I have a strange love for the Acela Express' cheeseburger. If I wasn't sitting in a meeting right now I would go to Penn Station now and take a ride to Newark for that burger.
Want airline food? Take Amtrak
11–20 of 225 posts
Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google say it takes 31h to drive between the two -- any idea why the Amtrak takes twice that time?
33 stops.
I do live in a bad spot for trains (Oklahoma) however they keep trying to build more rails (which make no sense in our region).. to determine how much sense they made to me personally I studied a trip to chicago from oklahoma city.
Turns out I couldn't find any destination where trains beat driving or flying in the metrics of time or cost even.
I do get that trains work in some regions in the US ~ but we should define those regions or what makes a region good for rail and focus there. Amtrak to me is one of the largest scams the government does - it's a constant money losing operation. It takes in so much money - and loses money on every thing it sells from the tickets to the drinks and food.
Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#13I've taken the California Zephyr between Chicago and SF a couple times now, it's a wonderful experience. 2 1/2 days of solitude from a world with increasingly few remote corners. If you're at all interested, I recommend riding soon. These admittedly impractical long-distance routes are going to be the first to go when budget cuts necessitate it.
Google say it takes 31h to drive between the two -- any idea why the Amtrak takes twice that time?
3 days is a relatively aggressive schedule for the road trip. The train makes up for its low average speed by not needing to sleep overnight.
The real problem is that the cost is greater than or equal to a 4-hour flight.
Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#14Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#15I've taken the California Zephyr between Chicago and SF a couple times now, it's a wonderful experience. 2 1/2 days of solitude from a world with increasingly few remote corners. If you're at all interested, I recommend riding soon. These admittedly impractical long-distance routes are going to be the first to go when budget cuts necessitate it.
Google say it takes 31h to drive between the two -- any idea why the Amtrak takes twice that time?
I see you have never taken Amtrak before :)
Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#16I've taken the California Zephyr between Chicago and SF a couple times now, it's a wonderful experience. 2 1/2 days of solitude from a world with increasingly few remote corners. If you're at all interested, I recommend riding soon. These admittedly impractical long-distance routes are going to be the first to go when budget cuts necessitate it.
Google say it takes 31h to drive between the two -- any idea why the Amtrak takes twice that time?
A few reasons: the train has to slow down and then get back up to speed for each stop; there are stops in a few cities for refueling / shift change / restocking onboard supplies. These stops take a lot longer than just filling up your gas tank on a road trip, anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. And the article points out that Amtrak is lower priority than freight when track conflicts occur, so you will spend some time sitting on the prairie waiting for a freight train to go by.
Realistically, nobody's making that drive in 31 hours anyway without a lot of caffeine and breaking the speed limit.
Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#17Doesn't the low pressure in a plane contribute to the blandless. Not a problem on trains.
Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#18I'm actually happy with this, having taken around five >24hr Amtrak trips over the past few years. The dining car is pretty great overall, but the announcements for it get really, really grating really quickly. Because all announcements go over intercom, everyone hears it - maybe 20 announcements through out the day. Really breaks the mood if you packed your own meal.
Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#19Want decent airline food? JAL, ANA.
Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google say it takes 31h to drive between the two -- any idea why the Amtrak takes twice that time?
I see you have never taken Amtrak before :)
I’ve not taken the train before, but I’ve heard that the experience is quite different in a good way. No traffic. No hustle and bustle.