthly passes or buy ticket(s). I think the same is true in a few other areas.
 
Yes you can buy ticket on train but it won't be cheap.

If your disabled, best call and make reservation and that is where the bargain is.

caz12 said:
is it possibe to just buy ticket and go or do you have to book
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